Hard Fought Battle

Last night was the Division Playoffs against Gray Design. Gray was first in the division with only one loss including last season. They were the defending league champions. Upon arrival to the field you can tell they had the support since the majority of their whole office was there in support. But we had our own support as well. Thanks to all that came from the office to cheer us on! The positive support and constant cheering helped us fight along. The first time we played Gray earlier in the season was not a fun game. We lost 19 to 4 giving up 5 home runs in the course of that game. Not this time. We were first on the boards and maintained a lead till the bottom of the third when they tied it 2-2. The fourth inning was a tough one. Gray scored 4 runs with two outs. No runs were stored in the 5th. Gray scored 2 more in the 6th giving us one more chance to make up the deficit. Patrick made a solid hit with two strikes and two outs to keep the hopes alive. Chill followed with a hard hit ball down the third base line cause the third baseman to dive just missing the chance to stop it. After the overthrow to first the runners advance to 2nd and 3rd. Chip continues to drive with a hard hit ball to mid field scoring Patrick making the score 8-3. Scott "Bowflex" follows with a deep hit ball to right field scoring both Chill and Chip. But it was not enough. With the final score 8-5 we shook hands and finished the season. We had a great season and were much improved. Last year we had 3 wins and 11 losses and placed next to last in the league of 18 teams. This year we ended the season second in our division and 4th overall with a record of 10 wins and 6 losses. We owe a lot of credit to HR for recruiting some great new additions our team. Thanks to all for a fun and very successful season. Just think, we were only one game away from winning the whole championship....next year.

Arcturis
10-6

PLAYOFFS

We made a very clear statement that this is the best team in Arcturis history when we clinched our chance to play in the playoffs a few weeks ago. We made further history last Wednesday against second place Grubb/Blaes. We had an outstanding line up for this game to which all contributed. Chip, Scott, Mindy, Gary, Jon, Courtney, Brok, Brad, Nicole, Campos, Mueller, Erica, and Ken did a fantastic job in both hitting, running, feilding, defense. It was both a joy to watch as well as play. We started the game off great with 3 runs and continue to stay consistant. Our greatest moment of glory was the 14 runs we scored in the fourth, 10 of which we scored with 2 outs. In that inning Gary hit a 3 run homerun and Brad and Brok scored twice. Jon hit a deep homerun in the sixth that sealed the deal with a final score of Arcturis 22 and Grubb/Blaes 8. Great job team! Below you can see the book. Click on the images to get a closer look. Note the comment in the seventh inning when Mueller says, "wooo" as beats out the through at first. Note also the great part time playbook coverage by Chip on the visitor books in the lower left had corner.
We now move on to the Division Playoffs where will come face to face with Gray Design. We need all the cheering support we can get against this 1st place ranked team. We win, we go on to the Championship. Lets make Arcturis history!

Arcturis
10-5

Current Softball Standings

Just a couple more games left. Here’s the summary:

Tower (A) Division

Gray has clinched 1^st place.

Grubb/Blaes has clinched 2^nd place.

If Arcturis wins one of their last two games (which HOK hopes does not happen), they clinch 3^rd place.

Grove (B) Division

Chiodini has secured either 1^st or 2^nd place. With one more victory, they will clinch 1^st.

By holding the tiebreak over Lawrence and BurnsMac, Cannon, even if they lose out, will still make the playoffs.

The final playoff spot is up for grabs between BurnsMac, Lawrence and Space. All currently have 5 losses.

"Let’s take it to Trivers next week and make our first playoff in Arcturis history." J. Emert

Hot like Fire...

You may have heard already, but we swept up last night. With a solid five man team of Amanda, Chauncey, Troy, Eileen, and myself, we started off a little loose, but quickly tightened up and took the first game. With only a few missed hits and some slightly overzealous attempts by me that ended in points for the opposition, we took the second game with ease as well. With Troy serving a string of winners, Amanda and I holding up the back courts, and even the front court at times, saving some hits into the net, and Eileen and Chauncey kicking sand at each other, we dominated the court and came back strong from last weeks tough loss. We credit our improvement to the many minutes of Olympic volleyball we have accidentally watched over the last few days. Chauncey realized that the only thing holding him back from greatness is socks. And the fact that he can't remember Eileen's name. The third game came easily of course, and we have our first sweep of the session. With the final game coming up next week, we are feeling good and could possibly come out on top. Here's hopin'...

Again, this has been TSlaz keepin' it real for the Aces volleyball team.

We aren't friggin' perfect. Geez

Try not to cry. The undefeated streak is over. I won't dwell on it much, but just will hit the few high points and the really screwed up parts (reference picture to right) We started slow with a large squad of 7. Our first session habits came back and there were a lot of wild shots. Despite our best efforts to come back, the first game slipped past us with a score of 18-21 . With a new found resolve we fought back in the second game with solid serving streaks by Amanda and myself, and some spikes and tips by B-waite and Chauncey, and came back to take the game by a large margin. It was a short celebration though, as the third game went over like a turd in a punch bowl. Missed hits and a long serving streak by the other team that was finally broken by Amanda, as well as a barrage of spikes that seemed to find their way to me every time. (I returned 6 spikes in a single point) The other team came back to put the final nail in the match and ruin out streak. Still, they remain as the only undefeated team, so we don't feel to horrible about it. As a cubs fan would say, "Next game, next game will be our game" Lets just hope that unlike the cubs, we actually win the next one.

As always, TSlaz reporting from the teardrop-laden sands of Forest Park.

Big Win!

The streak is over! We had a great victory Monday against Christner. Final score was...lets just say we won by enough runs that most of us don't know the final score. We had some great base cleaning hitting as well as some superb relief pitching. Great job CHill! There were a few questionable calls, but that is what you get when you have to be your own umpire. Again, congratulations to our All Stars Courtney and Jon E. The game Wednesday was canceled so we did not get to see them in action...and sadly the game will not be made up. Lets keep the fire going, see you Monday for the Klitzing Welsch game at 6:30.

Arcturis 6-4

ARCTURIS ALL STARS

The result are in, congratulations to Courtney Howard and Jon Emert! We have selected you two to represent us next Wednesday for the All Team All Star Softball Game, make us proud. We need encouragement from our last game. In case you have not heard it was not our best performance and loosing to one of the most annoying teams of the season did not make it feel any better. Lets just say it was our worse loss of the season and we can now forget that it even happening. One note to highlight is our well deserving All Star Jon Emert did get a homerun, great job! Just a reminder, we do have a game Monday. 6:30 against Christner on field SB2. We will try the batting practice again, so come early. Also, if you just want to come and enjoy time in the sun and have a few cold ones, come along, bring a friend, there is no pressure to play if you do not want to; just come cheer us on. We need all the encouragement we can get to get us out of this slump.

Arcturis 5-4

Victory and Murder

Despite having a slightly depleted team of five. The Arcturis Aces pulled out yet another amazing victory on Wednesday night to keep our undefeated streak alive in the second session of Forest Park League Volleyball. The Fantastic Five combo of B-Waite, TSlaz, Alyse, Amanda, and Alisa wasted no time getting into the groove and inching out the competition for the first game victory. With B-Waite guarding the net we were able to block many attempts to thwart Alyse's unprecedented serving streak. With mumbles and grumbles coming from the opposite side as they fought amongst themselves all match long, we easily took the second game and the match with more solid baseline play from Amanda, a single person rally from me, and some key returns from Alisa. Despite another serving streak from me, and some tricky returns by Amanda, We seemed to channel our first session habits (including a ball to the face for Alyse) and weren't able to hold on to the third game, but the damage was done, and the Aces could celebrate their victory. Amanda celebrated the victory by driving home with her husband Ryan and the random old lady from their apartment complex that asked to come with them to the game. They seriously did not know this woman. Thankfully she was not murdered on the way home and she will live to join the Aces another day. For more details, talk to Amanda.

As always, this has been TSlaz, reporting from the scrumtrellescent beaches of Forest Park.

Ummm Yeah, So We are Undefeated...

After a CAF Ceremony full of free booze and food, it was unclear whether the Aces would be able to even show up for their game on Wednesday night, what with Troy out of town and Eileen hopped up on prescription drugs, but by using our amazing charms and dazzling wit on the Officials, we were able to convince them to let us play one man short and having not paid our fees. The first game was rough for sure, with many wild shots and hits into the net. Amanda's first game with the Aces probably did inspire any confidence in her as to our abilities, but once Alisa showed up and our team was complete, we fell into an unstoppable rhythm and took the second two games with relative ease. Alyse and Amanda were loud and clear on calling their hits, keep the rest of us in check and making solid returns and sets to the Chauncey and B-Waite up front who made block after block. Alisa and I were solid baseline players as and I even got a tip for a point. Alisa went for a long serving streak in the second game to help secure the win. The second session is looking good as we are undefeated going into our third match next week.

As always, this is TSlaz reporting from the sandtastic Steinberg Rink.

Tough Loss

We had a great turn out this week and some excellent weather, I think the bugs where even hard to find. The spirits were high and we had plenty of beer. The only short coming we had is that we lost...and by a single run. It was one of those games where we were just a few steps behind. We had a nice run at the end. We were down by 5 runs going into the last inning and just didn't have the steam to pull through in the end. Great effort though! Let's see if we can keep our loosing streak to just one and get a big win next Wednesday against KAI. Don't forget to check the calender at the bottom of our blog to see the rest of the games in the season. If you have a gmail account and would like to add them to your google calender simply click on the game and click "Add to Calender". You can also invite your work account by adding it to the right of the appointment once it opens. By the way, don't forget about the All-Team Game July 25th - see invite below.

Arcturis 5-3

V-Ball Team turns over a new leaf.

With the first session behind us, the Aces came back for session two vowing to beat the previous record of 1 win over the course of an entire session. (I blame the weather) With Cara Davidson subbing in for the night, we took to the sand, ready to start the new session out on a good note. Now, either we all took performance enhancing drugs prior to the game, or we just are playing better as a team ,but we dominated the court and took down our opponents in 2 straight games. Team leader Guz served for the win to match our record from last session. With strong efforts from veteran v-ballers Eileen, myself, and Alisa, as well as some high altitude tips and blocks from front man B-Waite, the aces never fell behind in either game and have now bested our previous record and are tied for first place. Highlights included no accidental bumps into other team members faces, and Cara's squeaks as she ducked away from being hit. We are all looking forward to keeping the streak alive this week, as new permenant team member Amanda Halterman joins the squad, and veterans Chauncey and Alyse return from hiatus.

This has been TSlaz reporting from the sandy beaches of Stienberg Ice Rink.

Domination

For a team that only won a single game last year "improved" just does not describe the way we are playing now. We are 5-2 with our latest win over YAFSTL. If you recall, they beat us the first game of the season, quite handily if I recall. Not this time. As they say on ESPN...BOOYA! The top of the order has preformed as well as the bottom, but this week the middle of the order held there own. Both times up to bat Brok, Campos and Erica were able to score. Great job team! Scott had another HOME RUN! He is a mad man! In the end we scored 17 runs with a final of 17-8.

The current standings are as follows:
1 Gray Design Group 8-0
2 Grubbs/Blaes Architects 6-1
2 Chiodini 6-1
3 Cannon Design 7-2
4 Arcturis 5-2
- Everybody Else - lol!

Check out Jon's email to get the full standings. Some of us have started going to the field early to get a little batting practice in about 6...Gary might have lost his chance since he almost killed Brok last week.

We play CASCO on field SB2 - Game starts at 6:30 See you there.

Arcturis 5-2

HOK Who?

On Wednesday we dominated on the diamond and on the sand. Well, maybe not dominated so much on the volleyball, but we did win our first game of the season. We are no longer in last place with a record of 1-17. On to the softball, with a final of 11-6 Arcturis showed its superior softball talents over HOK. We owe much of the talent to the top portion of our batting order with 10 of the 11 runs batted in including 2 home runs by Scott Clark (if you include Campos who came late to the game with a home run). The other run has to be attributed to Ken Dawg who had a stand up triple that was later moved by a solid hit by Danielle returning after a long sit at the DL. Welcome back Danielle. Hitting was great, but holding HOK to 6 runs was no small feat. The defense was strong with decent pitching and some amazing fielding. We held them to 5 runs after the second inning not allowing another until the last inning. Courtney had an amazing diving catch out in center field and Erica made a solid snag to end the game. The girls once again had a fantastic game showing the greatness of our team with solid hitting and excellent fielding. Having great women on your team is the key to this league and to our winning record of 4-2. Let's keep it up team and I will see you Wednesday. We are playing the Young Architects Forum, a team we must beat. They beat us first game of the season, so this is pay back.

Arcturis is 4-2

Just Chill

I know that blog has been long over due. I will try to do better in the future. Meanwhile I will try to take you back to June 2nd. The Arcturis vs. Space game was definitely one to remember and be proud of. I will not elaborate the play by play as I have in the past. Instead I will just make an effort to highlight the great moments of the game. We were fairly matched with Space. We had almost the same number of people, about the same number of heavy hitters, so the game came down to shear will and desire. First inning 2-2. Second inning still 2-2. Third inning 4-2, great job Ben and Wolf. Fourth inning we stayed right with them matching the 6 runs they made with s3 of our own due to some great hitting by Clark, Gary, Emert, Brok and Muller. End of the 5th Arcturis 10 to Space 9. Sixth inning we get a couple more (12-11). The last inning we did not manage to score and they came back to tie the score 12-12. That meant EXTRA INNINGS and in this league it also a race to finish before it gets to dark. Knowing the game was on the line meant pressure was on a rise. We had the last at bat so defense was key. They flat out killed the ball right out scoring 5 runs with the first 5 batters, ouch! That meant we had to score 6 to win, a feat we may not been able to do all game. The most we had scored in a single inning was only 3. David Kehm started us off with a solid hit to start the inning, but with two quick outs we felt that we had let another slip away. We lost most of our games last year by 2 or fewer runs. Gary kept us in the game and every one after Gary got a hit. The game winning hit by Chrissy Hill drove in Muller with such ease that John could take his time. We all knew we had some hitters, but women on our squad are consistent performers. We scored the needed 6 runs and extended the winning streak!

Arcturis is 2-1

Volleyball Opener Tough Loss

The sand season is underway. The air was cool and sand even cooler. For those not playing it was almost a little chilly...maybe that was the buckets of beer. It was three close hard fought games...made possible by the random player we picked up just before the game started...she was pretty good. Chauncey, our largest and most intimidating player opted to sit this game out with the rest of the DL players...maybe he can play and block a few of those killer spikes next time. For those who missed it, we missed you. Hope to see you out there next time. Check the calender at the bottom of the blog latter with times of our next games. Have a great weekend!

What a come back!

The first game of the season needs not be discussed, but to only say that it was a warm up to our first victory game last night. Arcturis had a solid line up against Burns & Mac. We took to the board early with a 3-1 lead thanks to some solid hitting by Sclark, Courtney, Emert, Chill and Brad. A solid defensive effort and near perfection on the mound thanks to Chrissy Hill through the 4th had us setting comfortable with the score 8-2 due so great hits by Hoover, Alyse and Chauncey. The fifth inning was when Burns & Mac's bats came alive. With 5 consecutive hits in a row they quickly were back in the race, at the end of 5 the score narrowed to 8-7. A new golden glove candidate came to the front out in center, late in the 5th a newbie, Ben Ott made an amazing catch over his shoulder well worthy of a sport center highlight. The sixth inning was one of the great battles of the day with both teams putting up 4 runs each. The middle of the lineup came alive with some hots bats by Courtney, Emert, Brad, Hoover, Alyse, Chauncey and a smoker by Nicole. At the end of six the score was 12-11 with Arcturis holding the lead by the slimmest of margins. Burns & Mac came back with a strong effort in the top of the seventh with two quick runs. With men on base and a deep hit to the left field; Arcturis started to see the possibility of having Burns & Mac steal away the win, but all hope was not lost. There was one, a chosen one that now will always strike fear in the hearts of Burns & Mac when they challenged the ARM of BOWFLEX. As the runner from second pushed to challenge the great gun of Scott Clark in comes the missile from left field. A solid catch and tag by Brad snuffs the plans of BMac. A few solid defensive plays in the field and on the mound closes the inning quickly with only 2 runs lost in the epic battle. With the lead lost and the score Arcturis 12 BMac 13 the bats needed to come alive, and they did, fast. It all started with a great slap hit by Jeff (a new player just pulled up from the minors) followed by a deep hit by J Campos...the slump is over now! With the tying and winning run on base it came down to BOWFLEX once again. With one out and the sun quickly setting...we all knew what needed to happened. Mr. Scott "Big Daddy Bowflex" Clark hits a rocket to right field. The right fielder just got smaller as she ran deeper and deeper to try and track down the hard hit ball. As the tying and winning runs come across home plate followed the unnecessary, but glorious in park home run, we knew that Arcturis was back. The final score, Arcturis 15 (by my book) to BMac 13.

Arcturis is 1-1....500! Let's keep it going!