The Bats Come Out for Greenville To Pull Back to .500

Greenville bounces back from their opening night loss to beat Christ the Servant 12 - 5 in the late game on Monday night. After scoring just 4 runs in their Fall season opener, Greenville broke out to score 12 runs and take the victory.

It was a night where many could be named as mvp for the game, but one person stood out. Shara Strickland was named player of the game. Not only did Shara keep the stats in the dugout, but she also served as Greenville's only fan. Shara waited out the late night and the cool temperatures to serve as the only moral support for the boys on the field. At one point she even noted how she wished she had a blanket since she had no friends to keep her mind off the cold.

On the field, it was the 2 cleanup spots that provided the extra pop in the lineup that Greenville needed. Dustin Swart busted out with his first homerun of the season, which brought in 3 runs. He also added a Sacrifice Fly to score another run. Batting in the 2nd cleanup spot, James Manley broke out for two run-scoring singles in the game, including the hit that started the scoring for the team. "I felt good tonight," noted James Manley. "I had some Captain Crunch before the game on the recommendation of Marty B, and I think it really helped." It was a great way for Manley to put last week behind him, as he got robbed of a grand slam in the final inning.

Making his first appearance of the season, John Garrett made his bid to be rookie of the year this Fall as he added a single and scored a run. Shane Collins continued his flawless record at the plate as he still has not been out in the first two games. He had two singles and a walk. Michael Shivers added two RBIs of his own. Bryan Brokaw and David Strickland both got their first hits of the fall in the contest, and they both drew a walk. Grant Glover made his debut as the starting catcher, but he had to be pulled out in the third inning with what they believe to be Thorasic Outlet Syndrome. Mike Mabry added an RBI as well in his first night back this fall. Clay Platt locked down the left sid of the field on defense and also added two singles and scored a run.

The team narrowly missed having two homeruns on the night, but as Shane Spencer placed one perfectly over the right fielder's head, the umpire ruled that he did not touch third base. Shane was able to keep the triple and drove in two runs in the process. Spencer also pitched his second complete game of the fall allowing only 3 earned runs. It could have been pitched in 4 innings, but instead of taking one pitch in the bottom of the 4th, Spencer swung at the first pitch and flied out leaving 12 seconds on the clock forcing one more inning. Spencer has now been blacklisted by the umpires, as it was the last game of the night. It is safe to say that Spencer won't be getting those calls on the corner anymore.

Next week the team has the week off due to Labor day, and they will be back for a double header on September 14th starting at 6:30.

Greenville Set to Face Christ the Servant...Glover Nervous

After a shaky performance in game one of Fall Ball, the Greenville team looks to bounce back in game 2 tomorrow night at Ford Field 2. The first pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 9:30. Greenville opened a season 0 and 1 for the first time since the team formed back in June 2009.

"I am excited to see how our team handles adversity," Coach Brokaw remarked after team batting practice Sunday afternoon. "We have never been in this situation before, but I think out team will rise to the occasion. We are getting some key players back tomorrow night, so we have that going for us."

Coach Brokaw declined to answer any questions about whether hitting coach Dustin Swart's job was in Jeapordy. After the poor offensive output last week, it caused some to speculate that Coach Swart would be replaced, but so far there has been no announcement to suggest that.

Shane Spencer is set to be the starting pitcher tomorrow night for the 2nd time in as many games. There was some controversy in last weeks game as Spencer tried to throw pitches from different parts of the field. Apparantly, the umpires have ruled that you must pitch from the pitching rubber. Pitching coach Mike Mabry said they have been working on it this week and it shouldn't be a problem again.

Tomorrow night's opponent is a relative unknown Christ the Servant. Having not played last week Christ the Servant really has a pure and perfect record of no wins and no losses. After last week's performance, they are not expecting the crowd to be large, so there are plenty of great seats available. Please call the ticket office or come out to Ford field tomorrow night if you wish to see Greenville take on Christ the Servant.

Greenville Gets the Call to the Majors...Greeted Rudely

Greenville was sent word last week by the league commissioner that they would be moving up to play in the Major Church League. It was exciting news for about a week. The first game of the fall season took place on Monday night, and Greenville found themselves a little rusty. Having a 6 week layoff between games proved to be too much for the Greenville Oakies to overcome. St. Jude Alpha dished out the first loss of the season for Greenville with the final score reading 14-4. It was the first time that the team has had to open a season on the road.

Michael Shivers, who spent the off season in the weight room every day working with strength and conditioning coach Shane Collins, stormed out of the locker room screaming, "Embarassing."

"It was a tough loss," said coach Brokaw. "We looked a little shell shocked, but we'll bounce back. I think the one thing that we proved is that we can play with these guys. We won't look so nervous next time."

It was clear that coach was on to something because it was more a case of missed opportunities. The team left men on base in several innings as well as hitting into two double plays. "I felt like we were one timely hit away from being right in the game all night. It just didn't happen," added right fielder Grant Glover. Glover spent the off season working with new hitting coach Dustin Swart, and it paid off with a hard line drive to left field. Swart also added a hit in all 4 of his at bats including a triple.

One player that may wish he had spent more time with Collins doing one more curl is James Manley. Manley just missed a grand slam homerun in the top of the sixth as the pitcher made a leaping grab to just barely rob Manley of the homerun. "I thought I really got the good part of the bat on it," said Manley. I guess luck was on their side, along with the field umpire.

It was mostly a case of the bats not showing up on Monday night. St. Jude's pitcher kept throwing moon balls to the plate, and the fighting Green Oakies kept swinging at it.

Next week brings a new challenge however, and it will only improve. In the summer, the team's bats didn't come alive until the second half. This is a team that always comes on strong as the season wears on. It is a challenge that this team can definitely handle.

Greenville Overcomes Injuries, Missing Players, and Baseball Pants to Finish Season Strong

With another terrific output from the Greenville bats, the team finished the regular season with a 19-13 win over the Sons O Thunder in front of another sold out crowd out at ford field 3. Brokaw pitched his way to his second win of the season, and proved once again just how deep Greenville's farm system is.

It was a gutsy performance all around. It is no secret that injuries have hampered the team all year, but Monday proved to have other obstacles in the road for the team to climb including the following...

• Sons O Thunder had 3 players wearing baseball pants, which beats the total of baseball pants faced all year in the other 7 games.
• Greenville pitching coach, Mike Mabry, was out of town on a scouting trip looking at a hot prospect pitcher in the Allen Bible Church minor league system.
• Brian Edwards and his mustache were in the Bahamas as he had to fulfill an obligation to his swimsuit modeling career.
• Randy Way was in training in Austin preparing to join the Coaching staff as the hitting coach for the playoffs.
• Clay Platt was tied up as he was on duty when Randy Way went speeding by on his road trip to Austin. They enjoyed catching up with one another, and Randy left with a ticket.
• David Strickland, Levi Carlson, and Cade Thompson continued to heal from their previous injuries.
• Shane Spencer, the Greenville Ace, is suffering from an anxiety disorder that leaves him with a complete lack of desire to pitch anymore. He even gave up his purple shorts. He has been asked to see the team psychiatrist.

With all these obstacles, you would think that it would really hamper the team's chances. It didn't.

Strickland came back off the DL to go 4 for 4 and score 3 runs.

Michael Shivers continued to smash the ball as he went 3 for 4 with another 3 runs scored.

Blake Wattenburger went 1 for 1 with 2 walks, a single, and a sac fly for an rbi. He also scored 3 runs.

Dustin Swart showed up late, but made his presence known by going 3 for 4 and adding another 4 RBIs to his team leading total.

The artist formerly known as the starting pitcher, Shane Spencer went 2 for 3 with 2 singles and a sac fly.

Brokaw helped his own cause going 2 for 2 with a single, a double, a walk, and 4 RBIs.

Shane Collins added 2 RBIs to his total by going 1 for 3 on the night.

Cade Thompson went 2 for 3 with 2 singles, a run scored, and an RBI.

James Manley busted out with 2 doubles and 3 RBIs.

Grant Glover added a Run and an RBI with his single in the 4th. He was also able to block out the distraction of his wife Becky yelling sweet pet names at him from her post at the scorer's table.

Levi fought through his injury to score a run and add another RBI to his total.

When asked about coming back off the D. L., Dave Strickland added, "I felt good swinging the bat tonight. It was tough beating those guys, because you know you are playing a good team when they have a player wearing baseball pants. This team had 3!"

Overall, it was another great night for the Greenville bats, and they look to take that momentum into the playoffs.

Greenville Blasts Their Way Past Frisco

The Greenville Oaks Softball Team snagged their 4th win of the season Monday night as the team blasted three homeruns on the night and sealed a 17 - 8 win. This marked just the second time this season that Greenville has scored more than 10 runs in a contest. Ironically, the three homerun effort came on the same night that the All Star Game Homerun Derby was being played in St. Louis.


Although the homeruns will get most of the press in the papers, there was an underlying presence in the home team's dugout that seemed to push the team to victory. Indeed, Brian Edwards(Pictured Below) brought with him a mustache that spelled V-I-C-T-O-R-Y.






"Without that stache, we would have probably lost that game," said pitching coach Mike Mabry. "Frisco Bible is a tough team, and we needed every edge we can get, especially since they won't let us use the spice on the side anymore."

Mabry had another tough task on the evening. With his number one pitcher unable to go tonight, Mabry had to call on Bryan Brokaw to make his first start of the season. Brokaw was not as crisp as the usually steady Spencer, but he managed to only allow 8 earned runs and earn his first victory of the year. "It felt really good to be called up," said Brokaw. "I always dreamed about getting called up when I was little, so it feels really good to get a win and help the team. I hate that Spencer couldn't go, but I was happy to have the opportunity."


When asked if he was pleased with his young starter Coach Brokaw said,"I thought he was phenomenal. We couldn't have asked for a better pitched game, and we really needed that after last week. It is nice to know that we have options if Spencer is unable to go come playoff time."


Good pitching it was, but it was the bats that came to play on this night. Dustin Swart reminded everyone once again why he is leading the team in RBIs by going 4 for 4 with 2 singles, a triple, and another homeruns. He leads the team in Homeruns with 3 and RBIs with 17.


Joining in the homerun party, Brokaw and Mabry helped their coaching cause by hitting their first homeruns of the season. Everybody hit well, though, and they didn't waste time getting started as they scored 9 runs in the first inning. It was the first time all season that the team batted all the way through the order.


Clay platt had a great night as well batting behind Swart. He was 4 for 4 as well, and he made sure the 4 and 5 hitters did not record an out all night.


Blake Wattenburger made his presence felt by filling in at Shortstop and scoring 2 runs on the night


Michael Shivers continues to get on base at an alarming rate going 2 for 4 and scoring 2 runs.


There were two really gutsy performances from Cade Thompson and Levi Carlson as they played through severe injuries to combine for 3 runs and 4 RBIs, each having 2 hits a piece. Thompson played through a tough ankle sprain that he suffered in last weeks game. Carlson had a hamstring issue that forced him into the DH role. It took appoximately 10 of the 55 minutes for Carlson to round the bases twice to score his two runs.


Brokaw had a great night offensively as well with a homerun, a single, a sac fly, 3 RBIs, and 2 runs scored.


Shane Collins added a hit and some patience as he drew 2 walks on the night.


Grant Glover hit the ball well. It just happened to be right at one of the fielders every time. He wins the work ethic award, as he was seen by several fans during his lunch break taking some batting practice in the cages.


Pitching Coach Mike Mabry was a double shy of the cycle. Brokaw promoted Mabry to hitting coach immediately following the contest.


Brian Edwards added an RBI single, and also had an assist at catcher when he threw out an advancing runner in the top of the 5th inning. Some spectators though Pudge Rodriguez was playing for Greenville, but it was Edwards and his mustach(pictured above). The runner didn't even have a chance.


Greenville now is one game over .500, and they will play their final game of the season next Monday against Sons O Thunder.

Greenville Hits Summer Swoon...Drops Both Games

As an avid fan, beat writer, player, and coach of the Greenville Oaks softball team, I find myself for the first time this season at a loss for words. You see...we got beat twice tonight. That pretty much sums it up. The first game was close. The second game was not, so I am not going to get all bogged down in stats or play by play descriptions of both games. I've cried enough already.

Now before you think this article is about to get all sad and negative, I have compiled a short list of positive things I saw out there on the field...

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Ok...sorry...it took me a minute to think of some positive things...

1) Shane Spencer had a nifty juggling catch in game one on a line drive back up the middle that he was able to secure and double off the baserunner at first.

2) Shane Collins had his second triple of the season with a masterful dive into third base.

3) With the play of the game, Tim Kerby was sitting in the stands behind home plate where he caught a foul ball among a sea of screaming wives, children, and dogs. I almost handed him a jersey right then and there.

4) Dave Strickland, Michael Shivers, Levi Carlson, and Shane Spencer had some fancy trick base running in the second game that forced some errors and led to our only 3 runs of that game.

Ok...now some things that made me laugh pretty hard...

1) After that fancy baserunning, Grant Glover yelled at the other team's catcher "That's how we do it at Greenville Oaks." Then he hit a soft liner to the second baseman, and we never scored again the rest of the game. In fact, all they did is score runs after he made that comment.

2) After making that great catch, Tim made an attempt to throw the ball back over the fence, only to come up just shy of making it back into the field of play thus erasing the good feelings we all had about his great catch.

3) The umpire really liked a clean plate.

Now some things that made me shed a bit of a tear...

1) Our entire team is injured and we may be faced with some trips to the DL for some or all of our players.

2) The umpire really liked a clean plate.

3) Dustin Swart was out of town.

4) The Rangers are getting smoked right now as I write this, and Kevin Millwood is on my fantasy team.

5) Apparently we don't play very well after a bye week.

So there you have it. We lost the first game 8-7 in the last inning. We lost the second game 18-3. We are now 3-3 on the season with two games left to play. Tonight was not our night, but tomorrow is a new day.

Double Header Tomorrow Night...Maybe

The schedule says that Greenville will play two games tomorrow night starting at 6:30. However, with the strong sprinkles received on Sunday, it's anybody's guess as to whether or not the Ford Field 3 will be ready to go. Stay tuned...