Bottoms up! The ‘Horra for Gold comes at the end

Photo: The rubber was not kind to Gold pitcher Tarrant

By Bill Tarrant

The bottom four in Ohdahorra’s lineup got on base an astonishing three-quarters of the time, leading their team to a 24-19 victory and taking the shine off a hard-hitting Gold team in the Culver City Senior Softball League.

The bottom of Ohdahorra’s order went 12 for 16 – a stunning on-base percentage (OBP) of .750. via walks, flares over the infield, and seeing-eye singles.

“If the bottom of our order had been more ordinary, you might have won the game,” Ohdahorra manager Bill Katz told me afterward.

The game was a see-saw affair until Ohdahorra pulled away late in the game. At that point, Gold manager Bill Tarrant replaced himself with relief pitchers (Steve Scherzer and Glenn Honda) to face the lower end of the order but with mixed results.

Katz thought Gold’s defense was strong and made far fewer errors than his team's, and he pronounced the top five of Gold’s lineup “scary.”

The scorebook bears that out. Gold’s top five had an OBP of .800. The bottom five had a not-too-shabby .462 OBP.

Jim Devico was 4 for 5 with a double, triple and 4 RBIs, Lincoln Chung was 5 for 5 with 3 runs scored, Brent Burley was 4 for 5 with a home run and 4 RBIs, and Pat Erb 3 for 4 with a couple RBIs.

“Overall, it was a good game,” Devico said. “We were going back and forth until the last inning or two.”

Curiously, the outfield had only two catchable flyballs – one from the first batter of the game and the other from one of the last batters at the game’s end. Steve Schertzer was stellar at short and Alan Sperling made several fine plays filling in at second.

Manager Tarrant said he would keep his pitcher on a short leash, telling him to “cut the walks if you want to remain the starter”. The pitcher, Bill Tarrant, declined to comment for this blog.

With his sub stuck in an I-405 parking lot and Cyril Barnert unable to play with his banged-up hands, the Gold team’s manager and pitcher “Pittsburgh” Bill Tarrant was frantically trying to find a spectator to fill out his team on Opening Day of the Culver City Senior Softball Association, when the ump called for the game to begin.

Great, a short roster crisis on the first day of the 2025 season, “Pittsburgh Bill” thought to himself, eyes darting anxiously around the field.

After barely getting that sorted, Tarrant promptly walked the first batter he faced, setting an exasperating tone to the game, which Gold lost to Black 24-17. Tarrant could not find a consistent rhythm for his high-arc pitches, walking 8, including several to the bottom of the order, the ultimate transgression in senior softball.

Black put up 5 runs in the first and and never looked back, showing good plate discipline to work walks and find holes in Gold’s stout defense. Black pitcher Annie Kepple gave up just one walk and pitched craftily to a strong Gold lineup.

“The bad news is we lost,” Tarrant told the team after the game. “The good news is I don’t think I can pitch any worse than that, and we played a good game otherwise. We have a stunningly good team.”

“The good news also is everybody makes the playoffs,” noted Jim Divico.

Brent Burley went 3 for 4 with 4 rbis, Thom Hutchinson 4 for 5 with 3 runs and 3 rbsi and Alan Sperling 4 for 5 including our only walk, to pace the offense.

The hits were well distributed throughout the lineup with the top five hitters averaging .583 and the bottom four .473

It’s a long season and Gold will soon be putting other teams on the short end of the stick, Pittsburgh Bill vowed.