BSL Nights 2020 - Week 3 Recaps

Welcome back folks! We hope everyone is staying safe and well. Week 3 action resumed with our usual 4 game schedule with some teams coming off winning streaks and others trying to put one together. We ready to dive into week 3 Recaps?? Let’s do it!

 

Medina @ Cordoba

Medina was coming into this game red hot having won their last 3 games and they were looking to extend this streak. Medina was however missing Jay smooth Ahmed who has been a consistent play maker on the offensive end.  Medina started off slow at bat as they picked up 3 quick outs including an embarrassing Hamid Malik strike out. Cordoba turned around and put up 4 runs to take the lead while Medina struggled to get their bats going. Medina’s bats finally woke up thanks to 2 run smash job to RF by Hamid Malik who picked up his 2nd homerun on the season. That strike out must’ve really gotten to him because after that, he smashed 4 homeruns and remained perfect on the plate the rest of the night.  That dinger helped spark Medina’s offense as they put up a mercy inning going into the 5th inning up 8 – 7. Cordoba however wouldn’t back down as they took advantage of Medina’s weak fielding and kept picking the gaps. They scored 2 runs going ahead of Medina by 2. Final inning, with Cordoba up 2, Hamid Malik stepped into his 2nd homerun of the game putting Medina up by 1. With the home team getting ready to close out this game with just 2 runs required in the final inning, Cordoba torched Medina for 7 runs including a Zain Malik grand slam to RF to counter his brother’s multi homerun game and steal the show. Cordoba took this one to a score of 16 – 10.

Highlights of the game:

• Hamid Malik – 2/3, 2 HR, 4 RBI’s
• Imran Qureshi – 4 RBI’s
• Tansweer Khawaja – 2/3 – 2 RBI’s
• Zain Malik – Grand Slam – 4 RBI’s
• Ahmad Ammad – 2/3 HR, 3 RBI’s
• Zain Khilji – 3 RBI’s
• Abdul Butt – 2 RBI’s
• Hamza Waheed – 2 RBI’s

 

Damascus @ Lahore

Week 3 started with Lahore entering riding a high from their previous weeks big win against Cordoba, while Damascus entered this week, losers of their past 2 games.  Damascus also entered the week fielding only 9 players (misunderstanding by management, but we thank everyone for their understanding), while Lahore themselves were also playing shorthanded, still missing their big blockbuster trade asset Salim Jaichi and rookie phenom Omar Khattab.  Salim is still nursing a lower leg injury and we pray for his quick recovery.  Damascus took full advantage of the strong winds blowing this week and produced a total of 9 walks.  The proved to be very important with so many people getting on base, DMC’s big bats would come to life with runners in scoring position.  Shane Worthington hit his 1st HR of the season, while Hassan Chaudhry continued his tear this year, hitting another HR.  Damascus is also getting fantastic production from Farooq Sani, who continues his hot hitting, going a perfect 5-5 on this night.  On the flip side, Lahore’s big bats seem to finally be coming alive, with Shamil Khadaroo finally breaking his mini slump, knocking out 2 monster HR’s (we believe 1 of them hit his buddy Amir’s car).  Lahore hit 4 HR’s but could not keep up with the timely hitting of Damascus.  With everyone on DMC hitting and everyone on the team producing at least 1 RBI, this was all that was needed for Salman Ahmad to lock down Lahore’s bats.  Damascus breaks out of their 2-game losing streak while Lahore goes back to the drawing board.

• Farooq Sani hitting a perfect 5-5 with 2 doubles;
• Shane Worthington knocking out his 1st HR of the season, and driving in 5;
• Hassan Chaudhry perfect at the plate (5-5) with 3 extra base hits (2 doubles & 1 HR);
• Shamil Khadaroo 2 monster HR’s and driving in 5;
• Zia “Doc” Beg continues his hot hitting, going 3-3 including a double

 

Damascus @ Cordoba

In the night cap, Damascus took on Cordoba as both teams were coming off big wins in their first game of the week.  Damascus continued with their patience at the plate and hot hitting as they quickly scored 4 runs to open the game.  As was the case in game 1, the winds were strong on this night and clearly affected pitching.  Hamza Waheed was trying everything in his arsenal to counter the strong gusts, but to no avail unfortunately.  3 innings in and Damascus was up 6-2 and continued to pile on the runs.  Smart and patient hitting by Awais Malik saw him draw 3 walks and the 4th inning was capped off by a Farooq Sani HR that ended the inning due to the mercy rule.  DMC was cruising until they were forced to field 9 players and use one as a catcher.  Unfortunately, management misunderstood the rules and fortunately for DMC, Cordoba was nice enough to provide a catcher for most of the game.  With the rules appropriately being enforced, Cordoba made a furious comeback of their own.  Zain Malik has turned into quite a HR hitter this year as he knocked out his 3rd HR of the season.  Meanwhile, the usual suspects like Bilal Javed & Yousaf Chaudhry led their team by example, solidifying the fielding while hitting HR’s themselves.  The star for Cordoba on this week though was Abdul Butt, who only had 1 hit, but what a hit it was.  Abdul hit a moonshot for his 1st career HR.  Cordoba fought back valiantly, putting up 9 runs in the bottom half of the final inning only to fall ever so close, losing by 2.  Cordoba ends the night with a split, while Damascus ran the table this week and goes back to the top of the standings.

• GM Safwan Khan driving in 4 runs;
• Farooq Sani hits 4-5 and driving in 5 (he went 9-10 on the day);
• After taking a league low 4 walks in the first 2 weeks, Damascus showed their patience this week and took 9 walks in each of their games this week for a total of 18;
• Hatf Sohail’s play at 3rd base while also hitting 2-4 and driving in 2;
• Zain Malik hitting yet another HR, now sitting at 3 on the season;
• Abdul Butt hitting his 1st career HR;
• Mohammed Ali Pasha getting back in the groove, hitting a perfect 3-3;
• Leaders Bilal Javed & Yousaf Chaudhry both hitting HR’s, while playing stellar defense in the field;

 

Lahore @ Medina

Coming off a hard loss to Cordoba, Medina was looking to get back to their winning ways. As the home team they took the field first, allowing Lahore to get things rolling as they put up 4 runs on multiple hits. Shamil Khadaroo had a great hit to RF, allowing multiple runners to advance.
Fast forward to the 3rd inning with Lahore leading 5 to 3, Medina was struggling to put together any offense. Tonight was Hamid Malik’s night as he blasted anything/everything over the fence that touched his bat. He stepped into another 2 run homer to help Medina take the lead by 1. Sunny Abdul Murrad also had a sick shot down CF which resulted in an inside the park homerun. Great hit and even better wheels!! Lahore however would chip away behind the heavy bats of Ismael Kara and Nirvaan Latif. Fast forward to the 6th inning where Lahore was up 12 – 9 when everyone on Medina decided to take a sip of coffee and wake up. with one hit after another, Aslam Abdullah and Hamid Malik slapped another couple of homeruns, helping Medina put up a 7 run Mercy inning to go up by 4 entering the final frame. With Lahore playing with their backs against the wall, they would need a massive inning to take the lead and hold the home team. They did exactly that and a lot more, torching the black and gold for 9 runs, all of a sudden up by 5. Medina’s defense just couldn’t figure out how to make those simple catches. Hats off to Lahore for playing a great final inning but Medina only has themselves to blame after that horrendous display on defense. With one last chance for Medina they took to their bats and quickly picked up 2 outs. But then they started to rally as IQ Smash stepped up to the plate and blasted a 3 run homer closing the gap to 2. With their top coming up, Lahore needed that last out to ensure their top didn’t get going as Medina has been known to rally after 2 outs multiple times this season. Tonight’s game wouldn’t be one of them as Nirvaan Latif closed out the game with a fancy catch. Lahore takes this 21 – 19.

• Nirvaan Latif – 4/5, HR, 5 RBI’s
• Hamid Malik – 4/4, 2HR, 5 RBI’s
• Aslam Abdullah – 4/4, HR, 5 RBI’s
• Imran Qureshi – 4/4, HR, 5 RBI’s
• Abdul Murad – 2/4, inside the park HR, 2 RBI’s
• Shamil Khadaroo – 3/5, 3 RBI’s
• Zia Beg – 2/5, 2B, 3 RBI’s with a nice deep shot to RF over the defenders head
• Arsalan Abdullah – 3/5, 2B, 3 RBI’s and great play at 1st
• Amir Khalil – 4/5, 1 RBI, 1BB