This is the second edition of covering players who are playing their former team.

Clare vs Harbor Lights

First up is Clareeee Bear. She was the former captain of Muddy Waters which is now Harbor Lights. She’s been playing for years and captained that team to a KVKL title in 2019. 2020, everyone was off. 2021, she played 1-2 games due to work obligations. 2022, she left Muddy and joined Ladybird Harpies to sub sparingly. Her first game of the year was Week 7 vs her former team. I got to watch about half of the game. Clare had at least two catches playing 2nd base that I saw. Still a force to be reckoned with. The Harbor Lights offense was just too much for the rest of the Harpie’s defense as they scored 32 runs. It was still nice to see Clare back in action. FYI you spelled her name wrong (Claire) on the scoresheets, Grant 😡. Smh.

Tierny vs Harbor Lights

Tierny is the second player to have left Harbor Lights this year. She was the sponsor for the team, as she is the owner of Muddy Waters Studio, for which the team used to be named. Tierny is now a member of the Ghosts. She must have figured since she had a Championship, she could focus on playing with close friends. Tierny and Harbor would meet in a week 2 matchup. Harbor Lights offense was again too much, as the score was 21-3. I don’t know how she did on defense, but Tierny went 2 for 3 with 2 runs kicked in. That is fantastic stats for anyone going up against that Harbor Lights D. Her kick is what broke the shutout as well in the 5th inning. She might not be winning as much as she used to being on Muddy, but it has got to be a nice perk to have new teammate Corrie, twerk in front of you whenever any Shakira song or Body by Megan Thee Stallion comes on in the dugout speaker. Corrie please add my snap (mreynol4).

Olivia vs Bunt N Grind

With all these ladies leaving Harbor Lights (Julie Windish left too), they needed to find someone to fill that void. That someone would be the best/most talented free agent pickup of the summer, Olivia Lemus. Olivia would meet her old team in a week 6 matchup. I reffed 1st base this game so I got a front row seat to observe. Olivia’s bunts/kicks were on point essentially the whole game. She went 6 for 7 with 1 RKI and scoring 3 runs. God she is fast. On defense, she caught everything that came her way and she even got reps at 3rd base later in the game. She threw out multiple people playing 3rd, and was almost perfect, had it not been for a close call at 1st, ruling the kicker safe on a throw she made. 1) I honestly thought he was safe. 2) Eli should have stretched farther to catch her ball sooner. 3) No one gets my guy Barry LittleJohn out on my watch. No one. One of Olivia’s reasons for leaving BnG was because she wanted to challenge herself with kicking and playing defense against top teams in the league on a more consistent basis. Which is exactly what Harbor Lights could offer. I’m sure it was bitter sweet for BnG players to have to watch her shut them down/kick on them all day, but I bet they were still proud to see her thrive. Olivia and Harbor won 32-2.

Bryson vs Drop Stoppers

From the actual best free agent pickup to the self proclaimed best free agent pickup of the year, we have Bryson going against his old team the Drop Stoppers. He went from getting kicked out of the league last year while being on a middle of the pack team, to joining a top team in the league Post Haus this year. The universe is wild. Let the record show, that even though he’s my homie, I did not vouch for this man. He too out of pocket. Very happy to have him on the team though. We had a week 9 matchup against his former team. Bryson was the lead off, and got on base 3 times out of 6 at bats. He did reach base on a defensive error though once, so going by baseball stats he was 2 for 5. Had 1 RKI and scored 3 times. As a self proclaimed best kicker in the league, Drop Stoppers D should consider that a lock down of Bryson. On defense Bryson was pretty solid per usual. BUT! His childhood friend Ben Snook kicked a ball that dropped within Bryson’s radius, thus penetrating his NO FLY ZONE for the 2nd week in a row. And Ben let him hear it. Post Haus won the game 22-0. But in the game within the game, I’d give it to Drop Stoppers over Bryson.
Side note: Simon, captain of Post Haus, used to play for Adam captain of Drop Stoppers, back when the team was Mad Greek. Adam mentioned this was the first time he’s played against Simon since he left. It had been over 10 years and not one time had they met in a kvkl matchup til now.

Hannah vs Kansas Tree Care

From one suspended player to another, Hannah met her former team Kansas Tree Care in a week 8 matchup. Hannah had fun. Lou is a class act. Kansas Tree Care 27-0 over the Reading Rockets. #freeHannah for playoffs.

Bonus Matchup

KbC Tropics vs Bald Beavers

In this game, it was not just one player vs a former team. It was multiple players on two different teams, playing against each other for the first time after a split. After the 2021 season, the great Jason ‘Cougar’ Hwang decided that his time as a captain and player was done. He decided to hand over the reins of the team to Ryan Pendry. He wanted to let the whole team know in person about the transition, but had to resort to email. He would not be able to guarantee playing time as he was able to before, and this left some of the players from the Mahomies with wanting to break off completely. Thankfully, there was a team from last year that did not register. Some of the players were able to form a new team and take that slot, while Ryan took over the rebrand of the Nick Lerner’s Patrick Mahomies. Andrea C (captain), Andrea K, Sam, Alexandra, Jeff Hauber, Tony, Anthony, Prawith, and Darci formed the Bald Beavers. Ryan and his brother Matt, along with Willis, formed the team rebrand, KbC Tropics. Cougar being the coach and mentor for KbC Tropics. Both teams would meet in a week 9 matchup. Bald Beavers were 5-3 and Tropics were 4-4 going into the game. I wasn’t able to watch, but it had to have been competitive as it was a 1 run game. Apparently it got a little chippy between two ex teammates. A warning was given to both teams. Ryan and Willis scored once each for Tropics. Jeff and Darci scored once each for the Bald Beavers. Anthony got a shout out on the notes for making a diving catch while playing pitcher. KbC Tropics would edge out the Bald Beavers, 8-7. Congrats to both teams for finishing the season at 6-4 with a winning record.

I’m certain I missed other players playing their recently former team. Please feel free to comment on who I missed. Good luck to everyone in the playoffs! Here is a list of possible matchups that could happen in this years playoffs, of players vs recently former teams.

Sonja/David (Brew Tang) vs Drop Stoppers (playing in 1st rd)
Cedric (D-holes) vs Post Haus (very likely)
Megan (JWE) vs Ghost (not likely)
Tom (xxx) vs Ghost (not likely)
Lauren (Jazzhaus) vs Johnny’s (not likely)
Austin (KTC) vs Shirt Factory (not likely)