Softball Showdown
P&C just completed a hard fought two game series against The Swarm. Because of all the rainouts in May, we set the make-up game to be the day before we were supposed to play for the second time. Both teams came into the first game with a 2-0 record, but The Swarm was far more impressive in their two games, winning both by a combined margin of 52-1.
Of the two other "powerhouses" in the league, The Swarm is far more fun to play against. They are competitive, but nice. They also joke around a bit during the game with us and each other, which adds to the fun of playing the game. They are my favorite team to play against in this league.
Both games were nail biters, as is the custom when we play each other. To spoil the long story below, each team won once.
On Monday, we fell behind quickly in the first inning thanks to some early jitters. However, we received a controversial call in our favor to get out of the jam. With runners on first and second and one out, one of their players hit a ground ball to our shortstop (PhillyPhanatic). The guy on second stuck his foot out (to avoid the ball), but the ump ruled that he interfered with PhillyPhanatic by trying to kick the ball. PhillyPhanatic finished the double play by tossing the ball to second, and we escaped the top of the first down only 3-0.
Runs were hard to come by for both teams after that, thanks to some great defense. We went into the bottom of the sixth inning down 5-3, but rallied to tie the game, thanks in part to Hawkeye managing to score from first base on a ground ball single to left field. Talk about aggressive base running! After a great 1-2-3 defensive inning in the top of the seventh, Nells led off the bottom of the seventh with a clutch single over the third baseman's head. WhiteIverson followed up with another single. The next girl up struck out, which brought PhillyPhanatic up to bat with one out and the chance to be a hero. He walked on four straight pitches. Amazingly, it was the first time a player on our team walked all season. At this point, the ump tells PhillyPhanatic to go to first. Hawkeye and I immediately jump in and claim that he should get second base since he walked on four straight pitches, per league rules. The ump dismisses the argument, but we appealed to the other team's pitcher (who happens to be the commissioner of the league). Thankfully, the commissioner always keeps a copy of the rules handy at games, so we found the rule that states that a guy gets second base if he walks on four straight pitches, regardless of the number of outs. Therefore, PhillyPhanatic got second, WhiteIverson moved to third, and Nells walked home to end the game. A 6-5 victory, courtesy of a walk. Quite anti-climatic, but it would make Homer Simpson proud.
P&C did not have as strong of a lineup for today's game. We were missing Tricky on Tuesday, in addition to her twin sister who was unable to make either game this week since she is on her honeymoon. We like to have a solid girl play first base, but we needed Hawkeye to pitch and our other strong girl at the game only likes to play outfield.
We put our worst guy at first. However, if our team's first rule wasn't that "everyone who shows up plays", we would not let this guy play. We thought we needed additional guys this year since we lost a couple before the season started and the timing of my (potential) move to Philadelphia was not yet determined. Therefore we added a guy off the league's "free agent list" who said he was decent and had played before. Sadly, this guy is worse than every other guy on the team and four of our girls. He can't play any position in the field nor can he hit the ball. We put him at first and held our breath that he would catch the ball. Thankfully, he did ok given the expectations. However, he did drop a few throws early in the game and was not nearly as good as Tricky.
The bats were silent today for P&C. The guys hit poorly, including our best players. On at least two occasions, we had a guy up to bat with two outs or fewer and at least one runner in scoring position, yet we failed to bring the runner(s) home. Amazingly, we still led 5-4 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. Unfortunately, everything fell apart that inning defensively (helped by some timely hitting by the other team, of course). We gave up 4 runs in the sixth and ended up losing 8-5 after failing to score any runs in the seventh despite getting runners on second and third base with no outs to start the inning.
Oh well, it was a fun two game series. Both teams are probably quite happy with a split. I hope we get to play them again in the playoffs.
My hitting during the two games was back on track after a recent slump. I hit 3-4 with two doubles, and a triple. However, I only scored one run since I did not get timely hitting behind be in the batting order. I also made three bad errors at third base over the two games.
We have three more games before the July 4th break. All three games are against poor teams and will probably be mercy wins, so we should hit the holiday break with a 6-1 record.
Of the two other "powerhouses" in the league, The Swarm is far more fun to play against. They are competitive, but nice. They also joke around a bit during the game with us and each other, which adds to the fun of playing the game. They are my favorite team to play against in this league.
Both games were nail biters, as is the custom when we play each other. To spoil the long story below, each team won once.
On Monday, we fell behind quickly in the first inning thanks to some early jitters. However, we received a controversial call in our favor to get out of the jam. With runners on first and second and one out, one of their players hit a ground ball to our shortstop (PhillyPhanatic). The guy on second stuck his foot out (to avoid the ball), but the ump ruled that he interfered with PhillyPhanatic by trying to kick the ball. PhillyPhanatic finished the double play by tossing the ball to second, and we escaped the top of the first down only 3-0.
Runs were hard to come by for both teams after that, thanks to some great defense. We went into the bottom of the sixth inning down 5-3, but rallied to tie the game, thanks in part to Hawkeye managing to score from first base on a ground ball single to left field. Talk about aggressive base running! After a great 1-2-3 defensive inning in the top of the seventh, Nells led off the bottom of the seventh with a clutch single over the third baseman's head. WhiteIverson followed up with another single. The next girl up struck out, which brought PhillyPhanatic up to bat with one out and the chance to be a hero. He walked on four straight pitches. Amazingly, it was the first time a player on our team walked all season. At this point, the ump tells PhillyPhanatic to go to first. Hawkeye and I immediately jump in and claim that he should get second base since he walked on four straight pitches, per league rules. The ump dismisses the argument, but we appealed to the other team's pitcher (who happens to be the commissioner of the league). Thankfully, the commissioner always keeps a copy of the rules handy at games, so we found the rule that states that a guy gets second base if he walks on four straight pitches, regardless of the number of outs. Therefore, PhillyPhanatic got second, WhiteIverson moved to third, and Nells walked home to end the game. A 6-5 victory, courtesy of a walk. Quite anti-climatic, but it would make Homer Simpson proud.
P&C did not have as strong of a lineup for today's game. We were missing Tricky on Tuesday, in addition to her twin sister who was unable to make either game this week since she is on her honeymoon. We like to have a solid girl play first base, but we needed Hawkeye to pitch and our other strong girl at the game only likes to play outfield.
We put our worst guy at first. However, if our team's first rule wasn't that "everyone who shows up plays", we would not let this guy play. We thought we needed additional guys this year since we lost a couple before the season started and the timing of my (potential) move to Philadelphia was not yet determined. Therefore we added a guy off the league's "free agent list" who said he was decent and had played before. Sadly, this guy is worse than every other guy on the team and four of our girls. He can't play any position in the field nor can he hit the ball. We put him at first and held our breath that he would catch the ball. Thankfully, he did ok given the expectations. However, he did drop a few throws early in the game and was not nearly as good as Tricky.
The bats were silent today for P&C. The guys hit poorly, including our best players. On at least two occasions, we had a guy up to bat with two outs or fewer and at least one runner in scoring position, yet we failed to bring the runner(s) home. Amazingly, we still led 5-4 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. Unfortunately, everything fell apart that inning defensively (helped by some timely hitting by the other team, of course). We gave up 4 runs in the sixth and ended up losing 8-5 after failing to score any runs in the seventh despite getting runners on second and third base with no outs to start the inning.
Oh well, it was a fun two game series. Both teams are probably quite happy with a split. I hope we get to play them again in the playoffs.
My hitting during the two games was back on track after a recent slump. I hit 3-4 with two doubles, and a triple. However, I only scored one run since I did not get timely hitting behind be in the batting order. I also made three bad errors at third base over the two games.
We have three more games before the July 4th break. All three games are against poor teams and will probably be mercy wins, so we should hit the holiday break with a 6-1 record.
posted by GaryGinew at 10:02 PM
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