There is no joy in Mudville...

Ok, so last week when we had our "last" baseball game I thought that would be it, and I was fine with it. It turns out that there was some misunderstanding regarding the eligibility of a player for playoffs, (read: they had some ringers) so we came to a compromise of a rematch tonight.

So now I have to drag out my glove and cleats again and I am not that excited about it, because as I said before, I was ok with the transition into winter sports happening soon. But I slowly get my psyched up for the game and we go out tonight to better last week's performance.

Getting down 11-0 after three innings was not a good start.

They were hitting me left right and centre. I may have struck out one in the first three innings and they actually got to ten batters in the third, (ten batters is the mercy rule in all but the last inning.) But, in the bottom of three we turned on the bats. We started chipping away at the lead and the defense was holding to three or four batters an inning. When we finally get to the bottom the seventh inning, (last inning,) the game is tied 15-15. We need one run to win the game and get to the next round of playoffs.

First batter strikes out. Second batter gets a single. Third batter a double putting runners 2nd and 3rd with one out. Next batter grounds to the pitcher and they turn to 1st quickly and are ready for the throw back home so now it is 2nd and 3rd with two outs. Next batter is Hopper, a spray hitter that can literally put it anywhere there is green. Pitcher gets one strike then throws four away to "intentionally" walk him. See, you can't walk a guy on purpose to get to a girl batter in this league. The penalty for walking a guy on four straight with no strikes is he goes to 2nd and that would have won us the game. So the pitcher gets the strike then throws four to put him on 1st so they can load the bases and have a force out at each spot.

Their problem was the next girl batter for our team was a chick we like to call Boomer.

When Hopper was being walked, you could see that she was not happy. You could tell that she thought it was a cheap thing to do and I'll bet that she thought they were just trying to get past a guy to have an "easy out" with a girl batter, even though the loading the bases for the last out strategy was sound. You could see her just steaming, itching to show this team what a big mistake they had made putting her up at the plate.

First pitch - perfect strike, just what Boomer wanted. She never takes the bat off the shoulder unless she has a strike against her.
Second pitch - swing right through, line drive to the gap in right centre. Easily a stand up double and the winning run jogs in from 3rd!

Boomer showed them what a big mistake they had made putting her up at the plate.

We won the game and made it to the next round of the playoffs. Well, remember that this was a rematch. This wasn't a planned game and didn't really fit in to the schedule. Guess when the next round of the playoffs was. Right after the game I just told you about.

We lost this game, 17-5, and I don't really feel that any details are worth it. I could make excuses. In fact I will. I was tired. I pitched ten innings all told tonight. My backup was tired too, (even though I think she pitched way better than me the second game.) We were all tired. But they were also a good team...are a good team. We have known the Rebels for years and I always like to play against them. I hope they do well in the next round.

So now I go to bed in pain. Yes, I hurt myself playing baseball, it can happen, and I don't care if people laugh at me at work tomorrow. My hip hurts, my knee hurts, and my hand hurts, all from a single that I never should have even thought of stretching into a double.

It was worth it for the look I got from the coach on 1st!

All for now,
Kef...