There is so much to say, and yet no words do justice to what the Coneheads pulled off last weekend.
The facts for those that may read this that weren't there:
It was the post season tournament. The tournament those of us on this team look forward to every year as the softball highlight of the year. We had won it the last two years as underdog one year, at least co-favorites the other. Before that we hadn't won it in seven years. We also had won three straight championships in our fall league in another town. Nobody ever said three-peat out loud that I heard - we knew what happened to the 49ers twenty years ago when Roger Craig said it.
We started the season 0-2, unheard of in Conehead land. We were dominated by the arch rival Old Scouts in the middle of the season for our only other loss. We had a lot of guys taking days and weeks off. Our hitting was down from previous years. But we got some momentum building toward the end of the season. A big win against the Cal Gaels, also one of the key rivals, to finish the season.
Then the league monkeyed with the tournament schedule at the last moment to put us against St. Monica's in the first round. And on the dirt field instead of the new turf fields, which kind of offsets our great advantage - our defense. And we have been snake bit by St. Mo's. Lost to them twice in a row the last two regular seasons and they are not that good. So we went out and laid an egg in the first game Saturday. It was not a rout, just enough mistakes to lose by two.
And then something happened - there was no more doubt about what we had to do: it was win or go home. We could all feel it, just plain resolve in the dugout. OK then - we will just have to win six in a row.
It's a funny thing how guys psych themselves up. Some are firm believers that you just put a positive spin on everything, and the more you talk positive, the better the results will be. And talk out loud. Some (not mentioning any Stink Eyes here) are mostly pessimistic, and you have to watch them - it could get contagious. I like to think I am somewhere in the middle - perhaps it's the early training I had as a journalist (old school now) - you just stay objective. In these games there is such an ebb and flow of momentum, you just never know how it will unfold until the game is actually played. Believe, but cautiously, you have to respect that the other team wants it too, and don't offend the softball gods by talking too loud.
Starting with a crushing of the Areolas, we built a huge head of steam - the hotter the fields got, the hotter we were. As I said, we just left doubt behind. We built a 15-9 lead, and then put on a Conehead inning on them and it was over. It was muggy, and we got the pleasure of heading up to Wilder for the remainder of the tournament, and turf which would get to 110 degrees on Sunday.
We had a rematch of our first game against St. Mo's, but this felt different. We know we are the better team - it was just about damn time to go out and prove it. A funny thing happened - I don't know if they felt it, or if the injury or two they had in their second game really took that much of a toll, but they just laid down for us. We shut them out weakly in the top of the first and then nearly batted around to go up 8-0. The rest of the game was eerily quiet, each team only scored three runs, and the drama was gone.
The big blow in that first inning onslaught was a twisting liner to right that got by their right fielder for a grand slam by Markley. You could make a case for Markley as MVP - he had another similar home run in game five to lead the team in HRs, hit .650 overall, and made several great catches in right center. And no one ran on his arm.
We came back in the morning knowing we had to win four more. We had never done it, and as near as I can tell only the Old Scouts have done it, at least in this century.
The third and fourth games were more of the same. Bay Alarm/Pennini's came out and scored three in the first. We answered with three in our half, shut them down in the second and third, and the bottom of the order started a four run rally in the third. The other unsung hero of the weekend was Haz - he started numerous rallies and hit .750 overall.
Our defense just wouldn't give up anything. I can't remember which game but sometime in the first games, Derek made a great stab on a line drive that was all instinct. And Gene gave it up and was nearly concussed in left field, hitting his head on the turf on an all out dive to get an out in one of the early games.
The Waitlisters similarly laid down in the second game of the day. We put up seven runs in the first two innings - a two run double by Dizzy D, and Markley jump started the second with the aforementioned second home run. Derek took over this game with a two run triple later to the deepest part of the park, and Chopper added a two run home run as the rout was on by the fourth. Chuck was 4-4 in this game, and our leader got hotter and hotter as the weekend deepened and the the weather warmed up. Joe was dealing - the Waitlisters were nearly shut out. We ended up sending them packing 15-1.
The stage was set. At this point I don't think anyone was tired. True the Old Scouts were in the driver's seat, but we knew what I have said before - they knew the road to the Championship had to go through the Coneheads. The pressure should have been on us, but it didn't seem that way. We were staying cool - partially because Chopper and Lisa had gone home and brought back a tarp that gave us partial shade in the dugout from the 100+ temperature.
The games were low scoring, as they always seem to be when it gets down to the wire. We scored one, they answered, we scored two (another clutch hit by Markley), they answered with one. In the third Ol' G (another MVP candidate, he ended up leading the team with 14 RBIs in the playoffs) came up with the bases loaded and two outs and promptly unloaded them with a gap shot for a three run triple. It was 6-2 and might as well have been called there. the Scouts seemed to want to just start the last game already. They made a partial last ditch attempt in the seventh, but went down 7-5.
So we got to where we wanted - to play in the last game of the tournament. It was rewarding to just get there, we worked hard to do it. I remember thinking on Saturday after that first loss that all I wanted was to make the last game, that would be enough. But after we seemed to lag and sag and the Scouts took a lead in the last game, it became clear that it was going to be brutal if we came all that way only to lose in the last game. It couldn't end that way.
A couple of key things happened to set up the great drama in the penultimate game. First, apparently the Scouts pitcher (who is on the short list of players we can't stand in this league) took offense to Johnny and Randy being friendly with us, because they are Coneheads now in the fall league. I didn't think even tempered Johnny was capable of getting that hot under the collar - but there he was scuffling between games with the pitcher. They had to separate them. I don't like to see people fighting, but you had to chuckle to yourself - the pressure was getting to them.
As I said, though, the game has to play out, and we allowed a four spot in the second, and were not hitting at all. The sun had finally taken its toll on these old Cone-men. We hit into two double plays in the first two innings.
And then it happened - Larry, who had been snakebit the whole series, either not getting pitches to hit, or mostly hitting line drives right at everyone, was really struggling. But he came up in the top of the fifth and blasted a turf home run, to break the ice, and when he broke up the shutout, you could feel the tension release in our dugout. Larry, the reigning Mr. Conehead, truly stepped up. If I was having the luck he was having to that point, I would have been down, but he just kept his eyes level, and dragged us out of the doldrums.
They scored two more and actually won the inning but you know what we did. Batted around for our last and most necessary Conehead inning of the playoffs, got up on them 9-7. It wasn't over, but a shutdown inning in the bottom of the sixth had us believing once again.
We tried desperately to get some insurance runs, but our TEAMMATE Randy made a great diving play to squelch our rally in the seventh. We had to make our two run lead stand up.
And the Scouts got the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate in the form of the pitcher who wants to fight even his own team. A very good hitter, can hit the long ball. With one strike he hits a very loud foul ball down the left field line over the side fence. Whew. And then Joe comes up with the closest thing you can get to a fastball in slow pitch softball, and WHIFF, sit down, meat. the next guy anticlimactically hits a deep fly to right where Derek is standing, and Cotton is OURS.
It's always easy to say that the latest championship is the sweetest, but it certainly applies now. This one was the one we worked for the hardest. Everyone contributed. I didn't single out too many players, because we all had our moments.
Two do stand out. One is Gerry, who sat out the last day, because he felt he was in a slump, and it would help the team to have fewer in the lineup and he wasn't contributing. I still disagree with him - he is one of the most consistent hitters I have ever seen, and if he slumped Saturday, it probably meant Sunday he would have been 10 for 10. But I respected his choice, and I have even more respect for him today than I already had, and that was a lot.
And if we had to pick an overall MVP, it has to be Big D, Heavy D, Dizzy D, or just plain Derek. Every team out there feared him more than any other Conehead (or any player for that matter), and for good reason. He only made three outs the whole weekend, had 19 hits including legging out six extra base hits on his hobble knee, and even took it out to right field and made one great catch running in, and didn't miss a thing there or at first when he platooned with me.
But it belongs to all of us - enjoy this one, it will be hard to top.
And a side bar - Our venerable shortstop, he who likes to dive in the hole, got his 1000th hit as a Conehead in the Waitlisters game - quite an achievement. It indicates the loyalty of being a Conehead for that long, and of course even moreso, tremendous talent for hitting a round ball with a round bat squarely. Of course this is only since 1997 in the beginning of Conehead recorded history - Chuck no doubt had quite a few before that as well. For this achievement and for what he means to us on the field and in the dugout, he was named the first Conehead Captain. That's right - I give you our new leadoff hitter Captain Conehead 'Chico' Chuck Howlett.
Roger Craig jinxed the 49ers when he said the magic word three-peat, but we don't have to worry about that now. This fall and any future Cotton are just icing now.
Milestones:
Game 1
Joe 60 2b (#10)
Derek 20 3b (#14)
Haz 100 h (#24)
Game 2
Gene 70 bb (#8)
Knight 100 r (#20)
Derek 150 r (#17)
Game 3
Knight 10 gw (#10)
Game 4
Chuck 800 r (#1)
Larry 1150 ab (#4)
Lefty 200 ab (#20)
Markley 100 rbi (#22)
Game 5
Chuck 1000 h (#1)
Chopper 30 hr (#7)
Haz 50 r (#27)
Game 6
Haz 50 g (#24)
Game 7
Knight 200 ab (#21)
The facts for those that may read this that weren't there:
It was the post season tournament. The tournament those of us on this team look forward to every year as the softball highlight of the year. We had won it the last two years as underdog one year, at least co-favorites the other. Before that we hadn't won it in seven years. We also had won three straight championships in our fall league in another town. Nobody ever said three-peat out loud that I heard - we knew what happened to the 49ers twenty years ago when Roger Craig said it.
We started the season 0-2, unheard of in Conehead land. We were dominated by the arch rival Old Scouts in the middle of the season for our only other loss. We had a lot of guys taking days and weeks off. Our hitting was down from previous years. But we got some momentum building toward the end of the season. A big win against the Cal Gaels, also one of the key rivals, to finish the season.
Then the league monkeyed with the tournament schedule at the last moment to put us against St. Monica's in the first round. And on the dirt field instead of the new turf fields, which kind of offsets our great advantage - our defense. And we have been snake bit by St. Mo's. Lost to them twice in a row the last two regular seasons and they are not that good. So we went out and laid an egg in the first game Saturday. It was not a rout, just enough mistakes to lose by two.
And then something happened - there was no more doubt about what we had to do: it was win or go home. We could all feel it, just plain resolve in the dugout. OK then - we will just have to win six in a row.
It's a funny thing how guys psych themselves up. Some are firm believers that you just put a positive spin on everything, and the more you talk positive, the better the results will be. And talk out loud. Some (not mentioning any Stink Eyes here) are mostly pessimistic, and you have to watch them - it could get contagious. I like to think I am somewhere in the middle - perhaps it's the early training I had as a journalist (old school now) - you just stay objective. In these games there is such an ebb and flow of momentum, you just never know how it will unfold until the game is actually played. Believe, but cautiously, you have to respect that the other team wants it too, and don't offend the softball gods by talking too loud.
Starting with a crushing of the Areolas, we built a huge head of steam - the hotter the fields got, the hotter we were. As I said, we just left doubt behind. We built a 15-9 lead, and then put on a Conehead inning on them and it was over. It was muggy, and we got the pleasure of heading up to Wilder for the remainder of the tournament, and turf which would get to 110 degrees on Sunday.
We had a rematch of our first game against St. Mo's, but this felt different. We know we are the better team - it was just about damn time to go out and prove it. A funny thing happened - I don't know if they felt it, or if the injury or two they had in their second game really took that much of a toll, but they just laid down for us. We shut them out weakly in the top of the first and then nearly batted around to go up 8-0. The rest of the game was eerily quiet, each team only scored three runs, and the drama was gone.
The big blow in that first inning onslaught was a twisting liner to right that got by their right fielder for a grand slam by Markley. You could make a case for Markley as MVP - he had another similar home run in game five to lead the team in HRs, hit .650 overall, and made several great catches in right center. And no one ran on his arm.
We came back in the morning knowing we had to win four more. We had never done it, and as near as I can tell only the Old Scouts have done it, at least in this century.
The third and fourth games were more of the same. Bay Alarm/Pennini's came out and scored three in the first. We answered with three in our half, shut them down in the second and third, and the bottom of the order started a four run rally in the third. The other unsung hero of the weekend was Haz - he started numerous rallies and hit .750 overall.
Our defense just wouldn't give up anything. I can't remember which game but sometime in the first games, Derek made a great stab on a line drive that was all instinct. And Gene gave it up and was nearly concussed in left field, hitting his head on the turf on an all out dive to get an out in one of the early games.
The Waitlisters similarly laid down in the second game of the day. We put up seven runs in the first two innings - a two run double by Dizzy D, and Markley jump started the second with the aforementioned second home run. Derek took over this game with a two run triple later to the deepest part of the park, and Chopper added a two run home run as the rout was on by the fourth. Chuck was 4-4 in this game, and our leader got hotter and hotter as the weekend deepened and the the weather warmed up. Joe was dealing - the Waitlisters were nearly shut out. We ended up sending them packing 15-1.
The stage was set. At this point I don't think anyone was tired. True the Old Scouts were in the driver's seat, but we knew what I have said before - they knew the road to the Championship had to go through the Coneheads. The pressure should have been on us, but it didn't seem that way. We were staying cool - partially because Chopper and Lisa had gone home and brought back a tarp that gave us partial shade in the dugout from the 100+ temperature.
The games were low scoring, as they always seem to be when it gets down to the wire. We scored one, they answered, we scored two (another clutch hit by Markley), they answered with one. In the third Ol' G (another MVP candidate, he ended up leading the team with 14 RBIs in the playoffs) came up with the bases loaded and two outs and promptly unloaded them with a gap shot for a three run triple. It was 6-2 and might as well have been called there. the Scouts seemed to want to just start the last game already. They made a partial last ditch attempt in the seventh, but went down 7-5.
So we got to where we wanted - to play in the last game of the tournament. It was rewarding to just get there, we worked hard to do it. I remember thinking on Saturday after that first loss that all I wanted was to make the last game, that would be enough. But after we seemed to lag and sag and the Scouts took a lead in the last game, it became clear that it was going to be brutal if we came all that way only to lose in the last game. It couldn't end that way.
A couple of key things happened to set up the great drama in the penultimate game. First, apparently the Scouts pitcher (who is on the short list of players we can't stand in this league) took offense to Johnny and Randy being friendly with us, because they are Coneheads now in the fall league. I didn't think even tempered Johnny was capable of getting that hot under the collar - but there he was scuffling between games with the pitcher. They had to separate them. I don't like to see people fighting, but you had to chuckle to yourself - the pressure was getting to them.
As I said, though, the game has to play out, and we allowed a four spot in the second, and were not hitting at all. The sun had finally taken its toll on these old Cone-men. We hit into two double plays in the first two innings.
And then it happened - Larry, who had been snakebit the whole series, either not getting pitches to hit, or mostly hitting line drives right at everyone, was really struggling. But he came up in the top of the fifth and blasted a turf home run, to break the ice, and when he broke up the shutout, you could feel the tension release in our dugout. Larry, the reigning Mr. Conehead, truly stepped up. If I was having the luck he was having to that point, I would have been down, but he just kept his eyes level, and dragged us out of the doldrums.
They scored two more and actually won the inning but you know what we did. Batted around for our last and most necessary Conehead inning of the playoffs, got up on them 9-7. It wasn't over, but a shutdown inning in the bottom of the sixth had us believing once again.
We tried desperately to get some insurance runs, but our TEAMMATE Randy made a great diving play to squelch our rally in the seventh. We had to make our two run lead stand up.
And the Scouts got the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate in the form of the pitcher who wants to fight even his own team. A very good hitter, can hit the long ball. With one strike he hits a very loud foul ball down the left field line over the side fence. Whew. And then Joe comes up with the closest thing you can get to a fastball in slow pitch softball, and WHIFF, sit down, meat. the next guy anticlimactically hits a deep fly to right where Derek is standing, and Cotton is OURS.
It's always easy to say that the latest championship is the sweetest, but it certainly applies now. This one was the one we worked for the hardest. Everyone contributed. I didn't single out too many players, because we all had our moments.
Two do stand out. One is Gerry, who sat out the last day, because he felt he was in a slump, and it would help the team to have fewer in the lineup and he wasn't contributing. I still disagree with him - he is one of the most consistent hitters I have ever seen, and if he slumped Saturday, it probably meant Sunday he would have been 10 for 10. But I respected his choice, and I have even more respect for him today than I already had, and that was a lot.
And if we had to pick an overall MVP, it has to be Big D, Heavy D, Dizzy D, or just plain Derek. Every team out there feared him more than any other Conehead (or any player for that matter), and for good reason. He only made three outs the whole weekend, had 19 hits including legging out six extra base hits on his hobble knee, and even took it out to right field and made one great catch running in, and didn't miss a thing there or at first when he platooned with me.
But it belongs to all of us - enjoy this one, it will be hard to top.
And a side bar - Our venerable shortstop, he who likes to dive in the hole, got his 1000th hit as a Conehead in the Waitlisters game - quite an achievement. It indicates the loyalty of being a Conehead for that long, and of course even moreso, tremendous talent for hitting a round ball with a round bat squarely. Of course this is only since 1997 in the beginning of Conehead recorded history - Chuck no doubt had quite a few before that as well. For this achievement and for what he means to us on the field and in the dugout, he was named the first Conehead Captain. That's right - I give you our new leadoff hitter Captain Conehead 'Chico' Chuck Howlett.
Roger Craig jinxed the 49ers when he said the magic word three-peat, but we don't have to worry about that now. This fall and any future Cotton are just icing now.
Milestones:
Game 1
Joe 60 2b (#10)
Derek 20 3b (#14)
Haz 100 h (#24)
Game 2
Gene 70 bb (#8)
Knight 100 r (#20)
Derek 150 r (#17)
Game 3
Knight 10 gw (#10)
Game 4
Chuck 800 r (#1)
Larry 1150 ab (#4)
Lefty 200 ab (#20)
Markley 100 rbi (#22)
Game 5
Chuck 1000 h (#1)
Chopper 30 hr (#7)
Haz 50 r (#27)
Game 6
Haz 50 g (#24)
Game 7
Knight 200 ab (#21)
Excellent synopsis of a hot, exciting weekend.
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