A Perfect Game

I've played approximately 1900 softball games since 2000. That's about 120 a year on average. A little embarrassing - how could I possibly have a life outside softball with that much time on the field and writing the blog, and getting players, and doing stats, and all the other trivial duties of being a softball slut.

Well, maybe I do or maybe I don't have a full life, but once in a while you play a game that is tense and dramatic, and tautly played, and you just wonder why it can't always be like that.

Tuesday night, Transdyn came into the game in the doldrums. One and four. One season after going undefeated and bumped up to the Upper League, we couldn't get enough players on the field, almost literally at times. We hung in there - we lost four games by a total of thirteen runs. We just couldn't turn the corner and play up to our abilities.

Sons of Pitches came in confident. Although they had a 29-29 tie with the Ringers, their other games (which they won) were not close. They are the token tournament team, they just come out for batting practice like many other teams that play the rec circuit. In this scenario, we could have just folded up and given it up.

Instead we played one of the tautest games we have in a long while. The game featured five lead changes - the cry of "Lead Change" rang out of both dugouts at times. In the end it was Tom shutting them down by mixing up front and back, short and tall, and in and out, and keeping them just enough off balance. And making great plays on the mound. You see they went up the middle far more than we did, even though later their SS was crying about it when Jason hit one off their pitcher's glove.

And the rest of the team made all the routine plays, and a couple of great ones - Brian made one of the ESPN highlight stops of the year deep in the 3-4 hole, and even nailed the lead runner at second. Cage threw out a runner gunning for second, but not sliding, by a hair. In the mean time, the Sons made a few gaffs, especially on the infield to gift us a few runs. In fact that was really the difference right there.

The Sons probably thought they had the game as they started to solve Tom in the middle of the game and plated four in the fifth and sixth to take the lead once again at 11-9. But after the middle of our lineup produced the game winning rally (to take the final lead of 12-11), in the top of the seventh he shut them down and even though we had the heart of the lineup coming up in the bottom we had no need for further heroics.

The big hits were booming doubles by Berto and D. Cage also slashed a double down the left field line, and Coop had a twister double over the right fielder's head to start a rally in the fifth. One of the highlights was a warning track sacrifice fly from D with runners on second and third. I was coaching third and I didn't bother trying to stop Brian coming from second - I could see the fire in his eyes that he was going to score - and he did. Two ribs for D.

But it was the little ball rally from Mark, Pauly, Heffe, Chopper, and Coop that finished the scoring to put it away. Everyone contributed in this game.

Afterwards you could tell players from both teams felt that this was one of those games in which it was great to have a part. And amazing things can happen if we could just get our team whole on the field - playoffs are not out of reach if we play like this every week.

Milestones:
9/8
Cage        500 h (#5)
Chopper   100 h (#22)

9/15
D              20 sf (#5)
Tom          100 h (#23)

Everyone's A Critic

The Snorts used to be the Duck Snorts. I guess they thought that Ducks didn't sound macho enough. Or Duck Snorts was too long to write out on the lineup card. Or maybe, just maybe, they read my blog last year when I suggested that all the teams with two words in their names replace the second with Schmutz. I guess Duck Schmutz didn't resonate with them - who knew? So now they are the Snorts.

I won't be mentioning any names, but suddenly I have a critic. It has been suggested that I should perhaps spend more time highlighting the defensive gems...after all, perhaps just as much as the Conehead inning, our trademark is that we play better defense than most teams, and as the cliche goes, defense wins championships.

Here I was sailing along with my high opinion of my clippings, and now I find that everyone is bored with hearing about Larry going 2-2 and Heffe hitting the weakest 3-3 possible (all singles, no runs, no RBIs) and watching in amazement as Chopper takes a bases loaded walk. For God's sake, that was the eighth wonder of the world.

So I won't be making a big deal out of Chuck's 3-4 with a game starting triple down the line...when Knight drove him in (with the first of his three hits) it set the tone and even though we gave up the lead temporarily in the second and the third, really our offense was consistent enough that no one ever had an doubt about the outcome. It's just not that important, right Chuck?

Nor will I make a big deal out of Pope's off field moon shot with the bases loaded in the fourth. The game actually was close at that point, and the grand slam converted a 9-6 lead into 13-6, and when we added three more that inning for a mini-Conehead inning (I can't believe I am not even that impressed with a seven run frame on this team), at 16-6 destiny really had solidified. The ultimate score was 17-9.

Oh and I can't talk about Bruce - we wanted to get him up again but time ran short - because he had the maxi-mini cycle. How many guys have a homer, a double, and a triple in their first three at bats, and just need a single to get the four pack? I told him he had to stop at first his next time up, and when I said that, we agreed that he was totally jinxed now. Not that we are superstitious. Luckily or not, he didn't come up again so I am off the hook for that one at least.

No, instead I have to reward the defenders who make the great plays, even though half the time I forget about them between coming off the field and the next inning due to not-so-early senility. But I do remember Chuck, a great dive up the middle and an out in the first inning that kept the Snorts off the board for at least the first.

And Larry made two tremendous stops that were on him in a flash on the mound - and he turned one of them into a double play. Although when a pitcher makes a great stop you are never sure if it was just pure animal instinct, i.e. self-preservation that took over. Nevertheless, great stuff.

But the play of the game was on a five foot batted ball straight back off the plate over Chopper's head at catcher. He leaped! and he grabbed and snagged it! We will have to change the Chopper to the Cleaper. Or Clopper? Or Cheaper? He already is the Cheeper back there behind the plate, with his jive. Popcorn! No Butter! Alley Alley! Cheep! Cheep!

There. I highlighted the defensive gems. I'm sure I forgot a half dozen but progress will come slowly. Please be patient.

Solid win on both sides of the ball really, though.

Milestones:

Pope        700 rbi (#1)
Larry        30 sf (#9)
Bruce       50 r (#29)
Bruce       50 rbi (#30)

Kiss My...Sister

One of the few bad things about recreational softball is the fact that we have a clock. Baseball is not supposed to have a clock. It's supposed to be played on lazy afternoons, when you need nothing else to make a perfect day, as long as the game takes. Someone walks away the winner, and someone the loser.

I know, old school, and all that.

But no, not in the city run softball leagues. Can't have the neighbors complaining about games going too late into the night. Can't have to pay the umps and field monitors OT. So we have the notion of a tie game, or as the cliche goes, "Kissing your sister." Not that there is anything wrong with my sister. She's great. It's just that her romance is with her husband, not with me. I don't even want to think about it.

Monday we tied HBF, in what was a very entertaining game that began at 9:15 - after some of our players' bedtime. The question after the game was who was more frustrated, HBF or us, because we both had our reasons to feel we blew the game.

We punched ahead with a relentless attack for the first four innings. By the time HBF came up in the bottom of the fourth, we had a 13-0 lead.

Not to last long. HBF put up eleven in one of those nightmare innings every team faces some time or other, and only a huge running deep catch by Pope kept us in front (I think it was that inning). In this case it was mostly their bats, not errors, that produced the rally. Yeah we had a couple of near miss plays that could have/should have been made, but they were hitting the ball all over the place. HBF kind of reminds me of young Coneheads - some of them produced flares to the opposite field while others smashed it deep. A smart team, a rarity among the younger generation.

The fifth came and went with no runs being scored. It was a tense game at that point. When we put up four in the top of the sixth, already known to be the last inning (damn clock), it was a decent lead but not that comfortable given what happened in the fourth.

The kept the pressure on. Runs were pouring in, and ultimately they had the bases loaded with one out, tie game with the winning run 70 feet away at third. All they needed was a decently deep fly ball. At that point Randy called for a double play ball to Chuck, and the HBF batter complied. Chuck was flawless, and Randy's turn and throw were perfect and the game was over, with everyone's sister in attendance. It was a miracle finish, not losing, at that point.

So who is more bummed in the end? We are the Coneheads, we think we should win every game, there is that. And we blew 13-0 and 17-11 leads. But ultimately we snatched the tie out of the jaws of defeat. There was some relief there.

On the other hand HBF wasted two huge comebacks with the hammer in their pocket, and couldn't finish the win. I'm voting for it feeling worse for them at the end. It will be fun if we face them in the playoffs. It's clear that these are two of the best teams in this league, and we both trail Cream and Clear, last year's champions by a half game.

D and Pope were the hitting stars. Pope blasted a monster three run job in the first to launch our game. D was perfect at 4-4 with a triple and a double. Chuck and Knight added three hits each, and the Junior Knight, although he made his first out at the plate, had yet another Moon shot way past the outfielders chasing in futile pursuit.

Milestones:
Randy        10 bb (#23)

Randy        10 sf (#23)