This team is tough, relentless.
No I don't mean on the field - well, yes I do, but we'll get to that shortly.
What is tough is the razzing - before the games, during the games (not to mention the Stink Eye), and after the games - especially when we win.
In the last inning of our rout of Chico's Bail Bonds Sunday (final score 25-5) a ball was clobbered to right field. Our right fielder Haz (pronounce Haze) got a great jump, ran back to the spot, just like your coaches told you to do when you were ten, and turned around. His instincts were so good that when he turned around the ball was right there, and he reached up and snatched it.
It made almost no difference in the game's outcome, other than the final score, but underlined why JFT or the Coneheads or whatever we are at this juncture is so on top of this league - we play every play like it matters (it does) and we play excellent defense, which is rare in rec league softball.
But - by the time the Razzers came out on the sidelines over our beer and water, Haz was told, ah that was routine. Can of Corn. What else were you thinking?
And we all laughed. Including Haz. But we also all knew the truth, that Haz would make the same play if it was 18-17 and there were two outs and the tying run was on third, which is what makes us great.
Add to the defensive gems a couple of shots up the middle that Johnny stopped, filling in for Knight at Schmiddler. One he threw too low for the force and then they came right back at him on the next play and this time he was ready and got the out.
There may have been one or two heros on offense as well. There was no Conehead inning this game. Instead we did something I can't remember us ever doing - we scored at least four runs in every inning. 4-6-6-5-4 for 25 total in five innings. Can't really beat that.
We did it with a balance in the lineup that was remarkable in itself. Every player had a hit, a run and an RBI, and we batted 14. Sting was 2-2 with two walks including one with the bases loaded. Lefty, Ol' G, Johnny and Heffe were 3-3.
Sting had perhaps the most important hit of the game. In the second inning when we were 'muddling' along only up 7-2, with two outs he cleared the bases with a three run blast to left center. That pretty much sealed the deal less than one and a half innings into the game.
But it was Big D who stole the show. His next time up, leading off the third, he hit a ball that nearly made it into the trees on a fly. The right fielder saw it roll into the trees and pleaded mercy, aka ground rule double. Yeah right. D with his new found legs was already on his way to third, and there was no way it was a not a home run.
Then in the next inning he got a chance with runners on. He hit a shot that he claimed he got under, straight down the line. I'm told that it also made the trees (I couldn't see it from my angle in the dugout), and this time it was a three run Can of Corn only there was no can, just sweet corn. The rout continued until Chico's cried uncle after the fifth.
I swear in the handshake line I could read their eyes and thoughts - "Who are these guys?"
And the answer, of course, is we are the guys who turn tough catches into cans of corn.
* In last week's post, I mentioned the key hit of the game ("he put one over the right center fielder's head"), but the hitter remained unnamed. Sorry about that Pope.
Milestones:
Sting 10 hr (#1)
Heffe 150 rbi (#3)
Johnny 50 h (#21)
No I don't mean on the field - well, yes I do, but we'll get to that shortly.
What is tough is the razzing - before the games, during the games (not to mention the Stink Eye), and after the games - especially when we win.
In the last inning of our rout of Chico's Bail Bonds Sunday (final score 25-5) a ball was clobbered to right field. Our right fielder Haz (pronounce Haze) got a great jump, ran back to the spot, just like your coaches told you to do when you were ten, and turned around. His instincts were so good that when he turned around the ball was right there, and he reached up and snatched it.
It made almost no difference in the game's outcome, other than the final score, but underlined why JFT or the Coneheads or whatever we are at this juncture is so on top of this league - we play every play like it matters (it does) and we play excellent defense, which is rare in rec league softball.
But - by the time the Razzers came out on the sidelines over our beer and water, Haz was told, ah that was routine. Can of Corn. What else were you thinking?
And we all laughed. Including Haz. But we also all knew the truth, that Haz would make the same play if it was 18-17 and there were two outs and the tying run was on third, which is what makes us great.
Add to the defensive gems a couple of shots up the middle that Johnny stopped, filling in for Knight at Schmiddler. One he threw too low for the force and then they came right back at him on the next play and this time he was ready and got the out.
There may have been one or two heros on offense as well. There was no Conehead inning this game. Instead we did something I can't remember us ever doing - we scored at least four runs in every inning. 4-6-6-5-4 for 25 total in five innings. Can't really beat that.
We did it with a balance in the lineup that was remarkable in itself. Every player had a hit, a run and an RBI, and we batted 14. Sting was 2-2 with two walks including one with the bases loaded. Lefty, Ol' G, Johnny and Heffe were 3-3.
Sting had perhaps the most important hit of the game. In the second inning when we were 'muddling' along only up 7-2, with two outs he cleared the bases with a three run blast to left center. That pretty much sealed the deal less than one and a half innings into the game.
But it was Big D who stole the show. His next time up, leading off the third, he hit a ball that nearly made it into the trees on a fly. The right fielder saw it roll into the trees and pleaded mercy, aka ground rule double. Yeah right. D with his new found legs was already on his way to third, and there was no way it was a not a home run.
Then in the next inning he got a chance with runners on. He hit a shot that he claimed he got under, straight down the line. I'm told that it also made the trees (I couldn't see it from my angle in the dugout), and this time it was a three run Can of Corn only there was no can, just sweet corn. The rout continued until Chico's cried uncle after the fifth.
I swear in the handshake line I could read their eyes and thoughts - "Who are these guys?"
And the answer, of course, is we are the guys who turn tough catches into cans of corn.
* In last week's post, I mentioned the key hit of the game ("he put one over the right center fielder's head"), but the hitter remained unnamed. Sorry about that Pope.
Milestones:
Sting 10 hr (#1)
Heffe 150 rbi (#3)
Johnny 50 h (#21)
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