I've always wanted to write a book. Just never had the discipline to follow through on the hundred times I started one. Now though, thanks to the Knight, I know what to do.
We need to chronicle the life and times of one Mike Callanan, a.k.a. Chopper. The title will be Softball My Way, as told to Heffe Kravin, and the subtitle will be The Chopper School of Baserunning and the Other Skills of Softball.
The reason this came up was that in an otherwise hohum opener of our double header Sunday, Chopper was running for Joe and went to third on a double by Randy. He did the most incredible flop and landed with a thud on the bag. And in the third base dugout we had very good seats for the performance! If there were a pool under him, the cannonball he created would have emptied the entire pool. It was impressive.
We pretty much owned the Holy Sox and made the game batting practice for the nightcap. Except Haze. He showed up, walked twice, and then had to go to some other commitment instead of playing the next game. A perfect day of softball - 0-0, 2 walks, 1 run scored.
Randy was the hitting hero, doubling twice and singling in three at bats, while driving in three runs in the leadoff spot. Aaron and Big D smoked doubles while going 2-2, and they were joined by Heffe with 2-2 games, and Lefty had three RBIs.
Big D had the defensive play of the game snaring a hot one hopper back-handed. When he realized to get the out at first it had to be Joe covering or his hamstrings lugging him there, instead he fired it to second to get a force out. Of course I don't give him enough credit - you're supposed to get the lead runner. but just let's say Necessity is the Mother of Invention. We also turned a 6-11-3 nifty double play - the Knight doing the lefty 270 turn so common in baseball and softball.
The second game turned out to be much more exciting for the fans. It didn't start that way - we were up 6-1 when we came into the dugout going into the top of the fourth. At that point someone said let's get five runs and go up by 10, and I turned to Randy and said forget that let's go up 15-1. And so, we actually got one more and were on our way to the slaughter rule with a 16-1 lead.
We started the Conehead inning with a bunch of singles by the last half of the order, and when Randy knocked in a run on a fielder's choice for the second out, we had three in and a tidy 9-1 lead. Then we got six straight two out hits, including back to back doubles by Sting and Pope, and a lumbering triple to the hinterlands by Big D.
Just needed six outs to get to our well deserved beer after the minimum five innings. But the Big Feet had other ideas, and blooped and bled their way to match our ten in the bottom of the fourth. It was a bit of a nightmare inning and luckily we had the Conehead inning to lean on.
I guess it drove Joe to drink - he let D come in to pitch, and went to get the cooler for our after game refreshments. In actuality it was a brilliant move - D's pitching style is pretty much opposite Joe's and the opponent got their Big Feet all tangled up trying to hit him, and came up with a Big Zero in the last two innings. With one insurance run added, we ended the game up 17-11.
Pope was a perfect 4-4 with the mini-cycle, just missing a home run. Knight drove in runs with three straight singles to pace us with three RBIs. Sting was also one short of a cycle but he was missing the triple. Heffe had another 2-2 (as did Chuck) to finish off a perfect day, 4-4 with a walk and a Conehead triple. On a single to shallow center, Gene took a very wide turn around third and got into a run down. Heffe kept motoring on, and when the pickle throw home to nail Gene hit him and skittered off toward first base, Heffe kept on keeping on. It was mighty tempting to go for a little league home run, but reason prevailed, and he settled for the CH triple.
Another double header this weekend. Our magic number is Two to clinch top seed for the playoffs, and we play the second place Polar Bears in the opener. Win that and it's settled. Whether or not we win that one Big Feet get another crack at us in the nightcap.
Milestones, Game 1
Lefty 150 g (#4)
D 30 bb (#5)
Milestones, Game 2
We need to chronicle the life and times of one Mike Callanan, a.k.a. Chopper. The title will be Softball My Way, as told to Heffe Kravin, and the subtitle will be The Chopper School of Baserunning and the Other Skills of Softball.
The reason this came up was that in an otherwise hohum opener of our double header Sunday, Chopper was running for Joe and went to third on a double by Randy. He did the most incredible flop and landed with a thud on the bag. And in the third base dugout we had very good seats for the performance! If there were a pool under him, the cannonball he created would have emptied the entire pool. It was impressive.
We pretty much owned the Holy Sox and made the game batting practice for the nightcap. Except Haze. He showed up, walked twice, and then had to go to some other commitment instead of playing the next game. A perfect day of softball - 0-0, 2 walks, 1 run scored.
Randy was the hitting hero, doubling twice and singling in three at bats, while driving in three runs in the leadoff spot. Aaron and Big D smoked doubles while going 2-2, and they were joined by Heffe with 2-2 games, and Lefty had three RBIs.
Big D had the defensive play of the game snaring a hot one hopper back-handed. When he realized to get the out at first it had to be Joe covering or his hamstrings lugging him there, instead he fired it to second to get a force out. Of course I don't give him enough credit - you're supposed to get the lead runner. but just let's say Necessity is the Mother of Invention. We also turned a 6-11-3 nifty double play - the Knight doing the lefty 270 turn so common in baseball and softball.
The second game turned out to be much more exciting for the fans. It didn't start that way - we were up 6-1 when we came into the dugout going into the top of the fourth. At that point someone said let's get five runs and go up by 10, and I turned to Randy and said forget that let's go up 15-1. And so, we actually got one more and were on our way to the slaughter rule with a 16-1 lead.
We started the Conehead inning with a bunch of singles by the last half of the order, and when Randy knocked in a run on a fielder's choice for the second out, we had three in and a tidy 9-1 lead. Then we got six straight two out hits, including back to back doubles by Sting and Pope, and a lumbering triple to the hinterlands by Big D.
Just needed six outs to get to our well deserved beer after the minimum five innings. But the Big Feet had other ideas, and blooped and bled their way to match our ten in the bottom of the fourth. It was a bit of a nightmare inning and luckily we had the Conehead inning to lean on.
I guess it drove Joe to drink - he let D come in to pitch, and went to get the cooler for our after game refreshments. In actuality it was a brilliant move - D's pitching style is pretty much opposite Joe's and the opponent got their Big Feet all tangled up trying to hit him, and came up with a Big Zero in the last two innings. With one insurance run added, we ended the game up 17-11.
Pope was a perfect 4-4 with the mini-cycle, just missing a home run. Knight drove in runs with three straight singles to pace us with three RBIs. Sting was also one short of a cycle but he was missing the triple. Heffe had another 2-2 (as did Chuck) to finish off a perfect day, 4-4 with a walk and a Conehead triple. On a single to shallow center, Gene took a very wide turn around third and got into a run down. Heffe kept motoring on, and when the pickle throw home to nail Gene hit him and skittered off toward first base, Heffe kept on keeping on. It was mighty tempting to go for a little league home run, but reason prevailed, and he settled for the CH triple.
Another double header this weekend. Our magic number is Two to clinch top seed for the playoffs, and we play the second place Polar Bears in the opener. Win that and it's settled. Whether or not we win that one Big Feet get another crack at us in the nightcap.
Milestones, Game 1
Lefty 150 g (#4)
D 30 bb (#5)
Milestones, Game 2
Chuck 250 r (#1)
Chuck 50 bb (#1)
Heffe 500 ab (#2)
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