Red Tide

Ok. I don't know how I am going to say this. Humility may or may not be my strong suit.

Well, let's get it over with. I hit a walk-off double (at least) over Al Munoz' head in right field to score James Del Rio from second base with the winning run in a thriller over Gray, 19-18.

And that's the humble part.

Al was playing me shallow, as all my smart opponents do. I clubbed it. No I blasted it. No, I CRUSHED it. I am the HERO. That's the not so humble part.

But perhaps the most important at bat was Chuck Breese's in the eighth. After all, if I didn't get my hit in the ninth we would have still had two more chances to get the winning run home.

He came up with two outs and two on in the eighth when we were trying to come back to tie it going into the ninth. It was still 18-14. He took a walk, and it loaded the bases and turned the lineup over. Kevin Kane followed with another walk for a run, Rich Brown drove in two with a single and then Randy Crase also selflessly walked to re-load the bases. It was automatic then, James hit a line drive single to tie it.

And Bob Muegge, after allowing five in his first inning at the mound, the seventh, shut down Gray completely in the eighth and ninth. In the last inning the outs were all pretty routine, as he had them reaching all over the place.

In the ninth the key hit was really Lamont Thompson leading off by hitting it in the gap and hustling to get to second with no outs, where James could run for him, and I could drive him in.

Other highlights - we strung together a great inning in the bottom of the fifth. At that point we were down 13-3, and could feel it spiraling away from us. Let's face it - there was some grousing and grumbling in the dugout. This will happen when you are down ten and have opened the season 0-5. Even the optimists among us had an edge in their voices.

But that rally closed it to 13-9 and we knew were in the game if we just started playing some defense. As Coach Larry said, "who knew you could win the inning after allowing a five run top!" We had singles by Rich, James, LT, the Hero, Coach Larry, and Roger Vaverka sandwiched around a lineout by Randy (that was one of the hardest hit balls all day) and a fielder's choice, and punctuated by Tony Gorgone's double in the gap for our final two runs.

The real hit(ter)s of the day were (by) James and LT. James led off the second with a blast that reached the trees in right center - he could have rounded two or three times by the time the outfielders' retrieved it. And LT hit one just about to Concord over left center way, deep enough that even with his hobbled gait he could trot all the way around the bases for a two run shot. Both of them were 4-4 to lead the way.

The fielding highlights (if there is such a thing on our team) were two great catches in right center - one by Al Kidwell that no one thought he would get, and one by Kevin running down a wind-aided knuckler late in the game.

But the main takeaway is, that RED will not be denied...give us enough chances and we might even win a couple more!