Wednesday, November 28, 2018

It's Just Fall Ball, One 13 - Three 5

In the annals of Creakerdom, I am sure there have been fantastic teams galore.

But just for today, Team One sits on top of the heap, after drubbing Team Three 13-5, finishing an undefeated season (yes we did have two ties). And the past Head of Leadership and the new Head can just take that to the Fall Ball bank.

The game started out slow enough. No one knew if it was Thanksgiving food and drink hangover, or the two week layoff or the fact that we skipped BP to start early so we could get the game in before the rains came. But the score stood at 1-0 through three innings and 6-3 through five. We just kept gnawing away and in the end it wasn't close.

Team One played great defense all season. We did not score the most of any team, but our defense brought us to the finish line more than once, including today.

Literally. Julia Gillette caught two tough popups at second base/shallow right, moving to her left on balls hit by the last two batters to finish off Team Three - the first baseman barely moved, he was so sure of the outcome. Gillette also turned a slow roller by the speedy Mark Pitzlin into an out earlier in the game, by the blink of an eye.

Chip Sharpe was the other defensive star of the game. All he did was throw out a runner at home who dared challenge him (via Bob Muegge at the mound), and then nail a runner at second on a 'single' in front of him in right center with rover Charlie Pastor covering.

Pastor led the team with five RBIs on three singles. Paul Lisi was his usual 4-4 including a double. Sharpe was sharp at the top of the lineup scoring four times after reaching base with three hits and a fielder's choice.

Neil Henry and Frank Coppa had perfect days at the plate, each going 3-3 with a double. Frank used his extraordinary speed to continue to third on his two run two bagger as the ball rattled around the plate after Team Three tried to throw out a runner going home. It was a sight to see.

Bob Shipway, James 'Chewy' Little, and Gary King all had a couple of line drive hits- although King's best shot just twisted foul down the right field line.

Last and certainly not least, any time a team holds a Creaker team to five runs, you know the pitching had to be good. Sharpe was pressed into duty on short notice because we started the game before our other pitchers arrived - he merely shut out Three in his two innings. Bill Warren didn't allow an earned run in his three innings - he gave up only three unearned in the fifth when we gave the opponent about eight outs. And Muegge closed things out with a scoreless ninth thanks to Gillette's prowess.

We had our share of controversy this season but like the A's of the 70s we overcame every obstacle to finish a great season. One was ONE.

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