The Winds of Victory

Amidst at times a strong swirling wind, the WolfPack ultimately ran away with our third victory over the vintage Vintage team, 15-6.

Kudos to Al Oxley for throwing strikes in the howling wind - it takes a control artist to do that. His mix together with our increasingly good defense kept Vintage from being much of a threat all game.

Our bats were largely silent as well through the first seven innings. In the second, we managed to string together six of seven hitters with singles, and plated three to take a 3-2 lead. And after Vintage went a run ahead, in the fifth on a wild fielder's choice by Wilbur Williams, we scored two runs and never trailed again.

But the game remained close until the top of the eighth (6-5). Dave Rose and JP at the bottom of the lineup started things out with singles. Oxley and Doug Ichikura brought them home with base hits but the big blow was Mike Harris' ensuing triple on the gap. David Partridge brought him home and we had the first five run inning of the game.

Vintage was done at that point as the score was 11-5. They managed one in the eighth, but we weren't finished. In the ninth, Lee Hubbard smashed a two run homer and we added two more to get to the final score of 15-6.

Early on, there was a great catch in left in the twisting wind by Hubbard, and Frank Coppa pulled down a tough pop up at the fence by third base foul ground. Somehow I don't have notes of other great plays, but I do know that in one of my innings out, JP generously gave out loads of comic relief playing first base. I do believe he stumbled more than once fielding and catching the ball, and did his darndest to give away some free bases but managed to get the out each time.

We ended the first go-around 3-1-1, by far the best start in our short history. We are starting to gel. There are no superstars, and that's a good thing, I think.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and let's keep it going when we get back to it! We should all have more power with the added weight from the holiday, even if we are a step slower!

I Just Didn't Want to Kiss Ritt.

Wednesday's game could be looked at in about as many ways as there were at bats in the game.

On the one hand, we had so many chances to take over the momentum, and could have pulled off the upset. On the other hand so did the Hornets, and yet they never got that killer rally to put us away. They thought they did with a five run eighth for a 10-6 lead, but we roared back with four in the ninth and held them scoreless in the bottom half to preserve the 10-10 tie.

It's a testament to Billy's pitching and especially the defense up the middle - we turned numerous double plays either started by Doug at SS or Les at Rover. The Hornets are the powerhouse no matter how many times Leo's wins the league, and we kept them from winning in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game. We gifted them a lead off error base runner, and Doug promptly wiped him out with a double play. That's a win.

It also shows our new character - we weren't hitting a lick, and still managed to come away with the tie, and I didn't have to kiss Mike Rittenhouse, because lucky for me he is not my sister.

The sun was tough and Lee, and Paul and David all made nice catches staring up into it.

There were lots of o-fers and one-fers throughout the lineup but Doug also had a nice day at the plate. He hit a gap triple in the first (even though we stranded him). But the clutch hit was a thing of beauty in the ninth - a line drive into right center that plated our first run in the game tying rally in the open inning.

The others with three hits were Chris and Heffe. Paul had two and a walk, and David had an important two run single in the second to get our scoring started. Every run counted in this game. Billy had an RBI monster shot to right center, but he was hobbling, so he stopped at second.

A win next week against Vintage would mean a 3-1-1 start the first time around the league. That would be the best start by far for this team. Let's do it!

Cheaper By the Dozen

In a league wide season high for runs, the Wolfpack downed the Crows 28-20 in dramatic fashion, scoring twelve runs in the top of the ninth, and shutting out the Crows in the bottom half to seal the victory.

The game was actually a pitchers' duel through the fourth, and we trailed 3-1 at that point. But things changed in the fifth.

Paul Lisi's two run, two out triple in that frame gave us our first lead at 4-3, and we were to put up 14 runs in the next three innings. But the Crows kept battling back and they tallied 12 over the same time frame.

The next big hit was David Partridge's three run bomb to deep left in the sixth, the major run producer in that five run inning. David had been battling bad luck through the first two games, and he broke out of it in a big way with a team leading five RBIs.

The next turn was John Look's three run smash the next time we came up. John showed up despite feeling fluish, and he was sweating profusely. What is the expression, "starve a cold, feed a fever?" Well now it's "starve a cold, feed a fever a three run homer."

Among others, I had four hits, including a key two run double in our ninth inning rally that changed a three run lead to five with two outs. But I am most proud of coaxing a walk from Don Clay to start the ninth - a true "and that's how it started" moment.

Because the deluge was on. Everyone played within themselves at the plate that inning. We had nine straight hits with two outs including back to back doubles by Heffe and John, followed by a triple by Chris Nielsen.

Doug Ichikura and Billy Warren led the way with five hits. Followed by Lisi, Kravin, Look and Nielsen with four. Everyone had at least two hits, and everyone drove in at least one run, and all but one scored at least one.

Finally, Al Oxley was lights out pitching. He knows all the hitters except their big guy who produced a prodigious bomb to center, and if it weren't for some key drops by our fielders, the Crows would have been held to far fewer runs. But we also made some plays on defense, especially a grab in right by Look on a slicing liner to the right field line that saved a couple of runs. And we turned at least one, maybe a couple of double plays on the infield, and Wilbur Williams made a great shoestring catch on a low liner.

All in all, a very exciting game where it felt good to come out on top. We play like this, we can compete for a title this season!