Apologies to Clay Kallum for stealing your style last week in my frustration at Orange's six game losing streak. I was at the end of my rope, as much as you can be in rec league softball.
But it worked! Thanks Clay, but I won't do it again.
I won't be holding a press conference to announce that our lineup came crashing out of the gate with six straight hits and Jay Chafetz drove in the fifth run as we jumped to a 5-0 lead and 9-0 after three and a half and never looked back. In fact, the top five in our lineup, Ron Schwab, Mark Edelstone, Mike Saindon, Greg Wilson, and Mark Narciso accounted for 16 of our 23 runs. Schwab had three hits, Edelstone two and a walk and four runs scored, Saindon had three hits (also four runs) including a booming triple and a walk, Wilson had three hits and seven RBIs including a Grand Slam - Royal played him deep in right and he still clobbered the ball 20 feet over the right fielder's head. Narciso had a great game at the plate too - three hits and a walk including the 'mini-cycle', single double and triple - but couldn't buy an RBI because Wilson knocked everyone in. His grousing about that made for some good laughs.
But the rally and hit of the game may well have been Gabe Tanaka's shot to center that split two of the best fielders in the league in Gary Namanny and Rich Brown. The three run homer in the top of the seventh put us up 19-8 and pretty much dashed Royal's hopes of a late inning comeback.
Speaking of laughs, Orange played loose like the team that had won six of seven early in the year, not the one that was riding a six game losing streak. It's a testament to the team that we stayed on a level plane throughout the streak. And it's humbling, and it's why we play the game - you just never know until you take the field how it's going to go. And no one can explain why we went into a collective hitting slump, including scoring only 13 runs total the last two weeks, and then matching that today by the sixth inning.
It also helped that Orange played excellent defense today. Third base had several great plays made from all three who manned the hot corner - Saindon, Howard Davis and Art Oller. Chafetz was a Royal wrecking crew in left, making several tough catches over his head and diving for one about to fall in front of him.
And a little luck combined with the good defense helped - Namanny and Brown hit into many outs that were either right at someone or we made a great play on.
Tanaka at 2B and starting pitcher Narciso also added some highlight plays to our reel. And Davis came in to pitch from the sixth on, and even though he allowed one five spot (with many of those runs unearned), he set Royal back to the dugout in three of his four innings with a zero. That iced the game and we won 23-13.
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