For the second year, I am managing a team that has only the promise of new shirts as the season begins. Forest Green, Dark Green, or as the Handbook says, Silver - the color doesn't matter if we hit the ball the way we did today, winning going away 31-20 over a feisty Purple team.
It didn't look good in the first couple of innings, as Green threw the ball away and misjudged fly balls. We spotted Purple a curse of the first five - their hitters looked like Goliaths next to ours. But in the second, on a grounder to second, with Frank Coppa yelling "throw to second", Pat O'Day made a savvy veteran play, chased the runner down going by, and flipped to first for the DP. Suddenly we discovered defense and when Brian Connell took over 2B in the third, we turned a 4-11-3 double play with Helen Kostoff in the middle for another shutdown inning.
In the meantime our bats came alive. In the fourth, with two outs and nobody on, Bill Jeha's triple started a string of six consecutive hits by Dick Stanley, Jeff Olsen, Connell, Heffe, Howard Davis, and Kostoff, sandwiched around a walk to Coppa and we had five runs. In the fourth, more of the same, hits by O'Day, Michael Callahan (his second triple), John Banker, Shel Perham, Jeha and Stanley again, plated five more.
Suspect defense and the strong Purple lineup kept it close - it was a seesaw battle that saw six lead changes. Again in the seventh we scored five (Jeha had a three run triple), but we led just 22-19 going into the ninth.
Mike Howard, closer extraordinaire, took a flat pitch ball four that wasn't called with two strikes leading off the top of the ninth. After a walk and a flyout, we had nothing going. Then once again the two out heroics started. The next ten batters reached safely. After we scored a comfortable six runs, Kostoff strode up to the plate with the bases loaded and still two outs. She deposited a slicing line drive to right center, beating the Purple shift, and by the time she landed on second base three more had scored as we made it 31-20. All that was left was Howard shutting Purple out in the bottom half and the celebration began.
Callahan with his two triples was 4-4 plus a walk. Kravin was also 4-4+BB. Coppa was 3-3 with two walks. Perham, Olsen, and Connell were 4-5. Jeha was 3-5 and all his hits were three baggers. "Superman" Davis had two doubles out of his three hits, and Banker, Stanley and Kostoff also all had three hits. Kostoff and Jeha led the team with six RBIs.
Not a bad start at all!
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