Back in Black is not a bad team at all when all their players are there, despite their record, and they were in attendance Wednesday. Pitcher Bill Eppinga handcuffed our bats and we didn't break double digits, going down 14-9.
The game didn't mean much. BiB is out of the playoffs, even though they won their last two games. Danville Gold is a half game behind us for the third place spot. It would take a miracle for them to beat first place Wolfpack next week, and they would have to at a minimum to pass us regardless of the outcome of our game against the Hornets.
And it doesn't really matter who places third or fourth. We will have to beat the Hornets and the Wolfpack in the playoffs to claim the championship, so it doesn't matter in which order we do it. Next week we get a tuneup game against the former before likely facing their fully loaded lineup the following week in the opening round of the playoffs.
But hey- the games will be decided on the field. We have a good team when we all hit and play defense. So let it be.
I haven't been writing up losses much this winter, but since I made one of the Plays of the Game, I have to lead with that. In the middle innings, Black had the bases loaded and one out and someone hit a little popup half way to home in front of me. Or it seemed that far to me. Now, no one on the opponent's team, nor my own, nor the old guys watching the game, nor anyone in Danville, the State of California, nor the world thought I would get to that ball before it hit the ground. Especially my good buddy Tony Gorgone, the runner on first. He took off like lightning toward second. But I will tell you this now - I had it all the way. And then it was easy to turn around and double old Tony off first to end the inning.
There were some other defensive highlights - Joe Silva showed off his strong arm a couple of times. In the first he launched a throw from deep left all the way to Tom Gonzales at the mound, who wheeled and threw home to Don Devencenzi to cut down a run. Randy Cobb forced out a runner at second from right field on a 'single' with a perfect strike. In the sixth, on a ball launched over left fielder Mark Childress's head, he hustled to it, got it to Silva who threwout the runner trying to take third base. It helped that he ran like a typical senior player. In the same inning, Lamont Thompson made succesive good plays at 1B to hold Black scoreless. Dave Balfour made a sliding catch in right center to rob a hitter in the eighth. And finally, Rob Dousa finished that inning by hustling to catch a popup behind the plate.
With defense like that, we should have had a win but there weren't many offensive highlights. Silva had a good game, going 3-4 with a triple. But no one else had more than two hits. The one exciting moment was in the top of the seventh, when Dousa blasted a shot to the other field in left, and we got to watch him huff and puff all around the bases for a three run home run. It got us back into the game at 11-8, but we couldn't add enough on to seriously threaten the outcome. Three strikeouts didn't help - two looking and two of the three were the last outs of innings.
So sharpen up those bats and bring it to the Hornets for our last tuneup before playoffs!
