The story goes that in the early days of Vegas, the casinos had a special offer for a 3 piece chicken dinner for just under two bucks. Back then, the standard table bet was $2.00, so with a win you had the coin for a tasty chicken dinner.
Why is the blog writing about chicken once again, you ask? Well, before the big rematch of the Cougars and the undefeated Brown Stars, the only other team in the league without a notch in the L column was Chicken Shack.
After the winless Cougars turned the Rising Stars into Falling Stars by defeating them 15-12, we were hoping there would be some chicken dinner delivered to the Cougar postgame courtesy of the Shackers for giving them sole possession of first place.
The Cougars were ready to play, came out strong in the first inning and batted around the order. No small feat when you are batting 12. We took the early lead and then gave a couple back in the bottom of the inning.
As the game moved along, we traded runs but never lost the lead. In the bottom of the 6th, we were leading 12-10 and our opponent dropped two runs on us to tie up the contest.
In the top of the 7th, Martini, looking like Kirk Gibson, led off the inning with a base hit, which was the start to our three run rally to go on top 15-12.
In the bottom of the 7th, the Cougars knew we needed to play winning defense to be triumphant. The first two batters hit frozen ropes to center field both stabbing Stabber in the chest. His heart was in the right place because he clutched the Clincher like the love of his life.
Now the Cougars needed one last out and with Martini on the mound, now looking like Nolan Ryan, strikes out the last batter for a hard-earned and well-deserved victory.
We had a number of highlights:
- Melchiorre, the "Dean of Bean" fought the violent winds at the park and pitched strike after strike and notched two K's in his outing.
- Flandog was a mad dog on the basepaths, taking huge leads, swiping the extra base and scoring runs. He hedges his bets at work and is incredibly aggressive on the field.
- Dave "The Lip" Lipinski was an offensive and defensive star. First, he drives over 4 hours from Iowa to get to the real Field of Dreams in Wilmette. At the plate he ripped the ball to the gaps and racked up his RBI total. In the field, he saved a number of runs with his stellar play at second base and started an incredible inning ending double play to stop a Star rally.
- The biggest stars of the game were Steve and Cheryl, our only fans on a late, cold, windy, school night. They drove the 120 mile round trip, braved the elements and celebrated with us. They are always at the top of the in-law starting lineup!
We brought the postgame over to the Cougar Shack and partied like we hit the jackpot. While others, well, let's just say what happens at the Cougar postgame stays at the Cougar postgame.
We celebrated until the wee morning hours but our chicken dinner never arrived. After the party was over I had my own cereal celebration, which was truly the Breakfast of Champions.
Congrats Cougars! I made it out for one inning and then went home with frostbite. Who knew I needed pants, gloves,and mittens on May 24? I was also glad to learn that Martini asked for a pitch runner. You can't score runs when your sprint is,now, a waddle.
ReplyDelete