Memory Lane

It begins with hope.  Hope is found in Opening Day, springtime and sunshine. 

It ends with memories.  Memories of our triumphs and defeats but more importantly the friendships that are created and strengthened.

In between we play the games and celebrate, win or lose.

Last night, we competed and completed our season.

The semifinal game pitted winners of the last three league championships.  The Cougars were facing the back to back league champ Miller Time.  

The Cougars' dominant defense and perfect pitching held our opponent to their lowest offensive output this season.  Sadly, they held us to our lowest total as well.

Miller Time 4  |  Cougars 0

Although the results can't be changed, the loss is not permanent.

The poet Donald Hall has said: “Baseball, because of its continuity over the space of America and the time of America, is a place where memory gathers.”

In the spring, we will gather at Howard Park at the intersection of 17th and Spencer.  

It is also known as Memory Lane.  We hope to see you there!

Picture Perfect

The Cougars are riding high after the first round playoff victory last night over the Tappers (in fact, your writer is riding high with wifi weaponry and tapping this blog from seat 13D to NYC).  

The Cougars won 6-1 in a tough battle with spectacular self-defense.  

As many rockets were launched his way, Fort was the man as he manned the fort at short.  

The Joker was armed last night!  He fired a bullet from left field to home plate and stopped the advancing runner in his tracks.  

JD made every hard play at first base look routine.  He gracefully caught every grenade thrown to him so they would not explode into runs.  

The rest of the Cougars had such a strong defensive front that we only let up one run, faced the minimum batters in three innings and only allowed six baserunners.  

Martini was pitcher perfect on the mound.  He lofted bombs that hit the target and caught missiles hit at him.

Captain Cougar and Diamond Dave cheered and coached while in the dugout infirmary.  

Here is the battle summary.  

We scored a run in the first with back to back singles by Boomgaarden and Fortier putting men on first and third.  Martin drove Boom in with a long sacrifice fly.   Cougars 1-0.  

In the second inning we dropped three on our rival with consecutive hits by Presch, Bobi, Philthy and Trouter.  Flannery and Boom moved them along to score.  Cougars 4-0.  

In the third, Martini launched a shot to left.  As the Tappers tried to stop his advancement to 2B, Martini was struck by that 16" torpedo yet somehow managed to kick it into centerfield before it could harm him. Martini escaped to 3B where the Tappers fired at him but again missed by a long shot allowing "the most ridiculous home run I've ever seen!" (in the words of Catherine Levy and then Nico Bobis). Cougars 5-0. 

Yulish, being the fearless general of the Tappers, knocked in an RBI to make it 5-1.  

Boom and Fort combined with back to back strikes for our final run which was highlighted by a headfirst slide into home by Boom (capping off his 3-3 perfect night at the plate with two runs scored).   Cougars 6-1.  

Well, actually, Boom did not stop there.   He and Nicole hosted a perfect postgame on their fabulous front porch.  On such a spectacular summer night the families were out in force.   We relived the game and mapped our strategy for our next playoff partner, Miller Time.  

Surveillance cameras on the battlefield show that it was a picture perfect night!

(Even Shack was happy to see us win!)