Cougars: Fighting Words

During the summer, the Cougars clash with opponents every Tuesday night. Following the fight, I then spar with the keyboard to provide a blow-by-blow account.

This week, we had two matches in the diamond-shaped ring.

Chicken Shack caught us cold and our glass jaw was exposed. Like Iron Mike said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."

Shack had a slugfest on us and landed four haymakers in the first round, five uppercuts in the second, and a one-two combination of runs in each of the fourth and fifth rounds.

We counterpunched with one run in the second round. Fort double - Martini sacrifice fly - Baby Kale fielder’s choice to get the RBI. Other highlights were two hits for both Jimmy and Boom and solo hits for Rads and Martini.

We couldn’t go the distance and Chicken Shack put us down on the canvas for a ten-count with an 11-1 victory. Shack was declared the winner by technical decision.

That bout was only the undercard because the main event was about to begin.

In our first bare-knuckle brawl earlier this year against Tito's, we took it on the chin and lost in the last round. We had to come out swinging in this rematch.

Boom put on the gloves and led off the game with a body blow. Then he advanced to third on a bone-crushing grounder by Kev. Tiny Rads thumped another grounder to plate Boom.

Tito’s countered with solo jabs in the second and third rounds to take a 2-1 lead.

The next three innings were a bunch of feints and fakes and no points for either scorecard.

In the top of the seventh round, we needed to score one to tie it up. Kevin started us by pummeling a ball to left field. Tiny Rads, our junior heavyweight, doubled to score Kev and tie up the match.

7th Inning Offensive Highlights

Tito’s landed a couple of sweet shots in the bottom of the round but no scores.

There are no split decisions in 16-inch softball so we went another round.

In the top of the eighth, Martini singled to right center and JD laced a shot to left with Martini shuffling to third. Baby Kale got us the go-ahead score with a sacrifice fly and Martini crossing the plate and JD moving to third. Jimmy punched it to the right side and scored JD. Joker singled and he and his boy were stranded in the diamond ring. Cougars leading the scorecard 4-2.

8th Inning Offensive Highlights

In the bottom of the last round, Tito’s was determined to show they were still contenders. Four consecutive power punches put us on the ropes. They quickly scored one and loaded the bases with no outs.

Unlike last game with Tito's, we were not throwing in the towel and were going toe-to-toe to the final bell.

The next fighter out of Tito’s corner was ready to duke it out and rapped a shot to Martini who fired it to Joker for the force at home.

With one down and the bases still loaded, Tito’s next brawler clobbered a low blow to Tiny Rads breadbasket. Tiny Rads looked to go home for the force but instead went for the knockout punch by tagging third and firing the ball to JD at first for the game ending double play. Cougars were saved by the bell 4-3 to win the prize.

8th Inning Defensive Highlights

After we got done playing Punch Out we went to the postgame to celebrate the victory and honor a Cougar who is Gonna Fly Now.

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"I'm young, I'm handsome, I'm fast. I can't possibly be beat."

- Muhammad Ali

In 2016, Kale joined the Cougar camp as an upstart prizefighter. He was young, handsome, and fast and helped lead the Cougars to an opening day triumph.

To enter the diamond ring with the Cougars, a teammate needs to be a slugger and Kale was just that.

More importantly, a Cougar needs to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee at the postgame.

Kale is an undisputed champ in both categories making us cheer in the ring and laugh at the party.

Recently, he was offered to move to a different weight class in Dallas. After hearing the headline, it felt like a shot below the belt but the Cougars know Kale will continue collecting multiple titles as he rises to superstardom in his business career.

Like many boxers, Kale will stage a comeback every time he is back in town.

The love we have is a unanimous decision, so let's plant one on the kisser for Kale, Molly and their two beautiful lightweights, Camille and Raleigh, and let them know we are always in their corner.

“Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.”

- Muhammad Ali

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Fan Photos

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Ringside Seats