A Homer Homers

Homer.  Simple word.  Lots of meanings.

Homer is a loveable beer-bellied yellow fellow.  Homer’s is a North Shore ice cream shop.  A homer can be a person who is extremely devoted to a favorite team.   

You could call the Cougars homers.  We love donuts and beer, and ice cream, as well as love our 16-inch softball team.   

Of course, homer is also a home run.  A four bagger.  A goner.  A moon shot.  A bomb.  A round tripper.  A long ball.  It’s a time to sing Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye.

The foreshadowing isn’t subtle, so now that you might have an inkling of what happened on Tuesday, let’s get to the highlights.

1^st Inning

Pitches scored one quickly in the first inning and then we shut them down.

We tripled them up in the bottom of the inning.  Boom led off with a walk and Kev doubled down the left field line.  Tiny Rads and Rads had back-to-back sacrifice flies to plate two runs. Martini, doing Martini things, hit a single to shallow left field and never stopped running to second base for a surprise double.  Joker also doubled, this time down the left field line, to score another run.

Cougars 3   Pitches 1

2^nd Inning

Our adversary registered another run.

Cougars matched the pot and raised one.  Bobi poked one between SS and LF to lead off the inning.  Li’l Rads had an infield hit.  Crawdaddy ripped a liner down the left field line.  Boom had a beauty of a hit with a line drive just to the right of second base to right center field to score two.

Cougars 5   Pitches 2

3^rd Inning

We all know that pitchers need to warm up for optimal performance.  What we learned in the third inning is that Pitches also needs to warm up for their optimal performance.  They tallied three in the third by with long bombs landing deep into our territory.  Kev, Boom, Jimmy, and Crawdaddy all achieved their daily steps goal in the outfield.  Boom was an all-pro wide receiver out there in centerfield tracking down balls. One standout play was when Boom turned around and ran at full speed, catching the 16-inch sphere over his shoulder.  Kev had a diving and sliding catch for another important out.  They tallied three, and it would have been more without the great D.

A brown-eyed handsome man led off the bottom of the third.  The team came up with the name Tiny Rads, which reflects that he is the youngest of the three Cougar Rads.  This name belies that he is actually the strongest and fastest Rads on the team.  His baseball teammates have lovingly called him Chuck, which is best appreciated when shouted à la Michael Buffer, “Let’s go Chuuuuuuuuuuuck!”  Well, Chuck jacked the first pitch to left centerfield where it rolled towards the fence.  By the time he was rounding second base, the outfielders were gasping for air and grasping for the ball.  As the ball made its way back to the infield, Rads III had already rounded third and was steps from home.  Oh, wow!  It was celebration time!  No matter what name you call him, Tiny / Chuck / Charley / Charles was now a homerun slugger.  Sing it with me, “Just hit the ball, and touch 'em all, a moment in the sun.  It's-a gone and you can tell that one good-bye.”

Cougars 6    Pitches 5

Relive the excitement of the homer here.  

4^th – 7^th Innings

Pitches was throwing high heat off their bats and scored seven.

Cougars score zero.  We were drained, and the last few innings were tough for us.  As soon as Charley slammed the ball, we jumped for joy and wore ourselves out.  We aren’t used to celebrating many homers in Cougarland.  In Major League Baseball when a player hits his first home run, the entire team gives him the silent treatment- no words, no reaction.  We reacted to Charley but then our bats went silent.

Cougars 6 Pitches 12

If you know anything about the Cougars, you know that when we lose the game, we always win the postgame.

During the game, Charley smashed one and made it home. Similarly, our own award-winning architect, Boom, makes homes a smash, so it was only fitting that we headed to Boom’s house for our postgame.  In the same way we were awed by Charley’s speed around the bags, we were floored by Chad’s knotty pine garage haven complete with TV, couch, bags, ping pong, and a hospitable host.  

In a night highlighted by a homer, we realized that while we are living in this strange odyssey known as the year 2020, the journey is worth the trials and tribulations as long as you have the bonds of family and friends. 

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Game Video

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Thanks to JRads with the huge help on the blog today!