A Good Evening

It started with Hitchcockian suspense.  The long awaited championship rematch with the Brown Stars.

We had all the hallmark elements of a Sir Alfred script last night.  In fact, our star shortstop was battling a bout of vertigo.

The doctor told Fortier to sit this one out but Steve, not listening to the doctor, played anyway.  What Fort did not realize was that his dizziness was contagious.  In the first inning, we were whirling the ball around the field on defense and we watched the Brown Stars circle the bases because of our sloppy play.  On offense, we could not smack the spiraling sphere.

In the second inning, our defense was still reeling and we let up another run for a 3-0 deficit.  We scratched a lone run in the bottom of the inning with a Bobis hit, a Martin fielder's choice, a Lipsey single and a McDonnell RBI for a 3-1 score. 

Trying to make the game more suspenseful, we gifted them another notch in the top of the third and were quickly going downhill. 

We needed a plot twist and two of our leading men executed perfectly.  The inning started with some controversy when the umpire made a bad call and essentially allowed the lead-off hitter to steal first base.  With Martin pitching and Danielsen playing first base, they were determined to catch that thief.  As the runner tip-toed his cat burglar lead, Martin bulleted the ball straight to Danielsen and he handcuffed the runner putting him back on the bench behind bars.  This changed the direction of our story.

In the bottom of that frame, the Cougars batted merry-go-round style and all 11 players had their chance at the dish.  After two quick outs, the Green Team had eight straight hits and we scored seven times to take an 8-4 lead.  The big hit in the inning was a two-strike bases loaded double by Martin.  The ball was hit so far that Bobis even stomped in from first base.

Our opponent clawed their way back and were within one run at the end of the sixth inning.  We were up 8-7.  The Dirty Brown Team would have had more runs if not for ridiculous relay play from Radtke to Fortier to Bobis who then made a perfect peg at third base to stop a sure triple.  Just know that your captain was playing shallow and had the ball go over his head in left field so we could make this game a cliff-hanger.  

After our seven run output, our well was dry for the next three innings.

Then, during the top half of the last inning, the Brownies took the lead on a towering two-run homer.

The Cougars were fighting off impending doom.  Entering the bottom of the last inning, we were down 9-8. 

In order to stick to the suspenseful script, our first two batters were quickly out.  With two outs and no hope, your captain hit a single down the third base line.  Fortier ripped a two-bagger and now the Cougars had men on second and third.  Fortier, feeling fuzzy, had Boomgaarden pinch run and be his body double on second.  Our tallest Cougar then came to the plate and promptly fouled one off.  We were down to our last strike with the tying and winning runs on the bases.  The next pitch was so high it would even give the most fearless person acrophobia.  Danielsen mightily swung his lumber and chopped the ball through the infield as Rads and Boom scored to give us our first walk-off victory.

A Hitchcock beginning and a Capraesque ending.

It was a.......