Continuing our seemingly interminable slog through the CCSL version of Murderer's Row, Tuesday evening we faced off against the 2013 League Champion Catahoula Refugees. Sadly, the better half of our dynamic blogging duo was unable to make the game - he mumbled something later about a fever, generic Nyquil, and hour-long imaginary conversations with his mother - and we have no photographic documentation of the game.
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Back to the game. We were originally slated to play on Dairy #2, but some players on both sides felt that a swimming hole had no place on a softball diamond. Maybe they never learned to swim - it happens! We moved over a better-drained Dairy #1 after consultation with the proper authorities.
The rosters for both teams were a bit thin as 6:30 neared, and Schwartz was even trying to convince us that he could play despite having started drinking hours earlier and not yet being cleared to run by his doctors. The game was saved by the arrival of softball Nomads Joey and Johanna, who drove by the field after a rain-out with the Franklin Institute and happily agreed to stick around and play in our game instead. Johanna went to Catahoula, Joey hopped on board TGT, and the players took the field.
We were the Away team, and batted first. It was raining, Catahoula was missing some key players, and maybe we forgot what our respective records are. TGT batted all the way through the order, scoring four runs through a barrage of mostly singles. It was more runs than we've scored in an inning since - well, actually I don't know. Maybe we can get Pen & Pencil to start keeping our books. It wasn't the first time everyone in the lineup has come to the plate in an inning, but it might have been the second. It hasn't happened very often.
Then things got crazier. We took the field in the bottom of the first, and despite some funky bounces and crazy spin, we emerged *still* in the lead, having given up only two runs. Same in the second, or maybe the third - when we faced runners on second and third with two outs, but made the play to escape the inning unscathed. Francis, who arrived just after the third out in the top of the first, made a slick charging play on a grounder at shortstop for a bang-bang out at first. We were rolling! The bats had been quiet, but the defense was strong, and we were hanging in there! We had a chance! We--
The Refugees got a four-run fourth, or maybe it was the third(?) - on the strength of some well-struck fly balls over the outstretched glove of our outfield. Possibly catchable, but nonetheless impressive, they went for a two-run home run and a triple. After that, we held our ground, our bats continued to fail at replicating the early success, and we hit the later innings down just two runs.
Cassie proved to be a better fielder than Charlie Brown, snagging a wicked comebacker for the second time in two games to close out the bottom of the sixth. But there was little drama in the seventh, as we got a runner to first but no further, with a couple relatively easy ground balls for the last two outs of the game.
Well, it rained for large portions of the game, and before. The rain wasn't bad, actually - I'd have traded more of it to get rid of the damn gnats that were swarming everyone's faces.
Heroes of the game would probably include our one-day guest Joey, who played an excellent outfield (notwithstanding a missed catch in the first due to some wicked spin on the ball) and picked up a hit/RBI in our first inning rally. Cassie pitched effectively despite challenging conditions including a wet ball, vicious (albeit polite) Catahoula hitters and fielders trying to take her out, and gnats in her eye.
Goats have to include Rafter, who is caricatured by the unfortunate Lucy above. We'll cut him some slack though, given that he definitely wasn't feeling his most chipper self before the game and was probably distractedly brooding about his mortality as the clock of ages is about to tick up a notch for him. Wish him a happy birthday next time you see him! Mac came very close to goathood, calling off Cassie on an infield fly that dropped two feet in front of him, but was saved by the Catahoula player failing to run it out (There's a classic lesson in hustle, kids! Pay attention!). Additional goat status to everyone, including myself (but not Rafter), who failed to pick up a single base hit after the first inning. There were a lot of goats. It was like the goat races of beer-league softball! (We can do this every week, Sly Fox. You should co-sponsor us.)
And sometimes you lose five in a row. Hey, we're building a ton of character over here. And the schedule gets easier... soon... we think...
It's probably time to send out some encouragement to a few folks who haven't been in regular attendance lately, because it has been a little more touch-and-go than we would like in terms of fielding a full team. We know, it's tough to make it out every week, and once you miss a game it's easier to miss the next one. Time to come back out! Comical losing streak notwithstanding, we've been reasonably competitive, consistently had beers to drink, and consistently had a pretty good time out on the field. Come on back out!
Editor's note: all images cribbed from the wonderfully bleak 3eanuts tumblr, without express permission of any kind. Check 'em out and perhaps gain a new appreciation for the original strip.
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