Neophytes help fun bunch chalk up yet another consecutive win
OTTAWA – Another game day another mess. Steve “field marshal” Saunders wasn’t easily frazzled. He was used to the last minute bail outs, no shows, cancellations and all round annoying antics of his teammates. This week Glen “the wrangler” Rankin, Leah “the roadrunner” Morrell ,Richard “wild thing” Bujold, Jess “bullseye” Belanger, Emilie “bigtime” Belanger, Kathie “daredevil” Adare, Clark “pound ‘em back” lawlor, and Adrian “the jackal” Seaman all decided to kick back and take the night off leaving their teammates twisting in the wind. As a result “field marshal” was on the phones all day, trying to fill out the lineup.
By the start of the game he had recruited neophytes Jaime “J-J“ Saunders, Nick “top cuts” Snedden, and Jon “horsepower” Brookes—all of whom had either never played before or not for a very long time. “field marshal” was resigned to chalk this game up as a “learning experience” for the youngsters.
He had resumed playing shortstop and batting full-time. His herniated L5-S1 disc was now wafer thin and resembled swiss cheese. But the swelling had finally subsided after 12 weeks of recovery to the point where the pressure on his sciatic nerve was no longer totally debilitating – only excruciating. He was still unable to run the bases, but the improvement was enough for him to get his hands firmly on the tiller and steer the team past the shoals they were headed towards in his absence.
Playing the massive outfield at Bell diamond required four outfielders. That left a new-look inexperienced infield. Paris “songbird” Patricelli was debuting at first base. Alison “bulldozer” Hale was playing second base for the first time in her career. And in the second game of her life, Jaime “j-j” Saunders was playing third. The initial configuration worked pretty well as the Rebels were pounding hits over the fence or into the outfield. Ryan “man-o-war” Matischuk made a couple of stellar catches on bloopers over the infield.
After the top of the fourth inning, the fun bunch trudged off the field, heads bowed, mouths drooped. As predicted, the inexperienced team had quickly fallen into a deep hole 12-3 The rebels had already chalked up two five run innings and blown through their three home run limit. The youngsters felt in over their heads.
That’s when the elders of the team—“field marshal”, scott “boom boom” saunders, and “bulldozer” convened a quick meeting in the dugout. “Listen guys, we’re not out of this yet, not by a long shot”, “bulldozer” reassured them. “All we need are a couple of singles to get us started”, “boom boom” continued. “Just give it your all –like in boot camp— and make sure you run out those grounders as fast as you can”, “field marshal” finished off.
The effect was immediate, as the youngsters took a deep breath, puffed up their chests and dried their eyes, as their confidence was returning – a trickle at first but now a torrent.
In the bottom of the inning, “man o’ war” got aboard then “field marshal” put one over the fence for two runs. Then songbird got a single and “horsepower, got a double . Meghan “marathon” Saunders legged out an infield grounder and “top cuts” followed that with a single and four runs had scored. The fun bunch had now narrowed the gap 12-7.
The rebels, good-natured spirit was evaporating faster than the last pint in their cooler. Name calling commenced as did cajoling and ridiculing for defensive mistakes. They were turning on themselves like a pack of starving wolves and it wasn’t pretty.
After the fifth inning, the fun bunch had gained a little more ground and the score stood at 15-11 for the rebels. “songbird” was having a stellar game at first base, catching everything thrown in her direction. She even charged a short bunt and threw to second for an out on a smart play.
In the top of the sixth inning the rebels hit yet another ball over the fence—this time for an out as it was their fourth homer. Two more quick outs and the fun bunch had kept the rebels run-less. In the bottom of the inning, “marathon” lead off with a triple—the first of her career. She would come in to score as would “top cuts” and “boom boom”. All of a sudden the score was now tied 14-14!
With time running out, the rebels went three up , three down in the top of the seventh as their early inning magic had disappeared – replaced instead with cheap tricks none of which worked very well.
Then the fun bunch came to bat. The youngsters now had swagger in their walk. They were part of an epic come-from-behind turn of events. With the score even, they weren’t going to settle for a tie—no way. They were going for the jugular. At that point the hammer came down. “field marshal” came to bat with no one on and one out and crushed the first pitch over the fence for the potential game winning run. But they weren’t done—not by a long shot. “songbird” got a double and took third on a fielding error. The rebel’s continued to become unglued. “horsepower” got a single driving in “songbird”. followed by “top cuts” who delivered another hit – his fifth of the night. Then “j-j” drove a ball right at her uncle “field marshal” who dove out of the way as she scampered to first for yet another single. Surveying the outfield, “boom boom” hit a perfect opposite field shot that landed right on the line and swerved into foul territory driving in three more runs with a double. The rebels were furious about the play. Clearly a fair ball, several of the players who had poor vantage points declared it “foul”. When their own catcher disagreed with them, they turned to plan B and called it “out of play”. “But your own player picked up the ball in foul territory so how can it be out of play”, inquired fun bunch umpire ryan “man o’ war” Matischuk. Logic only made them madder. At this point the fun bunch had driven in five runs and the inning ended.
As the rebels charged the field to take the final inning, it was agreed that there wasn’t enough time to finish the inning before the next game. Fun Bunch were declared the winners , beating the rebels 19-14 in the best come back of the season for their fourth win in a row!
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