OTTAWA - This was the last game of the regular season—a final preparation for the end-of-year tournament. With Steve “field marshal” Saunders back at the helm, the fun bunch exuded confidence as they swaggered about the diamond. They were facing the Blue Zone. A new team that was somewhat disorganized but displayed some raw talent in their first meeting.

As usual the 8:15 game was delayed. This time the culprits were Alison “bulldozer” Hale and Glen “the wrangler” Rankin—both of whom sauntered into the dugout 20 minutes after game start time. Missing the usual “twist-in-the-wind” gang of scott “boom boom” saunders, richard “wild thing” Bujold, john “hans solo” devries and clark “pound ‘em back lawlor”, the team recruited mark “oak tree” cuhaci and ryan “man-o-war” matishuck – both significant upgrades.

The Blue zone took an early 4 – 0 lead, until back-to-back doubles by “oak tree” and “man-o-war” scored the first run of the game for the fun bunch to make it 4-1 at the end of the second.

Clearly the player of the game was Mark “polygon” Pintar. Still smarting from the back-to-back losses that he skippered while “field marshal” was on holiday, he had a career game tonight. Batting leadoff, he went six for six, and scored five runs including an in-the-park home run. He ran the bases aggressively all night, taking extra bases on every play.

It was a late game on a moonless night so darkness combined with the lights of the diamond and a steady soft drizzle combined to wreak havoc with high fly balls causing both teams to drop a fair number in the outfield.

“the wrangler”, in some pain from his marathon of hockey games this week, played second base for the first time this year. The results were spectacular as he fielded grounders, threw runners out at first and combined with “field marshal” and kathie “dare-devil” adare for some high light reel double plays.

Playing in only his second game, “oak tree” had a big night too. After driving in “field marshal” for his first RBI ever, he called time and gathered up the game ball for his trophy case.

While the fun bunch seemed in cruise control, the hit a snag in the sixth inning. After putting the first two batters out, it looked like they were headed for a clean getaway, when the third batter hit a hard liner to short. Taking an awkward bounce at the last minute that drilled “field marshal” on the finger tips, he nevertheless reeled in the ball and threw to first. The momentary delay however allowed the baserunner to beat out the throw. The Blue Zone capitalized and scored five runs before the bleeding was stopped. The score now stood at 11-10 for the fun bunch.

Heading into the ninth inning, the fun bunch lead 14-10 . It seemed the Blue Zone held a “pow wow” before they came to bat. Struggling to drop any hits into the outfield, they devised a plan “B” and proceeded to get the next 7 runners on base by bunting. As if that wasn’t bad enough, one of their runners, slid into third and spiked leah “roadrunner” morrell who grimaced and clenched her teeth in pain. She would make them pay for taking that liberty.

When the fun bunch came to bat, the score was 16-14 for the Blue Zone. Giggling and high fiving they skipped off the field, giddy with excitement over their dubious rally and six sketchy runs.

But the fun bunch were not impressed. They were not about to be beaten by cheaters. “The Wrangler” lead they way. Batting leadoff he crushed a double. He was followed by Kathie “dare-devil” Adare who promptly hit a deep single to drive him in. “Polygon” was up next and he also hit a double to send “dare devil” to third. By this time the Blue Zone had stopped giggling. The fun bunch had runners on second and third with no one out and were now one run away from tying the game. And they had done all that with legitimate hits. “the roadrunner” came to the plate. She looked straight into the eye of the player who had spiked her the inning before and mouthed the words “watch this asshole” as she crushed the next pitch all the way to the fence for a triple. Fun bunch win 17-16.