THE BLEEDING CONTINUES
Fun Bunch self destruct with only two games to go before the tournament for third loss in a row
Ottawa- Just when you thought things couldn't get much worse, the Fun Bunch surprised everyone when they imploded on Thursday to lose 15-12 to Bass Line Station(BLS) in a game that should never have been close. In their previous encounter this season, the Fun Bunch annihilated BLS 32-11. Coming off two stinging loses to the Aquabats and the Athletics, the time seemed right to turn things around against an easy opponent, but woeful hitting put an abrupt end to each rally attempt, snuffing out any chance the Fun Bunch had to gain momentum. With only Alison "bulldozer" Hale and Chantal "rum runner" Bujold available to play, Nancy Harris was lured out of retirement to bolster the line up. In addition, two Rebel players volunteered to help out the team as well. However, the newcomers had trouble adjusting to the Fun Bunch offensive system making hits hard to come by. Injuries were a big part of the story Thursday night as well. "rum runner" Bujold was in pain all night from her chronic bad back. It didn't help that Steve "downtown" Saunders threw a couple of balls in low causing her additional agony which led to an exchange of choice words. Substitute player Andy "dandy andy" Douglas started the night in outfield but had to move to second base after the first inning when he injured his quad running to first. That left Paolo "slip'n'slide" Daros--playing with an injured knee--to play field along with Richard "wild thing" Bujold who was battling an injured groin. Joining the list of injured players was "downtown" Saunders, who injured his groin in an extracurricular men's league double-header on Monday leaving him unable to run around the bases. In fact that left Scott "boom boom" Saunders as the only uninjured member of the male contingent. Having skipped out on the last two losses--leaving his team to twist in the wind--"boom boom" was showing a little rust in his return to the outfield--as evidenced by his undisciplined attempt to throw out a runner from center field, only to have the wild knuckleball sail out of the diamond and into a parked car. That said, Saunders recovered nicely with a rocket of a throw to home--perfectly on line--to make a big out in the next inning. In fact, the Fun Bunch offense as a whole was listless, scoring runs in only three innings--twice on home runs by "downtown" and "wild thing" and one five run inning in the seventh. Even with their offense stuck in neutral the Fun Bunch grabbed a 12-10 lead going into the top of the eighth inning. But pop ups and ground outs resulted in a grand total of zero runs in the final two innings, while BLS scored five runs to steal the victory from the jaws of defeat. With only two games to go before the tournament, the Fun Bunch are going to need some batting practice. Learning to keep the ball down and direct the hit are going to be key to cashing in runs. Also, the Fun Bunch management needs to look at lining up some spares for the tournament as it is not likely that many of the men are going to be completely healthy by then.
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