WINNING STREAK ENDS WITH A THUD
Fun bunch start tournament with a loss in winnable game
OTTAWA-It's funny how the teams that show up for the tournament often don't resemble the teams you play during the regular season. That definitely was the case Saturday morning at Carlington #1 as the new-look Athletics deployed a powerhouse squad of recently recruited hard-core ball players including at least three new faces. Despite their shenanigans, the game was very close as they ran into the rock-solid defense of the fun bunch. Alas, it was the offense of the fun bunch that was sputtering along until it ran completely out of gas with nary a home run to their credit. What about "downton" , you might ask incredulously. Sadly, the bat was taken out of his hand the whole game as he was forced to lead off in all three of his at bats and then was served up a plethora of nasty pitches to chase by Richard "wild thing" Bujold who eagerly climbed the mound when "downtown" came up to bat despite the objections of his teammates. The fun bunch offense was non-existant: soft grounders, easy pop-ups, base running errors, you name it. it was as if the team had nothing in the tank, after their stellar pennant race when they finished the season with seven consecutive wins. The highlight of the game occurred when a screaming line drive came hard down the third base line. Leah "I ain't afraid of nothin'" morrel jumped in the air to risk life and limb to make the catch. The velocity of the ball tore the glove off her hand and the ball fell to the ground. Quick-thinking, all-star short stop steve "downtown" saunders, didn't hesitate as he immediately picked up the wayward ball and fired a rocket to first to beat one of their elite players by an eyelash.
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