FUN BUNCH LOSE FINAL GAME OF THE SEASON
Many factors in play as Fun Bunch suffer a painful loss to the Rebels
(note: today's story was brought to you by junior cub reporter Patti "Gazoo" Anderson, with files from Alison "Bulldozer" Hale)
OTTAWA--- With Steve “Field Marshall” Saunders on the DL and out of town seeking treatment from some underground faith healer, the Fun Bunch hit the skids hard. “Three up three down” became a new song for the Rebels among the outfield crew, with the infield providing backup as the Fun Bunch struggled to get on base, and stay on base. Some magnificent hits by Hans Solo and Wild Thing contributed to the reasonable scoring for the Fun Bunch, but they just couldn’t keep up with the Rebels new, young shortstop who was vacuuming any ball hit to the infield (and a few that weren’t). Leaping and twisting in the air, spinning and throwing he was a one-man infield, robbing batters of hit after hit leading to three innings of only three batters. Nailing a replacement for their own MIA shortstop also proved to be challenging, so the Fun Bunch resorted to giving everyone a fair chance at the position. Ditto for the pitching as the balls rolled off the mound from all directions, except home plate. Knowing that Field Marshall had spies lurking in the bushes, the Fun Bunch made a valiant effort to pull out a win for their missing leader. Captain Alison “Bulldozer” Hale tried to muster the troops, but flying out on almost all her at bats, she could not lead by example, only implore her team mates to do their best to the end of the 13 - 21 defeat.
While the season ended on a disappointing note, there were many notable performances by the team:
Kathie “Daredevil” Adare – turned a double play at second to shut down the Rebel offence
Rachelle “The Rocket” Dalpe – snagged an impressive pop fly to end the bottom of the 8th
Alison “Bulldozer” Hale’s new giant glove was like a brick at the end of her arm. She managed to snag a foul fly for an out, her only contribution in a long game.
Rowena “Scoresheet” Sams, a little rusty after a month off, but not helped by more than one offline throw into home.
Bud Lite Lime smacked one deep into centre field to score the 5th run in the top of the 7th to bring us to within 2 of the Rebels.
Gazoo, showing that she is not, in fact, afraid of the ball snagged a grounder hit right to her without screaming and immediately threw the ball into 2nd to limit the batter to a single
Wild Thing - Hitting well over the fence, Wild Thing scored 4 times in his 6 at bats, left on 3rd for one other.
Hans Solo hit a hearty home run and scored 4 runs. He even offered some decent pitching in a couple of innings that his team was clearly grateful for
Scott “Don’t call me Boom Boom” Saunders – pulled something in, or out of, his rear end in the bottom of the 8th and was in agony for the rest of the game, so he smacked one out of the park on Slip n Slide’s spinner to jog around the bases.
Slip n Slide decided to stretch out a single to a double and was easily picked off 2nd. After his long walk back to the dugout, Slip n Slide could be heard to mutter “I thought I had that beat.” However Slip n Slide admittedly did make some great grabs at short.
Silent but deadly Glen “The Wrangler” Rankin was up to his old tricks: the team was sure he was on the field somewhere but he didn’t fully appear until he was sitting with a beer in his hand at his favourite watering hole, Whispers
Improved performance in left field may have been possible were it not for the visual distractions, and we aren't talking about Alison “Bulldozer” Hale's new glove.
Despite the thrashing the Fun Bunch feel they are ready to reclaim the championship trophy at this year’s DOE Softball Slo-pitch tournament to be held August 18-19, 2012 at Ottawa’s own Carlington Park. Admission is free, laughs provided by the circus in the outfield will cost twenty. All proceeds going to the off season physio bill.
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