FUNBUNCH WIN AGAIN WITH DEPLETED RANKS
Roster situation goes from the sublime to the ridiculous
OTTAWA-Able to field a team consisting of only three men, the fun bunch were once again put on the defensive--but this time before the game even started. With only steve "downtown" saunders and john "hans solo" devries at the field by game time, joined by , leah "fair play" morrel, nancy "knock em out of the park" harris, and kathy "dare-devil" adare, the team was looking awful meagre when colin bromfield demanded the game get underway. "downtown" was put in the uncomfortable situation of having to explain that they in fact couldn't start as glen "the wrangler" rankin had the bases and hadn't shown up yet. Rolling his eyes heavenward while muttering "saints preserve us" under his breath, bromfield stomped off the infield raising tiny clouds of dust in his wake. Once "the wrangler" showed up--fashionably late--the bases were quickly installed (quite cockeyed as a result) and the game got underway as emily "world cup" mountjoy also showed up and was quickly added to the every growing roster. Unfortunately, with rowena "scoresheet" sams missing-in-action, the team's structure quickly broke down as no one could figure out how to organize the lineup and the game was further delayed as a hasty game of "rocks , scissors, paper" ensued to determine the rotation. With only "hans solo" and "the wrangler" to play the outfield, that left "world cup" as a newly-minted right fielder and "fair play" debuting at second base. "This could be a very long game for us", "field marshal" quietly muttered to no one but himself. Luckily the fun bunch picked the right team to be playing with a depleted line up as the hapless "dogs bollocks" quickly lived up to their "C" designation as they popped up, misplayed grounders, threw balls away and generally gave the fun bunch a much needed helping hand. Not that it was all a bed of roses however, as their one gargantuan short stop hit a couple of monster home runs with runners on to keep the game pretty tight. Some miscues by the fun bunch almost came back to haunt them as well when in the third inning, "downtown" parked a mammoth 3-run short for the fourth run of the inning. Needing only a single run to max out the inning, and with runners on second and third, "the wrangler" inadvertently hit a home run when a single would have done the trick, to needlessly use up a precious "over-the-fence" home run. Pitching was an adventure as rusty back-up john "hans solo" devries was conscripted to the pitcher's mound whenever "field marshal" came to bat. Struggling with control the whole night, the ball zig-zagged all game--as if thrown by a drunken knuckle baller--forcing "field marshal" to bite his lip and use his extraordinary hitting skills to make contact with consistently bad pitches including a pitching wedge over the right field fence for his second homer and some much needed runs. Kathy "daredevil" adare executed a perfectly time swing to hit a pitch over the head of the left fielder leading to a stand-up double and two RBI's. Newcomers "world cup" and "fair play" both displayed their blazingly fast speed as they tore down the line, beating out more than one infield hits. Then something so bizarre, so weird, so unexpected happened that the whole game just ground to a halt: paolo "slip-n-slide" daros showed up to start the game in the last inning. draws dropped, mouths hung agape as the other team began whispering in hushed tones and pointing at the audacious spectacle that was "slip-n-slide". "Is that guy on crack or something?", one of the dogs bollocks players said none-too-subtly as "slip-n'slide" once again began his pre-game stretching as the game was drawing to a close. With the score 9-6 in favour of the fun bunch and each team with one inning to play, a tight defensive inning was delivered by the fun bunch to close out the dogs bollocks. But then an odd thing happened. Sensing defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory, bollock's captain bromfield--desperate to give his team one more kick at the can declared that "one more inning" would be played, interrupting players in the middle of the handshake line. Confused and a little perplexed the teams once again took to the field as the fun bunch added a few more insurance runs to put the game clearly out of reach as they once again managed to stave off the dogs bollocks and run their winning streak to two games no thanks to their missing compadres.
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