OTTAWA – After crushing the crawlers last week, the tides turned drastically for the fun bunch who had to bite, claw and scratch out an excruciatingly difficult win at Hampton Park last night. While the team did manage to run their season record to 2-0, there was some cause for concern including fielding errors, missed opportunities to cash in runners and even some rare baserunning errors

The fun bunch were playing the rebels--a blue-collar, rough-and-tumble consortium of similar ilk. With cannabis, tattoos, piercings and tall-boys the order of the day, the rebels were normally not to be trifled with, yet last night they seemed quite convivial nay downright cordial.

Missing Scott “boom boom” Saunders, John “hans solo” Devries, Richard “wild thing” Bujold, Meghan “the machine” Saunders and Alison “bulldozer” Hale, the fun bunch still managed to field a team of ten players as Mark “polygon” Pintar once again “un-retired” to help out the team.

The fun bunch started out with a great first inning scoring five runs without using up a home run. It seemed the rout was on. However, the rebels quickly poured cold water on that premature notion as they assailed the fun bunch with five runs of their own to tie the game. Then the unthinkable happened. The fun bunch fell behind as they stuttered and stumbled to three sub-par innings to find themselves behind to the newly confident rebels 14-10. Stranded runners, dropped pop ups, booted balls, players not covering their base, not running the base paths aggressively. You name it, the fun bunch were guilty of it. Pretty much every no-no in the game. It was like watching a slow-motion horror show.

Steve “field marshal” Saunders had seen enough. He seethed in the dugout as the team slunk off the field. They knew the drill. Heads lowered they avoided his piercing gaze – two players started to tremble.

A vociferous tirade commenced. Even through the oppressive din of the rush hour Queensway traffic, you could hear him crystal clear. A third player started to cry.

He sucked in large gulps of air, as he continued relentlessly for what seemed like an eternity. Then he stopped. Players dried their eyes, stopped their shaking, stuck their chest out and held their heads high. Their marching orders had been delivered in no uncertain terms and by god they were going to execute them. Paris “songbird” Patricelli got on board. “field marshal” crushed the first pitch over the fence for two runs. Kathie “daredevil” Adare, Leah “roadrunner” Morrell, Glen “the wrangler Rankin” all got aboard to load the bases bring neophyte Adrian “sweetspot” Seaman to the plate. He drilled the first pitch over the center field fence to max the inning total at five.

In the bottom of the inning, the fun bunch shut-out the rebels—serving them up their first doughnut. With “field marshal” nursing a painful torn Achilles tendon and a hyperextended elbow, “the wrangler” relieved him at shortstop for the inning where he proceeded to put on a defensive tour-de-force as he made two assists and caught a flyball—making the most of his infield audition.

The score now stood at 15-14 for the fun bunch with two innings to go.

Hits by Jess “bulls-eye” belanger and Mark “polygon” Pintar put two runners on with two out. This was going to be the turning point of the game. The next batter—Kathie “daredevil” Adare came to the plate. “field marshal” implored her to “swing level and hit it right up the middle” (as he was coming to bat next). She cast him a playful wink and told him to “toss it in like a beachball” as she drilled the first pitch up the middle for a single scoring “polygon”. With two runners on and one home run left, “field marshal” came to the plate licking his chops. He wanted nothing more than to crush the ball into oblivion. Only one obstacle in his way – and it wasn’t his torn achilles or hyperextended elbow. It was clark “pound ‘em back” lawlor standing on the pitching mound as newly minted back-up pitcher. Rolling his eyes heavenward in a “I’m getting to old for this” gesture, “field marshal” dug himself into the batters box and awaited his fate. The first pitch wasn’t too bad, just a bit low, so “field marshal” didn’t get all of it, but he got most of it. The ball sailed to the fence and landed with a crash right at the base of it. With two runners out, everyone was running so two more runs scored. “the wrangler” followed up with a double down third base to cash in one more run for a total of four. The score was now 19-14 for the fun bunch.

The rebels, however, dug deep and cashed in five more runs to tie the score 19-19 going into the last inning.

The fun bunch caught a couple of breaks in the seventh inning. The rebels missed an easy tag on “sweetspot” running between first and second, keeping the fun bunch rally going. Then the oafish shortstop dropped a lazy flyball that should have ended the inning. The low point occurred when “the roadrunner” drilled a ball straight back to the pitchers mound. Zigging when he should have been zagging, “field marshal” walked directly into the line of fire. Unable to get out the way, he turned sideways as he thought, “this is going to hurt a lot” just as the ball struck him. Cursing himself for costing the team an out – he limped off the pitching mound—oblivious to the searing pain. When the dust had settled the fun bunch had scored three runs to move into the lead once again 22-19.

In the bottom of the inning, the rebels once again made a hard charge and got their first two players aboard. With runners on first and second and the game slipping away, the next batter hit a hard grounder to “field marshal”. Desperate to steal back the thunder robbed of him by “the wrangler”, he snatched the ball, dove at the base runner (abrading both knees like soft chalk on a rough blackboard) before flipping to “pound ‘em back” at second for their first double play. The next batter hit a high fly , promptly caught by “the wrangler” to mercifully end the game. Fun bunch win and improve their record to 2-0.