OTTAWA- The fun bunch knew it wouldn’t be easy to pry the championship trophy from the clutches of league convener Colin Bromfield. Not only did he have a good team, but the umpires seemed to have a strong bias for him as well. Maybe because he signed their paycheques? Although they had beaten the Athletics both times they played them in the regular season, they had already lost to them once in the tournament round robin. In addition, they had met them last year in the final and come up short, when their offense mysteriously vanished.

And although they beat the Rebels in their first game in the morning—a must win game that clinched them a playoff birth—their were some worrying signs: it was a surprisingly close game against a team that hadn’t won a game in the tournament, and the fun bunch only managed to score a paltry 16 runs. Steve “field marshal” Saunders was concerned about their lack of run production. Pretty much throughout the tournament. All their games were close, when they were pounding out runs during the regular season. It didn’t make any sense. He was hopeful that they would break out of their slump with a vengeance and hopefully very soon.

The stands were packed with fans and alumni. Betsy and Soren, Ian and Nancy (and their pet dog – a very friendly and toy breed with downy soft black hair), paris “song bird” patricelli’s mother marta, “field marshal’s” wife Teresa – despite a broken collar bone and bruises from her biking mishap, and “boom boom’s” wife and gourmet chef Anne-Marie. And my goodness were they vocal. Cheering on their team vociferously on every hit or defensive play, much to the chagrin of the athletics, who’s stands stood empty and silent.

The funbunch started off the game by scoring three quick runs, but sadly couldn’t finish off their opportunity when they left the bases loaded with two consecutive outs . This pattern was repeated throughout the game—preventing them from having a genuine breakout inning. Players had opportunities to drive in key runs but they simply couldn’t do it, instead grounding or flying out. They were running out of innings. With the score 13-5 entering the last inning and the situation seemingly hopeless, the team rallied. Jess “bullseye” belanger got on board, as did glen “the wrangler” rankin, leah “the roadrunner” morrel and Richard “wild thing” Bujold for two runs. “boom boom” hit a home run for two more runs. The score was now 13-9 and the Athletics weren’t quite so giddy any more – suddenly the fun bunch bats had come alive. With two out Sarah “launchpad” Lord came to bat and drilled the ball up the middle for what should have been a long single. But unfortunately the Athletic rover, caught the ball and crushed their dreams. The game, and season was over. The fun bunch would not hoist the trophy this year.