FUN BUNCH FALTER
Lack of crucial hits costs them the B championship
OTTAWA-Despite a less than stellar regular season, the Fun Bunch saved their best for the tournament and finished the round robin 4-1 in a three way tie for first place. Once again, however, due to the odd seeding formula they wound up in the B championship despite the fact that they beat the Athletics who made it to the A championship. Facing the feisty rebels--whom they had dispatched earlier in the day--they knew that they would be in for a good fight with the rebels looking for payback. The game started off promisingly enough with "line drive" getting yet another triple followed by hits from "the wrangler" and "the gazelle" to take an early 2-0 lead. The fun bunch kept the somewhat intoxicated and most likely high rebels scoreless until the third inning when they unleashed a "home run fest" and scored back to back five run innings for a commanding 10-2 lead. Battling back in the fourth "downtown" lead off with a double and was driven in by "slip n slide" who then scored on a double by "hans solo" to cut the lead to 10-4 . Heart and soul of the team Richard "wild thing" Bujold, who had become a leader in the tournament with his pitching prowess and batting skills was forced to miss the last game as he made his way towards the arctic circle during a marathon drive to rendezvous with his son. Realizing full well that his team needed him, Scott "boom boom" Saunders came off the disabled list and managed to hobble back and forth from the pitching mound despite his serious bout of gout. Unable to swing a bat or run, he did his best to inspire the team with his gritty performance as back-up pitcher. Nevertheless, the team simply could not mount an offensive assault as they missed opportunity after opportunity with basic base running errors leaving runners on the bases in almost every inning. Defense however was practically flawless as they shut out the rebels in every other inning with fantastic catches, force outs and tag plays. Rolling into the sixth inning, the team needed to score some runs. Leadoff batter steve "downtown" saunders got under a high pitch and hit it only about twenty feet from the plate but about a mile in the air. As the rebels panicked and circled the swirling fly ball, "downtown" bore down and headed hard to second, the ball still continuing its upward ascent. The rebel second base woman, however was watching the ball disappear into the stratosphere as she accidentally stepped right in front of "downtown" as he struck her solidly in full stride knocking the wind completely out of her. In tears and unable to speak she gasped for air as "downtown" held her steady so she wouldn't collapse to the ground disappointed that his bid for a leadoff double was nullified. However, the umpire ran out in the field and correctly signalled for "downtown" to take second as he was clearly impeded on the play. Once again "slip n slide" drove in "downtown" and scored himself on singles from "knock em out of the park" and "hans solo" making the score 10-6 with one inning to go. Once again the fun bunch shut out the rebels and needed only 4 runs to tie but managed only a single hit--a solo shot (the only one in the game) by "the gazelle" to make the score 10-7. By far the oldest team in the league and with certainly the best defense, the fun bunch had simply run out of steam.
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