OTTAWA - Playing the Loonies should be an easy two points. But on Thursday, the Fun Bun made it interesting when they went 0-2-0-0 from the fourth to the seventh inning and had to grind out a win with a five run eighth. The game started promisingly enough when the Fun bunch Scored five runs in the first inning -- the first time this year they have not fallen behind--all without using up a home run

This was the first time the fun bunch have had to play a 9:30 game--a requirement this year with the expanded number of teams in the league. Players showed up yawning, complaining and generally in a bad mood. "What in tarnation!", wheezed elder statesman john "Methuselah" devries as he arrived at the diamond clearly agitated. "back in the good 'ol days, games ended when the sun set", he continued, fondly reminiscing about a bygone era.

Absent were Mark "polygon" Pintar and Ricahrd "wild thing" Bujold--both kicking back and taking the night off. In their stead was neophyte Corey "too tall" Ploegman, a call up from the fun bunch farm team, looking to start his second game of the season. With Patti "gazoo" Anderson also away, Jess "bulls-eye" Belanger was invited out for her first game this year.

Both young players had strong games. "Too tall" played second base and took a page out of richard "wild thing" bujolds playbook as he caught liners, made outs at first and received tosses at second with aplomb. Add to that some clutch hitting and aggressive base running and "wild thing" might have some cause for concern. "I wouldn't want to miss too many more games if I was 'wild thing' ", whispered leah "roadrunner" morrell out of the side of her mouth --saying aloud what everyone was thinking. Equally impressive was "bulls-eye" who made solid contact with the ball, flew around the base paths (including an aggressive run to second for a double) and played first base with no fear of steve "field marshal's" saunders potentially decapitating throws to first.

That the team started off strong was no doubt in part due to their hitting lesson two days before. "field marshal" held a clinic for anyone interested in learning how to position their hits. Pulling the ball, hitting up the middle and going to the opposite field--as well as trajectory--were all discussed and practised. During the game, the clinic participants put their new-found skills to good work as they did their best to find an open spot in the field to place their hits.

After the practice, it was discovered that Nancy "triple threat" Harris is actually a southpaw. She had been throwing and catching with the wrong hand since she had joined the team over ten years ago. When asked why she never got herself a right-handed glove she shrugged her shoulders and said "It didn't seem that important at the time".

With the score sanding at 13-8, going into the top of the eighth inning, "scoresheet", "hans solo" and "bulls-eye" loaded the bases. The loonies faces then turned ashen as steve "downtown" saunders, grabbed a metal bat and snapped it over his knee--simply because he could. Visibly unnerved by this seemingly impossible display of herculean strength, the fielders began whispering before collectively moving back all the way to the home run fence--as if that might offer a modicum of salvation. It was to be in vain however, as "downtown"--in a now well rehearsed script--strode to the plate. "I know, I know, toss it in like a beachball, right?", downtown's little brother scott "boom boom" saunders asked enthusiastically while trying to contain a giggle. "you got that right kid", chuckled "downtown" as he hoisted his 30 oz. refurbished demarini bat replete with new lizard skin grip and bat knob over his shoulder. It felt perfect. There was no doubt where the next pitch was going, as "downtown" crunched it over dead center field, notching yet another grand-slam home run in his now legendary career. The Loonies looked on in stunned silence trying to follow the trajectory of the ball as it disappeared on the horizon.

Corey "too tall" Ploegman, would drive in "the wrangler" with a double to cap the five run inning leaving the score at a more respectable 18-8 for the fun bunch. The Loonies put up a decent rally in their half of the ninth inning and managed to score four runs until the fun bunch shut them down. Final score 18-12 Fun Bunch.