The game was held at Field #7 in the North Meadow of Central Park. It was scheduled to start at 5:30 and we barely assembled the team by the 5:45 cutoff point. When I arrived at 5:10, the entire Bloomies team was already there practicing; it looked like they had been there for a while too.
A word about the other team: they were intensely competitive but lacked the skills to match. They made this pitcher extremely tense with their overt desire to walk... instead of hit. In slow pitch softball, the idea is to have fun: when I get up to bat, I want to hit the ball, not watch perfectly good pitches float over the plate. Alas, Bloomies did not share the sentiment.
After starting out the first couple of innings behind by a few runs, the Pistoles' staged an impressive comeback. Samantha is the clear MVP of the game. Her strong hitting and excellent base-running is the reason we won tonight!!
Another standout performance: Michael Bolger showing up early even though he could only stay for a few minutes because of dinner plans. His selfless sacrifice ensured that we were eligible to play.
By the 6th inning the score was 15 to 12 in our favor. Due to time constraints, the Ump announced that this would be the last inning: Bloomies would have to score a bunch of runs or the game was over. In softball, scoring 2 runs is quite simple, especially if you get a couple of people on base. After walking a batter, and allowing a base hit, it was not looking too good.
With impressive infield play we kept them to 1 run and the game was over. The drama was just beginning, though. The Bloomies were a feisty and cantankerous bunch: they yelled and screamed because we were late and thought they should have been awarded a victory because of it. Regardless, the rules are clear that team's are given a 15 minute window in which to assemble. The confrontation resulted in a yelling match between us, Samantha, Bloomies, and the Ump. There was no argument though, we had won fair and square.
This narrative does not do our victory justice, so please feel free to comment freely. Also, Flickr friends can follow this link for all the softball pics.
No comments:
Post a Comment