It sure felt good to get back on the field after a rainout and a two-week break! The game was off to a late start over on Barry 1, due to some boys' school team wrapping up a game and taking their sweet time clearing out. Our opponents, the newbie "Predators," showed their true colors early on by poaching our dugout. Grr! We won the coin toss, but the True Foes' bats were a little rusty in the first three innings and the Preds took an early lead. They thought they were the cocks of the walk...until the True Foes' thrilling rally mid-game!
At this point I'd like to give mad props to Sarah Finklea, not only for her determination to take some hacks and reclaim her softball skills, but for keeping careful score and having a civilized discussion with the ump when he thought we were tied 6-6 when in reality we were ahead 7-6 at the bottom of the fifth!
Alas, this was not the only instance of unacceptable ump behavior: he also let himself get hoodwinked by the other team after Ryan Hullings hit a blazing triple. Ryan was safe on third, I was up, and then the Predators' first baseman claimed that Ryan didn't touch first base. Bad boy blue just took their word for it (even though he obviously didn't see anything amiss with his own eyes) and declared him out. Not cool. He also lost track of what inning we were in at one point, and accidentally shouted "Fair ball!" when he meant to say "Dead ball!" Dude.
The ump also failed to establish a stable strike zone, which meant the Predators repeatedly walked on base when they had no business doing so. I mean, I saw every pitch too, and there was simply no rhyme or reason to what he called a ball or a strike. So there Jason is, sweating it out on the mound, and blue is just phoning it in! Plus he was afraid of the ball and did this super girly "twist and flinch" move every time he thought a pitch might bounce in his direction. If you're the ump you've got to get your head in the game, man. Let's have some consistency and conviction, for Pete's sake!
Despite the disadvantages, the True Foes got it together and played hard to the end! Jason and Willy both hit spectacular home runs, and Alex Laviola unsettled the other team with his mismatched knee socks and aggressive base running. Softball Dave (our shortstop this game) and Issa made plenty of solid outs at first base, and David Phillips and Ben made good catches and brought the ball in quickly from the outfield. Tyson had a great hit during a crucial rallying moment, and Finklea & Casey covered the tricky rover/second base territory. Yours truly got to tag a guy gunning for home, which doesn't happen often and was great fun (especially because he said "Oh, shit!" right before he got out). I apologize for any positions/plays that I've omitted or misremembered--the sun was in my eyes the whole game, and the Cinco de Mayo margarita merriment may have interfered with my recall a bit!
It was exciting right up to the finish--the Predators reclaimed the lead by scoring some more runs in the sixth and seventh innings, and our second big rally didn't quite get off the ground, leaving us with a final score of 12-10. It's no fun losing, but we stepped it up in a challenging game and enjoyed an evening of absolutely perfect weather! Thank you to Susan, Lee, and Morgan for being our cheering section and keeping our spirits up even when our score wasn't!
We won't have to wait long for our next shot at glory: the True Foes face off against our old foes "El Destructo" next Wednesday on the very same field. If we can start strong and nix the pop-ups we're sure to destroy El D! You don't want to miss it!
GTF
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