The regular season finale brought us to DeWitt Clinton Field in Hell's Kitchen on a warm Summer night. It was a rematch with Sporting Wood, a team we had already dominated earlier in the season. We were primed and pumped to close out the season strongly and head into the playoffs on a high note. We also had playoff positioning at stake, with a victory clinching the top spot in the division and homefield advantage throughout. Sporting Wood is quite frankly, a team that can't hit, run, throw, field or pitch. To top it off they came to the game short-handed, only being able to field a team of eight players. After a brief negotiation, we decided that we would not lend them a player due to the importance of the game for our side. Finally, it was time to play ball.
As the away team, we came to bat first. Sporting Wood's pitcher was not able to find the strike zone, and when he did, he got pounded. Iain, Dave, Mega and Wink all went yard in the first, and we put 10 on the board in that opening frame. The game was pretty much over at that point, as starting pitcher Juiena had given up 10 runs in a game only once this season. She pitched a scoreless first, and in the 2nd we scored another 12 runs to really put the result beyond question. The highlight of the 2nd inning had to be Camille's monster 3-run home run...it was a shot any of the fellas would have been happy to have. The bench went crazy and after that point our motivation became padding our stats and shooting for the Hounds all-time single-game scoring record(27). We then did offer a player to Sporting Wood to stop the bleeding a bit, but their manager stubbornly refused before his team convinced him to accept. By then though, it was too late. We pulled our offer and decided to really step on their throats.
There are too many other offensive highlights to list, but some that come to mind are Iain hitting two homers; one a grand slam, the other a 3-run shot. Dave hit for the cycle, although he could have at least fake-tripped on the turn at first to make his "single" more believable. Mega had two dingers and drove in 4, Camille drove in 5 and Amy had a hustle home run and drove in 4. The record fell in the top of the third, and who knows how much we would have scored if the game hadn't been called due to time limit. Wink came in to relieve Juiena in the 4th, and threw two shutout innings. When the game was over both teams were relieved, but for different reasons. Final Score: Hounds 33, Sporting Wood 1.
Let's give credit to Sporting Wood for mostly being good sports and taking the beating in stride. Sure, there was that one chatty fellow, but we felt too sorry for him to even reply to his banter.
Now the playoffs are upon us. We have a first-round bye and most likely won't be playing for at least another week. Please bear in mind that playoff games could be scheduled any day in the coming few weeks, we need all hands on deck for the title push. I am very confident we can defend the crown.
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