Having lost a nailbiter on opening day, it was time for the Hounds to get back on the field and return to our winning ways. It was another trip to DeWitt Clinton, and it was a perfect evening for softball. In the opposing dugout were the City Slickers, a team we knew nothing about, other than that they had won on opening day. With only 6 games in the regular season, it was imperative that we get the win in this game. We took the field focused and determined.
As the away team, we came up to bat first, and we got off to a flying start. MikePa got us going again, leading off the game with a double, and scoring from 2nd on a simple 6-3 by Juiena. Wink then came up and stroked a solo homer, and the next 7 hitters proceeded to hit safely. Let's be honest, City Slickers definitely butchered a lot of balls, but we made the most of their mistakes. After the top of the first was over they were down 9-0 and there could be little doubt we would prevail.
Juiena got the ball as starting pitcher and she was in a nice groove from the start. Her high arc pitch was confounding City Slickers, and the defense behind her was outstanding. Most of the action for us on the defensive side occurred in the infield. Iain and the Cap were a strong left side of the infield combo, and new Hound Kyle played a solid first base. Meanwhile, our offense continued to roll along. The production was spread around, but the standouts were Mike(3-3, 2 RS, RBI), Wink(3-4, 2 HR, 4 RS, 3 RBI), Iain(5-5, 2 HR, 5 RS, 4 RBI), Push(4-5, 2 RS, 3 RBI), Buddah(4-4, HR, 3 RS, 3 RBI), and Kyle(4-4, 2 HR, 3 RS, 5 RBI). WIth the score at 17-0, Amy was brought in to get some relief work. She pitched well for the first couple of innings but got into some trouble in the bottom of the 5th. George then came in to get the final 7 outs of the game and he closed out City Slickers with relative ease. Let's give them credit for taking the beating in stride and let's give credit to the ump(Swayze) for letting us get the whole game in despite going over the time limit by a lot. Final Score: Hounds 27, City Slickers 7.
Even though we came through with a solid performance tonight, I must caution that our opponents were pretty awful and we shouldn't read too much into this blowout win. There are better teams ahead of us, although we also have the team that lost to City Slickers ahead on our schedule. That should be interesting. For next week, several key players will be away. Who is going to step up and carry us to victory?
