After a strong start to the regular season, the Hounds headed over to familiar DeWitt Clinton Field to try to keep the momentum going. It was a grey evening in New York, with droplets raining down on the city all day. We knew that games don't usually get called at DeWitt unless there is lightning, so we showed up expecting to play some ball & hoping for a bigger challenge than on Opening Day. Our opponents were the number crunchers from E & Y, and let's give them credit for being a good team. They had good pitching, fielding, and hitting. I wouldn't be surprised if we see them again in the playoffs. They were short one player though and would have to take an out every 10 batters, which proved to be critical.
As the road team, we came up to bat first. Cindy got on base and was driven in on a triple by Pat. The Bopper probably should have had a home run on the play, but we let him down by not having anyone over at third to coach him in. Our bad on that one, Pat. We were held to one run in the 1st and now it was time to see what E & Y could do. They actually had a good, albeit top-heavy lineup. Our starting pitcher was Juiena and E & Y were able to put up two quick runs in the bottom of the 1st. Now we were down 1-2 and that's the way it would stay until the top of the 3rd. Emergency replacement Angel singled to bring up the top of the order. Wink and C-Rod came through with singles to load the bases. After a fly out, Pat was up and again he launched the ball into the stratosphere. He cleared the bases but was robbed of a home run on a good play at the plate by E & Y. Our big inning was the 4th, when we scored 5 runs to blow the game open. Big offensive games were had by C-Rod(4-5, 4 RS), Pat(4-4, 6 RBI, RS), and Angel(3-3, HR, 2 RBI, 3 RS).
Meanwhile, Juiena would allow only one more run for the rest of her outing, a very solid 5 innings. Our defense did some stellar work, led by Wink, who made some spectacular catches in the outfield to rob E & Y's big hitters of at least extra base hits. There was also a great play at the plate involving a fantastic relay from Cindy, Mano, and Pat. Cap came in to pitch the last two innings and although he was a bit shaky, he was able to button up the win for Juice. The game was a lot closer than the final score would indicate. Final Score: Hounds 12, E & Y 6.
We should feel very happy to be 2-0, but more importantly, we played a solid fundamental game today. We just need to be more focused in the early innings so we avoid some of the mistakes we have been making. I feel very good about this team though and I know with some hard work, we are destined for big things this season.
