Sunday, July 31, 2011

Gotham City: Perfect Storm Leaves Hounds Reeling



It seemed like everything had been going our way thus far in the Gotham City season. We have a record of 10-0, and we have already shown no deficit is too small for us to overcome. We entered play this weekend full of confidence. The setting was perfect and the best ump in the game was assigned to the series. We were looking forward to a fun & victorious day. Our opponents in the other dugout were the Thuggz n Juggz team, who have also been around for a couple of seasons.

For Game 1, George took to the mound hoping to erase the memories of his last outing, in which his control was off. For the first few innings, he was effective, holding T&J to 2 runs over 3. Meanwhile, T&J made a costly error in the 1st inning. A routine fly ball to left which should have been the third out with no damage done, turned into a 6-run inning for the Hounds. We did a great job of staying disciplined and capitalizing on the mistake. We had another big inning in the 2nd, scoring 7 runs. With a lead of 13-2, it was looking like a laugher, but then this game became an example of why no lead is ever safe in softball. George imploded in the top of the 4th, issuing walk after walk, and T&J also got some extra outs handed to them. It was a miserable inning, probably our worst of the season. The encounter became testy as one of T&J's players was a little out of order on several occasions in the inning, as if he was looking for trouble. Amy came on in relief and was able to get us out of the inning finally, but not before we had surrendered our big lead. To make matters worse, Dave and Amy got banged up, something we don't need as we enter the home stretch.

We got in the dugout ready to make our comeback in the bottom of the 4th, but the game and the series were abruptly halted due to a problem with the field permits. It was a frustrating moment, as we were all very confident we could turn the tide on this one. I'm proud to say that we all held our composure despite the aggravation of not getting our chance right then & there. We'll get our shot another day. Bottom 4, Score: Hounds 13, T&J 15. To Be Continued...