There was much excitement as the Hounds gathered at DeWitt Clinton Park for Opening Day 2013. We could not have asked for better conditions: the weather was perfect for softball, mid 70's with a late afternoon sun blanketing the field. The field itself had also clearly undergone some repair work and was in good shape. Our opponents were The Headliners, a solid yet somewhat mouthy ballclub. Their mouthiness made the end result of this game that much more difficult to swallow...
Our starting pitcher was Juiena, and as she usually does, she threw strikes and gave no one a free pass. As the home team, we took the field first, and there were some early warning signs in the top of the 1st. Headliners got 3 runs aided by some defensive miscues. We were able to get one back in the bottom of the frame on rookie Angel's RBI double. However, things got ugly in the top of the 2nd, as our defense really struggled and our opponents made us pay. They put up a 7-spot and all of a sudden we were down 10-1. Things were looking bleak, but I was encouraged by the fact that we did not give up. We battled back to get the game as close as 11-8, but that is as close as we would get. Wink came on in relief of Juice and did an admirable job of keeping us within striking distance. There were some nice moments for us, Pat hit one of his tape-measure shots for a two-run home run, Mano had a solo jack, rookie Andy went 3-3 with 2 RBIs in his Hounds debut, and Mike made some nice plays in the outfield. Unfortunately, we did not do enough on this day and our opponents were able to get the win comfortably. Final Score: Hounds 9, Headliners 16.
I said it at the field but it bears repeating: the defensive effort we put in today is not going to get it done in this division. If we continue to play like that, it will be a long and frustrating season. The team we played was good, but they have weaknesses and I still believe we are better top to bottom. We just butchered way too many routine plays. We are better than this, team. We have got to get our act together– our next game is just in a few days.
