Beaver Times 2010 - Edition III

Hola! Y la bienvenida a cinco de mayo de béisbol.

Fittingly on Cinco de Mayo the Beavers played Team USA. It was another amazing night for softball. Temperatures covering in the upper 60's. Only thing that was working against us was a high wind blowing in from left field. More on that in a bit.

To celebrate our friends to the south the game beer was Corona Light and Tecate...mmm, cerveza! Oh, and don't forget the lime juice for good measure. While chips and salsa would have been a nice accompaniment, we stuck with the liquid-only diet for the games.

Belled spelled Tanner in this game as Tanner came down with some unexplainable eye injury and Belle was back from finishing his Wed night hockey league. Thanks to Tanner for keeping the score book for the night. Most legible book in years...and probably the toughest official scorer on the Beavers with the power of the pen. We'll see how forgiving he was with the hits vs. errors.

Beavers took to the field as the home team in game one and the first batter laced a fly ball to right center. Belle, his first time seeing a fly ball since September completely misjudged the ball...broke in for it as it screamed over his head. A quick adjustment and the runner was held to a triple...and then stranded for the remainder of the inning.

In the bottom of the inning the Beavers loaded the bases on 3 singles only to strand the go-ahead and first run at third as well. Team USA came out hitting in the second. Primarily shooting singles into center field...they were able to chase around 3 runs and take the early lead. The Beavers clawed back. Belle reached on a single, Gee reached on an error, Santo reached on an error then the next two guys walked with the bases loaded giving rather cheap RBI to Jimmy-D and Deuce. Beavers were down by 1.

There was no scoring in the 3rd for either team. For the Beavers, Dupper was the final out for the 2nd time out of 3 innings. In the 4th Team USA plated another 3 runs, while the Beavers led off their half with a triple by Rake...they were not able to score his with a series of outs to the shortstop - PITIFUL!

Team USA added two more in the 5th, while the Beavers bats remained on Siesta. In the 6th Team USA scored one again and the Beavers started off a rally. Sabo doubled and scored on Kid's line drive single. Then came our menacing 4,5 & 6 hitters. Big John jumped on one but hit it high into the left field wind for out #1. Mobilly then looked at strike 3 (I had threatened to bring a Sombrero to the game that had to be worn when someone struck out, lucky for Mobilly I was unable to find a sombrero). Dupper then hit one deep to left that again was held up by the wind. A great chance to come back was thwarted. Dupper ended his third inning in three AB.

Team USA put the nail in the ataúd (coffin) in the 7th scoring 5 more times. The Beavers were deflated and I believe it was Kid who said "we can relax and just have fun now". Isn't that what we are supposed to be doing every week? The now "relaxed" Beavers started a rally in the bottom of the 7th. After Rake popped out to right Belle, Gee and Santo all reached base and scoring one. PT then hit a sacrifice fly to score the 2nd run. With two outs Jimmy-D grounded out to third. Rally over, Game over.

Final score was Team USA 14, Beavers 5. This was the same team that beat us for the championship last year, so they seemed to have our number. MVB of the game goes to ... no one...let's face it, none of us deserved it.

Luckily the Beavers don't stay down for long. Game two started off much better. Deuce was able to get one past the right fielder for a ground rule double, Sabo reached on a FC error, Big John hit a sac fly, then Mobilly singled in one, Dupper doubled in one and Rake singled in another. Then the middle of the lineup hits, it is a beautiful thing. 4 runs early for the good guys.

Big John took the mound in the 2nd game. He breezed through the first inning and according our books was untouched in the 2nd frame as well. According to Team USA later in the game they scored once in the 2nd, but that seems awfully suspicious. Either way, the Beavers were determined to not let that one run decide the game. In the top of the 2nd the Beavers added to their lead. Seven hits brought around another 5 runs. The top of the order all hit and the rally was extinguished when Mobilly tried to stretch a single into a double. But the damage was done...Beavers were up 9-0 (or 9-1).

The Beavers continued to score in the 3rd and 4th. Dupper led off the 3rd with a single and was drove in later in the inning by a single by Santo before PT would have been the 2nd player to wear the sombrero when he looked at strike 3. In the 4th Sabo reached on a error to the Shortstop then Kid made it hurt by driving one to the right center alley. The wind seemed to be aiding fly balls to this area of the field, but let's don't take anything away from this hit. Kid's ball rolled all the way down to the building near the tennis courts. While Team USA tried the "ground rule double" approach, it was a live ball and an easy dinger.

During all of this Team USA was able to find home plate a few times off of Big John, but they were well out of the game. Somehow able to play 7 innings again, the Beavers were win 13-6 (or 13-7). Beavers are now 3-1 on the young season and had proved that they can beat anyone when they play well.

MVB of the game goes to Kid and his 4-RBI night.

One things that can't be overlooked is the defense by Deuce over the night. Deuce ranged in and back to bring in fly balls. He also had two assists on outs at home plate. One throw being a strike to Jimmy-D early in game 1, another in game 2 when he basically rolled the ball through the legs of Rake and Big John only to find Jimmy-D at home to apply the tag. It was a play that took everyone on both sides by surprise. I don't think Jimmy-D has ever had two PO at home in one night. Will have to check the record books on that one.

That's it for Cinco De Beaver. A split is not what the team was looking for, but the renaissance in the 2nd game lifted the spirits and has the team ready for early games next week on May 12 again on field 2. Hopefully the wind is either not blowing in hard from left field, or the team is able to adjust and stop hitting fly balls into the wind. Without that wind, the scores of the games would have been much more lopsided for the Beavers. There were some fly balls that typically would be doubles of homers that were easy fly outs to a deep left fielder...