Mark’s (Mostly) Softball Blog

Well the last game of February was an HCO classic that didn’t get off to such a great start.  We were the home team and after just half an inning we found ourselves in an 11-0 hole.  This is team HCO, so a comeback of a 11 runs is not out of the realm of possibility right?  We did manage to put together a good string of hits and put up 5 runs of our own and ended the first inning 11-5.

In the second inning, we gave back the five runs and put us down 16-5 going into the bottom of the second.  We managed to hit around in the bottom of the second and put up seven runs to get the difference down to 4 at 16-12.

In the third inning we locked down on defense holding the opposing team scoreless to give us a chance to take the lead with about 7 minutes left.  We started the inning with a couple of well placed hits to get the baserunners we needed on base.  Q came through with a good shot that scored one and then Kristine our pitcher came up with a great shot of her own to push runners around and to get us within 2 runs.  Michael hit a shot towards first that he hustled out, got to base safe and in the resulting confusion, Q managed to come around and score to make it 16-15.  When all the dust had settled, Michael was on second, Kristine on third and there were two outs.

Jackie, who was helping us out tonight, then hit a shot between the pitcher and first baseman and the throw to first was off allowing Kristine and Michael to both score and give us the 17-16 lead.  Unfortunately the third out was recorded with just 21 seconds left on the clock and we had to take the field again to defend our lead.

In the top of the 4th, we gave up just one hit and recorded the three outs necessary without giving up any runs to win the game by a single run.  This moves the Monday night team’s record to 2-1, and I said it after the first game, this is starting to shape up like the Fall 2005 season at Havins.

Well, the weather cleared up a bit and with the wind blowing in off the lake Team HCO took the field for the second Wendesday Night Game.

As the home team, we started in the field and held the opposing team scoreless and then we managed to put across a couple of runs to make it 2-0. In the second inning, the opposing team scored a run to cut our advantage in half after two.

In the third we held them scoreless again but we did score a couple of runs of our own to up our advantage to 4-1. In the fourth the opposing team managed to get their offense rolling and tie the score at 4 before we tacked on 3 runs in the bottom half to up our lead to 7-4.

In the fifth inning, the opposing team really started to warm up and took the lead 9-7, but had their inning cut short when yours truly picked up a one hop hit to left field and nailed the runner at 3rd for the last out. Our bats started to warm up and we took back the lead with 4 runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead 11-9 with only a couple of minutes on the clock.
The opposing team’s managed to put up another 5 runs in the top of the 6th, thanks in part to a bad misplay by yours truly. But this is Team HCO and we know how to come from behind right?

In the bottom of the 6th, Stretch got the inning started with a single which was followed by our own Big Nasty coming through with a hard shot to third that put runners on 1st and 2nd. Denise then came up with a great shot that scored two runs and put her on third, as the tying run, with nobody out. Then Chadillac game up with a shot down the 3rd base line that scored Denise and put the winning run on first with nobody out. After Rachel drew a walk, the winning run was on second with no one out and yours truly coming to the plate. I had drawn two straight walks, but I managed to line the first pitch to right center field shallow enough to drop in front of the fielders, but deep enough for Chadillac to come around and score the game winning run. The final score was 15-14 and the Wednesday night team now sits at 2-0.

Well the HCO team went out looking for the first win of the Monday night league in the muck Monday night. We were the visitors and got 3 of our first 4 batters on base when Michael game through with a grandslam shot to left center field that put us up 4-0 after the top of the first. In the bottom half of the inning, our fill in right fielder made a great play on the first batter of the inning picking him off at second. The rest of the defense held in the bottom of the first giving up just a single run making the score 4-1.

In the second we went 3 up and 3 down, gave up 2 in the bottom of the inning and the score was 4-3. In the third we managed to push another run across, but we gave up two more to leave the score tied at 5-5.

Then in the top of the fourth, Q and Stretch must have kissed the bat or something as they hit back to back homeruns to put us up 7-5 after a great defensive inning held the opposing team scoreless in the bottom half of the inning.

In the fifth, we started hitting again and scored 6 more runs to give us a 13-5 lead with no time left on the clock. The opposing team was home and had one more shot at a comeback and did manage to put up 3 more runs before we recorded the final out for a 13-8 win.

That makes the Monday night team 1-1 in the early going of the season.

Well the Thursday Night team got off to a bit of a rough start.  After managing to score in the first inning, due in part to having only 9 players and in part to me catching a ball off my wrist instead of my glove, we gave up 8 and were quickly down 8-1.  The next few innings didn’t go real well as the bats never really came alive and we only managed one more run and fell 17-2 after 4 innings.

The Wednesday Night team got off to a resounding start to their Spring season. We were the visitors and decided to bat around and put up an 11 run first inning. The inning was highlighted by a home run by our third basewoman and a near homerun by our first basewoman. Both of them managed to line shots over the outfielders heads and then hustle around the bases, with the third basewoman scoring safely and our first basewoman being picked off at home. In the bottom half of the first we gave up 2 runs, to make the score 11-2.

In the second inning, we managed to plate a couple of runs, but the defense was steller again, holding the opposing team to a single run and making the score 13-3.

In the third inning, we managed to plate a couple of runs again, as our third basewoman came up with yet another homerun and deciding that wasn’t enough, she then came up with a great pickoff of the other team’s shortstop on 3rd base. They other team did put together 2 more runs, which made the score 15-5.
Then in the 4th, the bats decided they had been too cold or something, as we put up another 15 runs to stretch the lead to 30-5. After the bottom of the 4th, the game was called with a final score of 30-8.

Oh and to our normal catcher who couldn’t be with us tonight, I missed you out there and I am pretty sure someone missed you squeezing his buttocks (this is just a guess on my part).

Well I took the Winter league off from blogging, through a combination of lack of details and lack of time. But now with the Spring season starting its the return of the game blog.

So we got off to our first game on Monday night, and well it was rather rough, especially the hitting department. We lost the game 8-3, with the highlight being when our left fielder got a hold of a ball in the 7th inning and turn it into a homerun. Our defense played well, despite a couple of stupid plays by yours truly, giving up no more than 3 runs in any inning.

There is something positive to be taken from this game though. In the Fall Championship season, we lost our first game on those same fields, and then run the rest of our games that season which lead to our Championship. Well I don’t know if that will happen again, but at least until next week I am going to hold out the belief that we can still win it all.