Mark’s (Mostly) Softball Blog

The Up Dawg team took to a hot and dusty field for an early game and to defend our nine game winning streak.  As the visiting team, we hit first and managed to plate 6 runs across and get off to a fast start.  In the bottom half of the inning we gave up just 1 run and had a 6-1 lead.

In the second inning, we plated another 5 runs and gave up only 2 to stretch our lead to 11-3.  In the third inning our bats started to cool a bit as put up only 3 more runs but a good defensive inning put us up 14-4.  In the fourth inning, we placed a couple more runs on the board and the other team put up 4 of their own in the bottom of the inning to cut our lead to 8.

In the fifth inning we pushed a couple more runs to stretch our lead to 10 and a last inning rally by our opponents came up a bit short and we held on for a 18-12 win.  That gets the Up Dawg team off to a quick 2-0 start in the Summer II league.

Well the HCO Wednesday night team took the field for their first game of the season against some familiar foes.  I have created an rule for the HCO softball team that says if I am half or more of your offense, you are in trouble.  Well I scored 1 run and drove in 2 in a 16-4 loss, so the rule continues to hold true.

There have been some changes to the teams and my involvement with the HCO softball teams.  The Monday Night Team has left HCO and is going it on their own, and now goes by the name Up Dawg.

So the new team took the field after and undefeated Summer I season to start the Summer II season.  In the top of the first we gave up 2 runs but answered with 2 of our own to tie the game after 1 inning.  In the second we gave up only 1 run and found our swing a bit in the bottom half of the inning to take a 5-3 lead.

In the third our opponents fought back to take the lead with 6 runs but we answered with 6 of our own to take an 11-9 lead.  The fourth inning saw our opponents put up 4 runs to take a 13-11 lead before we put up another 6 runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 17-13 lead with time running out.

The fifth inning proved to be most exciting inning of the game.  Our opponents ran together a string of well placed hits to score 6 runs and take a 19-17 lead with no time left on the clock.  It’s been a while since we had to comeback to win a game, so it was going to be interesting to see if we can do it again.  The inning started with Mike hitting a single and moved up to second thanks to a throwing error.  After a fly ball out, Q drew a walk that loaded the bases with one out.  Michael then popped out just behind second and was called out due to the infield fly rule, but the ball was missed in the air and fell behind the second basewoman.  Mike scored on the missed ball and then a throwing error at home allowed Q to score, tie the game and moved Kristine up to third base.  Then the mighty Jenna came to the plate, and the mighty Jenna did not strike out! Instead she hit a shot at the second basewoman and ran the ball out at first and scored Kristine for the game winning run.  Final score 20-19 in what was a great game to start the season.

The Thursday Night team took to the field looking to break our losing streak but alas it was not meant to be.

In the first inning we didn’t manage any runs but we did manage to hold our opponents to only 2 runs.  In the second inning we manage to even up the score at 2 but we gave up 1 run in the bottom half of the inning to trail 3-2.

In the third inning the bats exploded for us as we managed to put up 6 runs thanks to a string of hits and the defense only gave up 2 innings in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 8-5.  The fourth inning saw the hitting continue as we plated another 2 runs but we gave up 3 in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 10-8.
In the fifth we managed to put up a couple more runs to take a 12-8 lead before the other team found their bats and started to rally.  We fell behind 13-12 in that inning and an attempted double play with seconds on the clock didn’t happen and we lost 13-12.

The Wednesday Night Team took the field facing the same opponent as the week before but hoping for a different result.

It didn’t start out too well as we gave up 4 runs in the top of the first inning and we were only able to get 1 run across in the bottom half of the inning.  In the second inning things started to turn around as we gave up only 1 run and managed to score 3 more runs to make the deficit 6-4.

The third inning we gave up only 1 run (when yours truly got burnt like so many pieces of toast), and another 4 runs in the bottom half of the inning gave us our first lead of the game at 8-7.  The fourth inning was a defensive gem on our part that saw us give up no runs at all and score 4 more runs to take our biggest lead at 12-7.

The fifth inning was interesting as our opponents managed to put up 3 runs before we recorded an out to get within two.  After another out they scored again to make it 12-11 when Stretch dropped a pop fly to give them another chance.  The next hitter hit it to the pitcher and when Stretch called for the ball she said “I promise I will catch it”, which she did and secured the win 12-11.

The Monday night team took the field looking for an undefeated season.  Our opponents took the field first and scored two runs and frankly it only got worse from there….

for our opponents that is (that was special just for you Q, we missed you).  In the bottom half of the inning we put up 3 runs of our own to take a 3-2 lead and never looked back.

In the second inning our defense took over as we held our opponents scoreless, put up 2 runs of our own to take a 5-2 lead.  In the third it was another defensive gem in the top half of the inning and the bats finally really came alive in the bottom of the inning as we put up a five spot.

In the fourth, another great defensive inning held our opponents scoreless and we put 2 more runs up thanks to Chad’s homerun (and nearly catching Kristine running the bases) to put us up 12-2.

The fifth was more of the same as we held them scoreless again and we managed to run the clock out in the bottom half of the inning to win the game 12-2.

That makes this team 8-0 and the league champions. 

Its been a helluva season that saw an undefeated season, a wedding, a camping trip to Inks Lake State Park, a showing of Showgirls (boobies, boobies, boobies, boobies) at the Alamo Drafthouse and drinking at Gingerman.  It was a great season with a great group of friends, and up next is the post season tournament.

19-1…that was the final, and we were the one, enough said.

After a bit of pre Fourth of July grilling and eating, the Monday night team took the field to defend their undeafeted record, and were in for the best game of the season.

In the first inning we gave up 2 quick runs and after being held scoreless in the bottom half of the inning we were quickly in a 2-0 hole.  We managed to pitch a shutout in the top half of the second and thanks to Jason’s homerun we managed to tie the score at 2.

In the third and fourth innings, both teams were working defensive gems and another run wasn’t score until the top of the fifth when our opponents took a 3-2 lead.  We were held scoreless in the bottom half of the inning and found ourselves trailing by a run.

The sixth inning was another defensive gem by our team and gave us a chance for another comeback.  In the bottom half of the sixth we finally managed to find our stroke and get some runs across.  We managed to push 7 runs across and when time expired we had won our seventh straight game by a score of 9-3.

The Thursday night team took the field was looking to break its losing streak and it started off really well.  After an inning and a half we were up 5-2, but with us losing 26-6 it didn’t get any better after that.