Mark’s (Mostly) Softball Blog

After a loss last week (I wasn’t there so there aren’t a lot of details), Up Dawg took the field still looking for the first win of the season.  A 9 run first inning helped fuel a 17-10 win that got Up Dawg the first win of the Spring season.

The 9 run first featured everyone getting a chance to bat and was capped by a grand slam courtesy of Chad.  Over the next 3 and a half innings our opponents chipped away and held us in check getting the score to 11-6.  The bats found new life in the top of the 5th to push the lead to 17-6 but our opponents answered back with 4 to get to the final score of 17-10.

So its time for the big camping trip we have been talking about.  We will be going to Inks Lake again (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/inks/).  Details are as follows:

Who’s going (9, maybe 10 ):

• Mark and Erinn
• Jimmy and Cindy
• Jason and Kate
• Stephen (Maybe Debbie)
• Jaime and Quenton

Food:

• Friday dinner — Grilled Chicken Breasts (Quenton and Jaime)
• Saturday breakfast — Pancakes, eggs, toast and bacon (Stephen)
• Saturday lunch — Burgers/Sandwhiches, Chips, Dips, Fruit (Cindy and Jimmy)
• Saturday dinner — Turkey Sausages and Brats (Kate and Jason)
• Sunday breakfast — French toast and Sausage (Mark and Erinn)
• Desserts

On one of the coldest nights of the year in Austin, Den of Swine took to the field for their first game of the Spring season and came away with a 20-19 win on the power of a 14 run second inning and a clutch last inning.

Temperatures were hovering around freezing and everyone was so bundled up that runing and moving was rather comical at times.  We did manage to move enough to score a run but were down 4-1 after the first.  In the second inning the bats caught fire (since that may have been the only thing to keep us warm) as we batted around the order nearly twice and put up 14 runs to stretch the score to 15-4.

In the third inning our opponents scored 5 to cut the deficit to 6 and then 6 more in the top of the fourth to tie the score at 15.  In the bottom of the fourth we scored 4 runs, thanks in part to the heady base running and hustle of Melissa, to take back the lead at 19-15.  In the top of the fifth our opponents scored 4 to again tie the game. 

After a lead-off out, Chad came through with a double to get the game winning run into scoring position.  After Melissa hit a sacrifice to move Chad to third, Jason came through with a shot down the 3rd base line that allowed Chad to score the winning run.  An unexpected 1-0 start to the Spring season.

Despite a 5 run sixth inning, the Up Dawg team dropped their first game of the new Spring season 7-6.

Up Dawg jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and the pitchers duel was on.  After 2 innings we were down 3-1 until Michael came through with a shot down the right field line that turned into a homerun.  The game remained close until the bottom of the 5th when our opponents found their bats and stretched out to a 7-2 lead.

In the 6th, the Up Dawg bats came alive.  The inning started with a couple of quick hits to get the score to 7-3.  Then Michael hit another line drive shot into right field that scored Kristine and himself to cut the deficit to 2 and a couple of batters later, Kate, bad back and all, hit a shot to the fence that would one hitter later result in a 7-6 score.  Unfortunately we could not score any more runs in the 6th and time ran out in the bottom of the sixth resulting in a one run loss.

As a side note: Michael, are you happy with your extended coverage for your two homeruns?

On the strength of an 11 run first inning, Up Dawg finally won a winter one-pitch game 19-14.  This win made more amazing by the fact we played with only 9 players instead of the normal 10.  That makes the Up Dawg winter season a 1-7 affair and makes us look very forward to playing in a novice league again.