When the ball settled into Glen’s glove, he knew the throw had to be perfect. He’d just recorded the second out in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the winning run was tagging up at third base. The throw was perfect, and Mark turned to apply the tag that would preserve the tie, and send the Bashers home undefeated for the season, with a 1-0-1 record, not 1-1-0.
It was not to be. The ball came out of Mark’s glove on impact, and the second game of the season ended with the Bashers on the wrong end of an 11-10 result.
It was the end of an evening where the Bashers had shown flashes of the power that was mostly absent last season, and a night when Marty played his last ball of 2007.
The team opened the fall season in all too familiar fashion: after 2.5 innings of play, they trailed the Spartans 9-1. Starting in the bottom of the third inning, though, they turned on the offense, outscoring the Spartans 14-3, to secure a 15-12 victory.
Dave led off the bottom of the third with a single. He was driven home on Dean’s RBI double. Tab followed up with a single of his own, and rode home on Glen’s 3-run jack. Not to be outdone, Chris E put the next pitch out of the park as well. After back to back fly outs by Ryan and Chris J, Marty doubled, and was driven home by Matt’s RBI single.
The bats stayed alive in the next inning. Dave struck out, but Dean singled, and was driven in by Tab’s first home run of the season. Glen tripled, Chris E singled, Ryan doubled, Chris J tripled, and Marty hit a sacrifice fly to end the scoring. Matt capped his 3-3 game with his third single of the night.
Dean and Tab added insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Game two also saw the Bashers spotting a four-run cushion to the Spartans in the first frame. After two, the Spartans’ lead had been cut to 6-4, following Tab’s second HR of the night, a double by Marty and RBI singles by Matt and Chris J.
In the third, the Bashers bats got lively again. Tommy led off with a double, advanced to third on Glen’s flyout, and scored on Ryan’s double. Chris E plated Ryan, and Tab doubled. Marty then sent them both home with a 2-RBI triple, and scored on Matt’s RBI double.
At that point, the Bashers’ offense ground to a halt, sending only seven players to bat over the next two innings. During that time, the Spartans evened the score at 9-9.
In the top of the sixth, Marty reached on an error, and advanced to second on Matt’s final hit of a perfect six for six night. Chris J sacrificed the runners over, and Mark stepped to the plate, dragging an 0-5 performance behind him. This time, the Spartan’s second baseman was unable to field the ball, and Marty scored. Dave and Dean made the final outs of the inning, to set up the bottom of the sixth.
The Bashers return to action next Wednesday at Jenny Dean field vs Hitfaced. First pitch for game one is at 6:30 p.m.
Kevin will update this week’s stats next week.
