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Tonight's game (and Mark's managerial debut) was played in a thick blanket of water vapor...heavy humidity and mild temperatures. At noon on this game day Mark was concerned that the team would witness one of their own expire in front of them. The temperature was so hot and the humidity was so high that it seemed a dangerous proposition to proceed with the game. However, by gametime the temperature had broken with the sun going behind the clouds...clouds that would later drop sprinkles on us in the middle innings of the game. Mark did the unusual thing by driving the family van to the game...without having picked up his camera. Ashley came to the rescue by having her camera on hand. Her pictures are available in the usual area.
Fourteen of us were present at game time and the pressure was on for Mark to do as well managing the team as Bill had in recent weeks. So, after making the batting order, he did what all good managers do...he delegated all defensive issues to Debbie and Nancy. What a great defense they developed. All Mark had to do was rubber stamp the work. It's a reasonable process, if not one that Sam would normally follow. And it must have worked since we played the game and ended up with a sweet victory, the score ending up 20-12. We held their offense down and we hit like deamons. The raw scoresheets can be reviewed at your convenience.
On defense some exciting play was generated by Ashley who plays third better than anyone else on our team. No exageration in this statement (sorry Rich). She has a nose for the ball, isn't afraid to get in front of it, and can throw it to first on target. In other plays, one of their runners tried to advance to second only to find it occupied. Mark, at shortstop, then patiently walked towards second to assure that runner wouldn't try to advance, while simultaneously making sure the other runner committed toward first. An easy throw to Ashley who made the simple tag out capped the play. In an unusual change of pace, Matt did not have to make a sliding catch in the outfield! Russ and Tim shared pitching duties and made them hit to the fielders for the outs.
Phil lead the batting hitting two doubles and two singles and scoring 3 runs. Ashley also made base each time she came up to bat. But the real excitement was when their outfield gave Justine no respect by playing in towards the cone...poor fools! She clobbered (not an overstatement) one clear over their heads for a stand-up double and scoring Phil from first base! Mark, coaching third at the time, was whooping it up and cheering like a fool. The bench was on their feet and applauding the fine effort.
This week Mark will confer "tURKEY" of the week (note: little "t") on Gerardo. This is "Turkey" in the classical sense...not something to aspire for. In the fourth inning, and during a score-fest, Gerardo stepped up to the plate and wacked one clean into the outfield. Great hit! Wait a minute!? What's this!? Uh-oh...in all the excitement he had batted clean out of order shutting down our slugfest with the automatic third out of that inning. The scoresheet says it all. Oh well...at least the Turkeys are completely honest, since Nancy immediately discovered the error and called it to Mark's attention. We took the automatic out and promptly declared Gerardo "tURKEY".
This week, for her superb and exciting batting, Justine is named "Turkey of the Week" (the good one). Coming from the competitive fast-pitch softball experience, Justing is getting the hang of heavier bats, wating on the pitch, and figuring out it's more for fun and beer/soda/pizza than for competition.
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