Sam's report (with edits in italics by Mark):

The final score read Fringes 19, Wild Turkeys 15. Another loss. So to speak (as opposed to barking). This was one of those games where we lost legitimately on the scoreboard (not on the field?), but the other team got some little advantages by being not quite altogether there. The game started late, because the Fringes were still waiting for their 8th player to show up, while most of the Turkeys' 15-player lineup was ready and raring to play (sure...that sounds like us). Just as we were preparing to loan them a catcher (at 15% interest), their 9th player (and 3rd woman) arrived, followed shortly by their 10th ( a man). By the 3rd inning, two more men had shown up, which led them to (technically illegally) revamp their original batting order by switching the 9th and 10th batters, because they would have had four men in a row because they hadn't started with a woman leading off (easy for you to say). Not a serious infraction by C League standards. I'll usually agree to a minor bending of the rules if informed ahead of time. But with no prior communication it was enough to throw our scorekeeper Jack into a tizzy when he was trying to keep track of who was batting when. :-) (all the while dreaming of the beer to come)

Our real downfall in this game wasn't due to the Fringes changing their batting order. Instead, it came just as we were apparently concluding the 2nd inning down by only 5-4. After two quick outs and two little hits, the fifth Fringes batter hit a grounder that appeared to force out the runner from 1st at 2nd, which would have ended the inning with no damage. But with the Fringes' umpire not paying close attention, there was no decisive call on the force play, and action continued when the runner overran 2nd, then continued to 3rd as our shortstop Bill first thought the runner was already out, then tried to tag him and finally threw wildly. After all the action ceased, the runner was ruled safe on the original force play, even though all the Turkeys in proximity thought that he was already out before any of the ensuing commotion. From that point on, we lost our composure (bladders) for the remainder of that inning and opened the floodgates (see previous) by committing four more errors and allowing a total of 7 runs to score. We need to learn to put bad umpiring calls behind us (or to hold them so close that the next time we play these guys we just...uh...no...that's not sporting, sorry). We can't let one call be the difference between 0 runs and 7 runs! (Apparently we can!)

In the third inning, we gave the Fringes 7 more runs, this time unaided by fielding lapses or questionable umpiring decisions. At 19-8 we appeared hopelessly behind and completely unable to prevent them from scoring runs in big bunches. Ignominiously, this was the fourth time this season that we've given our opponents two 7-run (or more) innings in the same game. This time we accomplished this dubious result in just the first three innings! (So, that's better...right? One less inning!)

But we Turkeys never say die! (No! Everyone knows turkeys say "gobble"...jeesh!) Inspired by our Turkey mascot and aided by a couple of mercy outs, we held the Fringes completely at bay and rallied furiously to cut their margin to 19-15 going into the bottom of the 6th. At that point, with plenty of daylight and nearly 15 minutes left on our paid field reservation, our opponents threw in the towel, declared victory and picked up the bases. Not very sporting of a team that started the game late to decide to quit early just when their once insurmountable lead was evaporating! (Makes sense to me, didn't want to be late twice in the same game...) So cowed (um..dare I say "mooo") were they by our mascot's fearsome "gobble-gobble" :-)

Notwithstanding the final score, we Turkeys still have plenty to be proud of. We were the team, after all, that showed up right from the start with plenty of players and plenty of women (40% to their 25%). We had enough players to start early and finish late, and to comply easily with the C League batting order requirements without any hanky-panky. By some teams' standards we should have bailed out on the LA Monkeys last month with our 18-13 lead intact after six innings and considerably less daylight than tonight. But I'm proud of our team for always sticking around for the full game (waiting for beer and pizza), even though in that case the Monkeys defeated us 20-18 after our catastrophic collapse in the 7th inning.

Many individual Turkeys turned in noteworthy performances in tonight's game. Gerardo was back with us after missing his first game in a few years to attend a dinner last week honoring him for winning a scholarship to college. Once again he held the fort on defense, catching all four fly balls that came his way and nearly gunning down a couple runners at the plate. Newcomer Ashley played well, especially when she accounted for both of our defensive outs while playing 3rd base in the otherwise interminable mercy-shortened 7-run 3rd inning by the Fringes.

Nancy shone on offense, with two smashing hits and 3 RBIs. including a hard single that scored Jon all the way from 1st base. Gerardo extended his amazing consecutive hits streak to (I won't mention the exact number yet for fear of jinxing him). Before this game I did jinx Jon by telling him that he had started this season with 8 consecutive hits; tonight he extended his streak to 9, but then he flied out on his second at-bat.

The top of our order (Bill, Katie, Joe) went 8 for 8 tonight with 6 RBIs and 6 runs scored. Katie and Joe teamed up for Turkey of the Week honors. Joe's 3 hits were worth 5 RBIs, a feat unmatched by any other Turkey this year. Katie also went 3 for 3, and after her last two hits she gave us all a good lesson on how to run the bases smart, fast, and hard. Twice she scored all the way from 1st base on medium hits by Joe, drawing late hurried throws that allowed her to hustle home and Joe to extend his hits into relatively easy doubles. Now that's teamwork! Way to go, Katie and Joe!

The game scoresheets and the line score are on the Official Scoresheet for this game.

Here's Hannah's completion of the pre-drafted game report: (Mark had written this with blanks to be filled in by the reporter...give Hannah a hand for showing strength of character and...um...some imagination...and a working knowledge of english...OK...just give Hannah a hand! Her inputs are the ones in italics)

Tonights game against the Fringes was a daunting dual. All of the Turkeys were present and accounted for and ready to play except for Rich who sauntered in with some lame excuse about being on an MSL review board. The early innings of the game exposed their hitting success with the Turkeys taking the field making one error play after another. Russ, who spent much of the time pitching, was applaudable. The defense couldn't quite match last weeks effort and didn't make plays. On offense our biggest batter was Gerardo (big surprise) and he/she was able to mortify the infield consistently. The most spectacular play of the game was when Matt made an exhausting dive for the ball and was rewarded with an out. The fans cheered and squeezed the turkey for any help we could get (it didn't work). You just had to be there! For their part, the Fringes hit much better than us and fielded better than us. In the end, however, it was the Turkeys ability to lose that made all the difference. The game was completed after 5 (silly new hires) full innings of overwhelming play with the score 19-15 at the end. Regardless, we decided that everyone's a winner in the C-league.

The Turkey of the Week award was conferred on someone who managed not to mess up. He/she illustrates the true purpose for which this prestigious award was originally started. The reason for this selection was manifold, in particular his/her good looks and then he/she showed good posture after which he/she exhibited good hygiene. Congratulations someone!

Afterwards _some (excluding Hannah) Turkeys gathered for dinner of beer, soda, and beer at our favorite establishment...(most likely Round Table). Songs may never be sang about this game, but surely this story will forever remain in our hearts.

Respectfully submitted by Hannah in Mark's absence.