7/14 Game Eleven Re-Cap

X-Treme author, Brian Hall


What is clutch? I'm not really sure what it means but I do know that it happened yesterday as every member of Softball Guy contributed to a victory in an 8-7 thriller over the hated We Mean Business (WMB) ballclub on the type of utopian summer evening that makes you glad you live in Michigan.

Clutch is... Karen's timely hitting, fielding, and throw to retire someone heading for home.... Tracey surgically placing line drives to left and throwing people out from third base... T-Bone making plays from SS and being the rock that he always is... Rosie dragging his tired arm unexpectedly out to the mound for another stellar performance and delivering towering hits to left field... Lauren digging out an infield single which lead to a critical run and nearly falling down at one point...Alecia getting a key hit in the 6th that lead to the difference making rally... Hank nailing line drive hits and making a huge catch in left field... G pitching a perfect game in relief and making a great stop on a grounder for the game's final out... Lisa throwing someone out from left-center to third base and being the consummate, solid left-center fielder... Maurer driving in the game winning RBI in the 6th and nearly doing the splits at 1B to record an out... Michelle moving from her car to the catcher's stomp in 35 seconds and hitting the ball sharply... K.Hall being the catalyst to a pivotal 2 out rally in the 5th... and a rapidly aging, athletically depreciating B.Hall beating out the throw for an infield hit that shattered the unintentional comedy scale as we know it.

There's a line in the movie "Hoosiers" where the venerable coach Norman Dale says we wants his upstart Hickory Huskers to be "Five pistons firing at once." Yesterday, Softball Guy was 13 pistons firing as once. It was a true team effort, and we needed all of it in a hotly contested ballgame which pundits have referred to as "an instant classic."

Softball Guy jumped out to a 5-1 lead which was built on a foundation of love, an ounce of compassion, a pinch of determination, and a liberal helping of timely hitting and stellar fielding. The Tracey-T-Bone-Karen trifecta was a sure thing offensively and defensively. The vaunted trinary went 6-for-9 from the plate and was responsible for the majority of Softball Guy runs. The three also were part of a rock solid infield that included Maurer. In the third inning, Tessmer and Maurer combined on the play of the year as Tessmer moved to his right to rob a WMB of a hit, cocked back, fired a throw to first, and Maurer stretched further than Mikel Barishnikov to make the catch. In the 4th inning, Lisa Shoskey recorded the first outfield assist in league history by throwing out a dim witted, slow footed WMB at third base. And, speaking of third base, Tracey was phenomenal as she recorded five fastidious put outs which were decidedly essential to the victory.

WMB kicked up their heels in the fifth scoring 3 runs to cut the deficit to 1 at 5-4. They felt they had tied it but Karen Gugala made a rally killing, WMB deflating throw from the edge of the outfield to Rosie covering home. Rosie tagged out the would be tying run and Softball Guy held the lead.

In the bottom of the 5th, Softball Guy furnished a vital 2 out rally to tack on 2 more runs. K.Hall sparked it with a single. Karen followed with a double. That set the stage for T-Bone. With runners at 2nd and 3rd, T-Bone came threw with a huge hit to drive K.Hall and Karen home, and extend the lead to 7-4. The clutch hit was eerily reminiscent of April 3, 1996 when T-Bone delivered the a key double for Troy Athens against the Bloomfield Lahser Knights.

WMB bounced back in the top of the 6th to make it 7-6. It would have been more runs, but Hank made a great catch in left to thwart WMB. Puzzled WMB players were left scratching their heads and wondering "What do we have to do to get a ball by these guys?"

In the bottom of the 6th, Softball Guy added the pivotal and decisive insurance run. B.Hall comically beat out a throw for a lame infield hit.
Alecia delivered a single advancing Hall to second. Maurer followed suit with a base hit to left that scored B.Hall and gave Softball Guy an 8-6 lead in heading into the 7th and final inning. Things got dicey as WMB kicked up their heels once again and cut the deficit to 8-7 with the tying run standing at first and two outs. "Some WMB player" hit a sharp ground ball up the middle which was destined to head to center field but Mike Gregory displayed cat-like reflexes and knocked it down. Gregory calmly made the throw to first and sealed a dramatic 8-7 victory.
The victory upped Softball Guy to 3-5 and moved them a step closer to sweet, sweet mediocrity. The game taught me to "believe again," and in a way, taught me how to "love again." Thank you, Softball Guy. It was a great team effort. I'm trying to hide the tears rolling down my face from co-workers as I write this.

Game 8 MVPs: Karen Gugala and Tracey Rosinski. I couldn't pick between the two. It's hard to pick when both players played to perfection. Both were 2-for-3, both played great defense, both were MVPs. During last week's rainout we practiced and both players were knocking the snot out of the ball. That carried over to Monday's game. Karen was the consummate 4th hitter with timely line drive, textbook hits. And her throw out of someone at home ultimately was the deciding factor of the game. Tracey was sensational. She always hits the ball sharply. I will argue with any pundit that Tracey has the purest, most fundamentally sound swing in the league. Her play from third was impeccable with the 5 put outs. What a game both players had.

Game #8 Buffalo Wild Wing's Defensive Play of the Game brought to you by Masterlock and Presented by Levitra: Jeff Tessmer to Jeremy Maurer in the 3rd. Tessmer did what Tessmer does, he robbed someone of hit and happiness. He does that to people when he plays shortstop. Some poor slob from WMB has to live his miserable life each and every day but he gets to escape for an hour on the softball field. Getting a hit would've made the WMB's guy's day, month, or year. When he saw the ground ball heading toward left field he was thinking, "Wow, for once in my life I contributed to society! I don't suck!"... I saw this in the kid's eyes. But Tessmer stole that happiness from him by making a great play and throw, while Maurer made a great reach and catch. Now that poor kid has to go back to his life and do whatever it is he does. I had never seem someone look so happy at one point and then a split second later look so totally dejected.
Nice jobs T-Bone and Maurer... you @-h0les!

Game #4 Taco Bell Unsung Hero of the Game: Hank. Due to the people we had at the game, Hank was put into unfamiliar territory... the outfield. I've worn Hank's glasses before. The man has the eyesight of an 89-year-old.
It's very difficult for someone to pick up the green ball with the green trees in the backdrop at Red Run. It has to be that much more difficult to pick up the ball for someone as blind as Hank is, but pick up the ball he did as he made a great, rally killing catch in left field to stem the WMB tide in the 5th inning. And, all joking aside about eyesight and blindness, he also hit the ball well. As far as I'm concerned, Hank was 2-for-2. He had a sharp single to left center, and he was safe at first on a bang-bang play later in the game. Great game Hank.