Still undefeated (technically)

We had an unprecedented amount of supporters and players for yesterday's game, and by the time 6pm rolled around we were all chomping at the bit to get on the field and win us a ball game! And win we did, though not in the way we were hoping for. The umpire never showed up, so after an extra-long catching and batting practice and a couple of phone calls to the softball commissioner, we decided to just play a scrimmage, which counts as a "win" on both teams' records.

The evening was much hotter than the weather widget had called for, and the only relief from the burning hot sunlight in our eyes was the thin brown veil from the clouds of dust constantly being kicked up and settling like Pigpen's wake.

Our dugout was packed, and we spilled out into far left field as well. There were babies and children, a cheering section, and plenty of True Foes and ringers all there for the action. We were well supplied, too: red and green Gatorade, snack mix that my mom made for the team (leftovers in the kitchen!) and chocolate chip cookies from Tyson's girlfriend. We won the coin toss and took the field first, and The Renegades started things out with a home run right off the bat (pardon the pun)! And then when we were up at bat, Shortstop Brian hit a home run right away too! There was no shortage of power hitting last night, that's for sure. They had some great hits into right field (nice catching Chris and Wendy!) and Willy didn't just pitch for half the game; he hit a home run of his own!

Jason took a break from pitching after three innings (decided to save "the heat" for our next 'real' game) and wowed us with his fielding at third. Issa made a million great catches and outs at first, and the other team was totally intimidated too because I overheard their manager telling them that 80% of their outs were at first and to not hit the ball over there so much. Well, we didn't have any fancy analyzing of outs going on in our dugout, but we played hard, got sweaty, and really had a lot of fun. I think the general feeling was that we've definitely played better, but on the other hand it was just a scrimmage so we didn't really want to tear any hamstrings over this one.

There were far too many attendees to single out, but it should be noted that Ryan Hullings played his debut game with us (and is only 'a little sore'), Tony Ruffo showed up to cheer, and out of the blue Matt Lipson joined us at the Water Street Bar later on! Thank you to everyone who took time from their busy schedules to play, watch, or haul equipment!

To be honest, there's no way of telling who would have won last night's game if we had played for real. Being an umpire is apparently a lot harder than it looks, and there were definitely some questionable calls made by more than one of the brave souls who took a turn officiating. There wasn't any fighting though, as The Renegades were an honorable team and quite fun to play against. One of their players even handed out free Mets tickets to those who wanted them!

We had a cheerful and beer-full congregation at the bar, where the bartender was nicer than the one at Superfine but very easily confused. Good times were had drinking and noshing and shouting at each other over the live jazz. Let's do it again! The next game is Wednesday, April 30, back at the same field. Come out and join the True Foes as we endeavor to extend our undefeated status into the month of May!

GTF