Well, the good news is that we won't have to play that 9:30 a.m. game next week.
The Empty Pitchers fell behind the hated Hot Cousins early, and were never able to come back, getting knocked out of the playoffs in a 4-1 loss. Perhaps most painful is knowing that the Cousins scored all of those runs with two outs.
David did get the job done at the top of the order, going 3-for-4 on the day, Pat had a couple of hits, and Greg had a triple in the fifth inning (eventually scoring the Pitchers' lone run on a hit by Adam), but other than that, there was little to report offensively. The Pitchers' bats were frigid on the first truly autumnal-feeling day of the fall.
The team mustered a bit of a comeback in the bottom of the seventh, putting a couple of runners on, but it was too little, too late. With luck, the two remaining doubleheaders will get the team back on track, as well as dim the feelings of devastation Coach Korney has carried with her these past few days ... maybe somewhere therein lies the true reason the Commish schedules the playoffs in the midst of the regular season.
Was it the early hour of the game? The unseasonably warm temperatures? The distraction of Ruben's lady Angels? A truly quality opponent? The untimeliest of defensive lapses by the Empty Pitchers? Julie ending her Iron Woman streak of coed softball attendance? Perhaps the hatching and subsequent swarming of Canadiansoldiers?
Whatever it was, the unsettling end result was the Pitchers dropping two games to the undefeated Ruben's Angels on Sunday -- falling again via the Mercy Rule in the first game, by a score of 15-3, and dropping the time-crunched second game by the score of 8-4. The Pitchers' record now stands at 7-3 on the season.
In the early game, Pat and Matt (2 hits each) were the only Pitchers with multiple hits, while Rachel also walked her way aboard the bases twice and Val had a key hit in the fourth to drive in a pair of runs. The Pitchers' bats looked more lively in the late game, with Nicole, David, Alicia and Greg (2 RBIs) all contributing a pair of hits, and Kate snapping out of a slump with her first hit of the season. Though that game was called on account of time, the Pitchers were able to stage a rally, bouncing back after an ugly defensive half of the fifth to load the bases in the top of the sixth. The team was ultimately only able to push one run across the plate, but the Pitchers achieved a moral victory of sorts, ending their three-game run of only scoring three runs a game.
Next week is the playoffs. If Dane Cook were here, I'm sure he'd share with us a cliché-ridden promo for the likely Hot Cousins at Pitchers match up.
Poor Pat (left), bloodying his knees at least paid off with an out; Jorge (center) fights pests the only way he knows how; poor David (right), dirtying his uniform did not pay off. Luckily, who doesn't appreciate an excuse to get, that, dirt off your shoulder?
The league's traditional (and somewhat non-sensical) playoffs begin next weekend -- all single-game contests. The Pitchers will take on the winner of Arup Green vs. the Hot Cousins Saturday, Oct. 13, at 11 a.m.
If they get the win there, they'll play again the following Saturday (Oct. 20) at 9:30 a.m., against the winner of the Remainders vs. Ruben's Angels. And, if the Pitchers can take that hypothetical match-up, they'll play in the league championship game, which happens the same day at 1 p.m.
It was a sad, sad Sunday for the Empty Pitchers, who saw their dreams of an undefeated season dashed by the Hot Cousins in Game 2 of a weekend doubleheader.
The Pitchers handily defeated the Cousins in the early game, by a nerve-wracking score of 3-1. Matt and Greg lead a 15-Pitcher offensive attack with a couple of hits apiece, but it was the bottom fifth of the order (Jon, Val and David) that succeeded in getting runners on board to score the team’s trio of runs in the fourth.
In the late game, the male Cousins were finally able to take advantage of testosterone-laden hitters batting back-to-back-to-back-to-back in their lineup, thanks to an elaborate ploy orchestrated by the Commish herself in the early game, and which prevented the Cousins from having to play with an automatic out in their order. Though it has to be noted that the Pitchers themselves certainly screwed the pooch defensively in a 15-3 massacre that ended early thanks to the mercy of the 12-run Mercy Rule.
Matt again picked up a pair of hits (starting his season 4-for-4), while Jon and Pat both had a couple of hits, in a game otherwise notable only for putting the Pitchers’ suddenly anemic offense on display. Thankfully, the team will have a chance to shake off the doldrums with one more doubleheader left to play before the start of the playoffs.
Poor Pat (left), bloodying his knees at least paid off with an out; Jorge (center) fights pests the only way he knows how; poor David (right), dirtying his uniform did not pay off. Luckily, who doesn't appreciate an excuse to get, that, dirt off your shoulder?
Note the Kristine-shaped hole in the upper left.
The Sunday Brunch of Softball Champions.
