Pitchers Grind Out Split with Sub & Heroes

On another beautiful fall day, the Pitchers split a doubleheader with Sub & Heroes, winning an epic Game 1 by the final of 6-5, and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in an even epic-er 6-5 Game 2 loss.

Game 1 got off to a good start - singles from Sam and Matt, followed by RBI singles from Tara and Greg, led to two runs in the first. After briefly relinquishing the lead in the top of the fourth, Damian produced the first of his three RBIs on the day, driving in Greg, and hits by Nick and Alicia brought Damian home. Greg scored again in the 6th, after hitting a lead-off double, but it took the Pitchers another two innings to put the Heroes away for good.

As the teams duked it out in extra frames, there were plenty of nifty defensive plays to be found. Playing catcher, Rachel pulled an errant throw out of the air, allowing the Pitchers to take down a Hero caught in the basepath at home, and Greg's "laser beam" throw home in the sixth nailed down a Hero trying to tag up and score from third.

Finally, in the bottom of the ninth, like clockwork, a lead-off double from Greg and another single from Damian drove in that elusive winning run. So perhaps it should have resounded as a more ominous sign when Greg grounded into a routine 6-3 groundout in the second inning of Game 2, bringing to an end his perfect 10-for-10 start to the 2010 season.

Greg hitting to the left side seemed to shake the entire equilibrium of the Coleman Oval to its Chinatown core. The Pitchers stood their ground, largely due to the smooth fielding and steady hands of John at short, and on the mound, Matt blanking the Heroes through five straight innings. Greg's one single of the game was a huge one, driving in both Alicia and Nick in the fourth, and Rachel drove in John on the sixth, as the Pitchers managed to scrape just enough runs together to be up entering the bottom of the seventh.

A series of inopportune errors in the last frame did the Pitchers in, culminating in a cruel bounce off the backstop (on a throw to the plate) that allowed two runs to score. Just like Steve Wiebe, we'll bounce back from this.



Next game: We take on a new team at the Oval next Sunday, in a 12:30 p.m. doubleheader.