Greg pitched Game 1, keeping the Cousins' batting order off-balance, and being the beneficiary of our opponents playing down a woman (thus saddled with an automatic out at the end of their lineup). John, Greg and Julie all had 3 hits in the early game, silencing both the Cousins' and the Cousins' at-bat boom box.
Game 2 saw Tara's departure to play in her summer team's much-delayed championship final, and David came on to pitch in a 9-versus-9 match up. A very different Oval dynamic saw normally catchable balls fall in for outfield hits, and 4 men batting in a row for both teams' lineups meant there were no opportunities for defensive sloppiness.
The Pitchers wasted no time getting on the board in a big way, nearly batting around TWICE in the second, and taking an early 8-2 lead that ended on John's only out of a 6-7 day; he must have felt some small twinge of pity for the Cousins, and grounded into a close fielder's choice to end the inning. After getting run around by Cousins' hits in the bottom of the inning, and seeing the lead narrowed to 8-6, Koach K smartly positioned herself in center field, ceding the right side of the outfield to Greg, who was able to record force-outs at second and first in the later innings on balls that would normally have been easy singles for the Cousins.
Rubock finally stopped thinking and started hitting, breaking out of his slump and getting back into his quest for a 1.000 average back on track with a 5-for-5 second game (if we conveniently forget that Game 1). Sam and Felix chipped in with 4 hits a piece in the second game, and ringer Brooke was a force for the Pitchers, pressed into duty at catcher and second, she cleanly fielded all her chances, and collected 4 hits and a walk for her morning's efforts.
But the female gold star of the day has to go to Julie. Called out of hiding somewhere near the Pennsylvania-Delaware and cajoled into playing on Saturday, Julie had 4 beautiful hits to go with 4 key RBIs on the day. More impressively, she resisted her instinctive impulses to throw down with the Cousins' first baseman after being tagged out in the face on an errant throw up the first-base line, and that discipline carried over to Jeremy's, where she overpowered Alicia in Travel Scrabble, 328-260.
Next game: Don't miss Old Timers' Day this Sunday down at the Coleman Oval and continuing on to Jeremy's afterwards. Game time is 12:30 p.m. against the Dirt Dogs, followed by chicken cheese steaks with Matt and Rachel afterwards.
Alicia took some solace in knowing she and Julie outlasted neighboring drinkers from the Defeated Cousins, as well as the fact that she wasn't the one who resorted to playing "POO."
