Under 16 , Round 3
This week saw us travel down to the beach side Henley and Grange district. Due to their recent addition of a Division 1 side after a number of years, we got relegated to the substandard number 2 diamond. Just what you need on a 35 degree day. But it gets better!
We had a fairly casual warm up and had to move the opposition side off of the diamond to allow us to complete a barely average infield/outfield workout. Happy Days, I thought as this ground does not hold fond memories for me.
I am pleased to say though that the bats worked early, and we tallied 3,7,4 and 4 for the four innings we played, and our fielding was solid for the most part. A couple of Brain cramps in the last innings by three of our finest saw the opportunity for triple play degenerate in to a single out and the need to rethink our concentration levels at this late stage. No damage though, except for the bragging rights that a triple play would have given us. Final score, good guys 18, others somewhere between 1 and 5(does it really matter).
Highlights were the continued hitting form of Mr BP(Mitch Booker), Mitch Meads’ in the park error home run that was unfortunately the 9th run in a 7 run maximum(so did not count), and the continued rejuvenation of BA Fulton, who registered another outstanding outing, more pleasing than the others due to his ability to have to throw 4 and five strikes to the hitters to get them out, as the umpire was struggling with the quality of his pitches and the obvious mismatch in skill leveles between pitcher and hitter. He also backed up with a sensational display of hitting to help himself along the way.
Also congrats to Alistair Fogarty who has officially made the transition from Softball to Baseball, recording his first safe hit and throwing a runner out at the plate, even though the umpire got that one wrong also.
Lastly, A big shout out to the Umpire for inviting the coaches in for a discussion about ethics, experience, baseball careers and unwritten codes perhaps once too often, and my heartfelt thanks to Michelle Mc Garry’s concerns for my welfare as I was discussing changes while the “wild Thing” Joel Ettridge was warming up with the backnet(perhaps he could not see Tom there all suited up) in the last innings. Michelle, I was touched by your concern, but I am resolute in the belief that these guys will somehow manage to miss me, or suffer the consequences as a result of a mistake of those proportions. On to next week!!
