Opening Day

 Zombie Hut – April 20th

Let the games begin.  Spring finally here.  Sun blinding us in the eyes, not letting us forget that it was there. 

The old B61 but different.  The same B61 freaking out that Henry's late for the game, and the new one where the coach and manager are playing grabass in the dugout.  The same B61 with its inspirational speech of "Hey, it's a new season.  Let's not blow it."  The improved B61 with imported beer.   The old B61 scrounging for bases.  The new B61 with only 11 players showing up????

The B61 Lineup, sponsored

Catcher: “Runs like a horse” Amy

Pitcher: O’Henry

1^st Base: “You Throw It, I’ll Catch It” Willie

2^nd Base: “BGs” Betsy

Shortstop: Papa Mattie B

3^rd Base: Jamie “Canadian Club”

Left Field: Steve “Rhino”

Center Field: Ant Capone

Short Center Field: Tamara

Right Field: Jonathan and Big Al Reinert

Our Fans: “Teach” Tracey and Pieces

The Game

Our first opponents- Zombie Hut.  Well, Zombie House.  These guys were big, and they knew how to play.  We took the field first, and they promptly started smacking us around.  Ike Turner would have been proud.  ZH started with a line drive along the left field line that zipped past Steve into the opposite field's infield.  Leadoff home run.  The second batter took one of Henry's balls and promptly knocked it over Capone's head.  Home run #2.  Ouch.   Continuing with their hitting frenzy, ZH got 2 more base hits.   Blinded by the sun in the outfield, it seemed like there was little we could do.  Finally, we made our first out with a Matt-Willie combo.  Ah, they were human.  "C'mon.  Shake the rust off."  We finally brought them down, but not before the score was 5-0.

Old B61 might have crumbled down 5 runs in the first inning, but not us.  Papa B started us off with a double, and Jonathan followed with a single to advance Matt to 3rd.   Henry in the 3 spot lined a single to bring in our first run, and Jamie promptly did the same.  With Henry on 2nd and Jamie on 1st, Tam clocked a ball over 2nd base for her first RBI of the season.  A grounder to 3rd got Jamie out at 3rd, but Capone was safely on 1st and Tam on 2nd.  Batting practice must have helped because Willie smacked one past the SS to bring Tam home as Ant made an aggressive run for 3rd.  Amy completed our lineup with a hard smack to SS, but he made a good play to end the inning at a respectable 5-4.

ZH started the 2nd with the bottom of their line up.  One of the Zombie ladies hit a great shot between SS and 2nd, but Mattie was letting nothing get by.  Getting dirty, he dove and knocked it down.  Still on his stomach, he threw to 1st and Willie swept it up for the out.  Denied.  Henry later said, "When I saw Matt get up, and there was blood on his elbow, I was pumped.  I knew we were in it."

In the bottom of the 2nd with the heart of our order up again, we continued with the base knocks.  With bases loaded, Capone pulled a full count.  The next pitch was good, and Capone took it past 2nd base to tie the game!

Matt, Willie and Tamara did all the work in the 3rd, bringing the Hut down 1-2-3.  When tam caught a pop fly for the 3rd out, she seemed surprised.  "Is that it?"  "Yep.  It's that easy."

The Zombie Hut held us in the 4th, and we responded as well with an infield inning as Henry and Jamie both made Willie combos.

In the bottom of the 5th, Capone hit a base hit to SS, and Rhino followed with a knock to left field.  Capone pushed for 2 bags, and B61 had runners on 2nd and 3rd.  Willie hit a dropper to center.  Rhino didn't see me waving him in, but went anyway.  ZH tried to make the play, but Steve was safe, and we're 7-5.

The Zombies stay strong and with some base hits and smart base running, tie the game.  This one's going to the end.

In the bottom of the 6th, Henry got to 1st on a dropped catch.  Jamie pulled a 3-0 count and sent one past 2nd base.  Henry scrambled and put the winning run on 3rd.  Tam got her second RBI of the day, sacrificing herself at 1st while letting O'Henry get home on a close play as the catcher tagged the plate instead of the runner.

3 more outs and B61 would go home victorious.  The outfield switched up as Jonathan went to center and Big Al to right field.  A dropped pop fly brought ZH's tying run to 2nd.  That's not a good start.  A tapped single advanced the runner to 3rd.  These guys knew what they were doing.  A ZH female then hit a grounder to SS.  Matt eyed Henry heading to cover home, but correctly made the easy play at 1st.  They had tied it up with the go-ahead run on 2nd!    Willie caught an infield pop-up from the next batter and there was another Matt-Willie combo to end the side.

Meow.  Bottom of the 7th, tied at 8, Betsy was robbed of a base hit as she hit a smoking line drive that the SS jumped and caught in a beautiful play.  That brought coppertop up with 2 outs.  "Er.  Does anyone want to bat for me?"  Betsy calmed her down.  "What's the worst that can happen?  We play another inning."  That was what she needed because she hit one down the 3rd base line which 3rd base bobbled.  Safe at first!  Henry said she looked like a horse with all of the dust she was kicking up behind her.  I don’t think any woman likes being compared to a horse.

Was this our first 2 out rally for the season?  Could be.  Matt hit a single past SS to advance Amy to 2nd.  Jonathan followed with a base hit to right field to bring her one base away from victory with O’Henry coming to the plate.  He let the first pitch go by because he knew he was going to pop it up.  On the second, he hit a ball to short center.  Fortunately, the outfield was playing him deep, and even at full speed the fielder couldn't catch it!  Victory was ours.

An awesome game, well played by both teams.

Memorable Moments

·         Jamie being chased by the groundskeeper for not flushing the urinal

·         Matt making his diving stop and throw from the ground

·         Our first 2 out rally

·         Our first victory of the season

You can read the writeups at www.redhooksoftball.com/b61/ or through the B61 softball blog at www.blogger.com.