The Mighty Green put up a valiant effort in this one, folks, but the 'Cats trademark tight D and timely hitting came through when it mattered in a hard fought 21-14 win.
The softball gods attempted sabotage by popping Edward's
tire and jamming my chain in my bike frame (I think undefeated records
offend them), but we were undeterred. Edwards set the tone with a blast
to left field, which fired up the team in black and resulted in the
Mighty Green's (once-burned) left-fielder playing SUPER deep all game,
providing lots of opportunities to drop them in. The Green responded
will some small ball in the bottom half to tie the game at 1-1 after
one.
The bats then came alive for the Cats, with four
more runs in the second and a mercy in the third - solid hitting and
base running from all involved. The Mighty Green got some runs back after
a few defensive miscues, including my first (but not last) Brett
Lawrie-esque "trying too hard" play of the game (sorry Mike, that fly
was yours), and we managed to just get ahead with a score of 13-12 after four innings.
In the fifth, the 'Cats scored a couple but found
themselves at two outs. Then Ian hit a sneaky, just fair flare to right
and turned on the jets for a triple. Court beat out a throw to first,
getting to second on the errant throw, and the rally was on. With
runners and second and third, Binstock looped a shot just beyond the
outstretched shortstop (honourable mention to the Mighty Green SS here,
he was on point) and two more runs came in. A two out mercy inning -
that had to be pretty demoralizing for those other guys.
Other offensive highlights/notables: Andrea hit the
ball hard and, if she didn't get on base, at least moved runners over.
Wexler frustrated their infielders with her grounders in the dust.
Brendan flew out in the first inning for his first out of the season
(ok, maybe his second). That guy doesn't get out. Me sending Pugsley to
her doom when she had no business going first to third on a single (my
"trying too hard" play two). Dave T not getting into a single
base running snafu (not once!). Edwards spraying the ball all over the
field at will. Me beating out a Brett Lawrie end-of-the-bat baby
grounder. Mike hitting his second home run of the game (or was it
three?) hustling around the bases - because I was telling him to -
despite the fact that Binstock had already scored the seventh run of the
inning. Oops.
With the 'Cats comfortably ahead, all we needed was
some shut down innings in the fifth, sixth and seventh. The outfield
made some adjustments and Ian and Mike were perfectly positioned when
the opponents tried for looping singles to center and right. Brendan
hard charged some grounders and Dave plucked some throws out of the
aforementioned dust. In the seventh, Binstock decided to take the game
over, with a solo double play featuring a highlight reel grab and hold
at first by Dave. That was followed up by a pop into shallow right,
which Binstock chased down all the way from short. Collecting the ball
on the one-hop, he fired a throw across the diamond to Edwards who
tagged out the runner trying to stretch it into a triple. That decision
was almost as questionable as when I tried to score from second on a
ground out. "Trying to hard" play three.
Great game 'Cats. Next game is Wednesday at Riverdale West against the Eggplant Pirates. Good luck!
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