Updating several games in the ongoing quest of the WaterWorks dynasty to secure the holy grail of softball. We were finally able to slip some games in under Mother Nature's wrath of fury that has descended upon the north part of Plano for some time now. We came off a month long "siesta" back on Sept 25th to play Chipotle, and proceeded to drop a "big stinky steamer" right in the middle of Field #2. The stench from this field was very noticeable once the clock showed 0:00. The Burrito Boys walked away with a 17-9 victory...honestly don't remember too many specifics about the game other than we had a very stout lineup from top to bottom that night, but we could not figure out how to cure the "cranial-rectal inversion" that everyone in the lineup had been infected with during the time off. Game was not even as close as the final score showed, as we scored several runs in our last AB when the game was already out of hand. One thing memorable about that game was JW hitting two straight foul balls which looped into the WaterWorks bench area through a small opening in the fence where it did not seem remotely possible that a ball could fit. In the post game interview, JW mentioned he has a talent for fitting things through openings were it doesn't seem possible....reporter did not elaborate any further on this quote. That is pretty sad when the most memorable thing from a game is two "bizarre" foul balls being hit. Date to circle on the calendar is Nov 13th....rematch game!!
One week later, we found ourselves playing uninspired ball yet again, trailing late in the game to the Texans (very clever and imaginative team name), and facing the possibility of being part of a "dark and shameful" event in the storied history of WaterWorks.....back to back losses!! We finally realized this was an opponent that we had "bageled" in our first meeting 15-0, and thus proceeded to right the ship and pull out a hard fought one run victory (13-12)! Now that my friends is WaterWorks softball.....losing two games in a row is not an option!! Don't remember any specifics about the game, but do recall the after game victory snacks at our Plano hideout were very satisfying! Our compliments to the chef on his imaginative use of chicken wings, batter and sauce! Additional details about this victory may be available in future posts.
Last Friday night, after again being idle for almost 3 straight weeks, we faced one of our arch nemesis opponents, ESI Out...which was coming off two nice Wins against Chipotle & Last Call. WaterWorks again saw the scoreboard not being kind to them in the early stages of the contest with the bad guys being up 8-1 at the end of 2 rounds. This number could have been much uglier, if it had not been for a fine diving catch by ZB on a line drive to right-center. This ESPN highlight catch also seemed to provide a calming effect on the team, as it wouldn't be a WW softball game if there wasn't a Bennett diving in the outfield! The ball seemed to really be "jumping" off the bat of the ESI players, and they all seemed to use the same hitting stick.....which led to several WaterWorks players speculating something was afoul here. This could have meant the bat in question was juiced, the ball being hit was altered (i.e. microwaved), or the more likely answer being we needed some type of excuse to hang our hats on for why we weren't making the necessary plays....I'll let you come to your own conclusion on this mystery. As the good guys came to the plate in the top of the 3rd, the gate seemed to open and the "beast" was awakened. WaterWorks proceeded to post a touchdown in our half of the inning and pull the contest even again at 8-8. Highlights of that inning included, TJ performing a homeplate shuffle around the Catcher to safely slap the plate in a close play at home (this move should not be confused with the Ickey Shuffle, as T-ball's version was much smoother). This exciting action at home plate was setup by the play of WaterWork's All-star 3rd base coach, Buckshot, who waved TJ around for his dance with the Catcher. Buckshot's playbook for coaching 3rd base in this contest was very bare bones, in fact it only involved one play, which we will call....GO!!! And yes, for those of you wondering, this is indeed the same Buckshot who has played in the last two FF Superbowls (a fact that few know)!!
Bad guys were able to plate 3 more in their bottom half of the inning. So, WaterWorks came in facing a 3 run deficit and the shrinking clock not being in their favor. Brian leads off and reaches base safely to bring up Rik. "Wild Thing" gets into one and burns the outfield, with BM able to score from 1st on the play. After hitting a ball that burned the outfielder, Rik is now all jacked up on Mountain Dew and rounds 2nd base like a spider monkey only to be picked off by a heads up play by the infielder cutting off the throw coming in from the outfield. Still down by 2 and the clock slowly winding down, WaterWorks once again reached down deep with "the most interesting man in the world" reaching base and then Lord Byron lighting up the sky with a bomb over the Left-fielder's head that resulted in a game tying 2 run round tripper. This seemed to totally "shoot the wheels off" of the bad guys and WaterWorks opened up a can to finish with 18 runs, which can mainly be attributed to the inspired 3rd base coaching by Buckshot....yes,"GO" was the word of the day and it was heard often. When you've been in 2 straight FF SuperBowls and experienced the "moment on the big stage", it makes handling these crunch time decisions seem as easy as telling someone to GO. With time being expired on the game clock by the end of our half of the innning, we closed the door on the ESI girls to secure a very satisfying 18-13 victory!! We again had to turn to Buckshot to reel in the last out and close out the contest.....as mentioned before, that big game experience really pays off!!
Player Of The Week had many candidates this week including:
1. Rik - Wild Thing had a few nice catches in LF and the "big hit" to get the last inning of offense going. Ironically the same play that put him in the running for POTW (the Big Hit) is the same play that took him out with previously mentioned "spider monkey" base running.
2. TJ - pretty solid night behind the plate, good night with the bat, and the T-ball Shuffle mentioned earlier to tally a run.
3. ZB - A nice night at the plate and the previously discussed diving catch that stopped the bleeding in the early innings.
4. Buckshot - strong candidate this week with a good night at the plate, the unbelievable mastery of the 3rd base coaching box, and the game saving catch to end it (that may be overstating it a little, but seems I heard him describing it that way to ZB after the game). And again there is the 2 FF SuperBowl appearances that have to be factored in!
All strong and worthy candidates, but the POTW goes to Dr. Humphrey. Lord Byron was involved in turning two DPs to shut down innings, along with a nice night at the plate including the Big Bomb in the last inning to pull us even.
Boner Of The Week candidate list was quite a bit shorter. J-dub was looking like a contender with his coughing up of ground balls. Trivia question: what do JW and T.O. have in common.....besides the obvious resemblance?? Neither can seem to catch a ball these days!!
J-dub was bailed out for Boner Of The Week by this week's recipient......drumroll............none other than the Round Mound of Sound.......vaJJ....Mr. Jay Jamison! JJ accomplished something few have done in SLOW pitch softball, and this feat deserves the honor and recognition bestowed on it for BOTW! JJ struck out swinging two times in a row to start off the game. The first one was so bad, it led some to be concerned that maybe he was in the midst of a walking stroke, but we were able to discredit that notion after his 2nd appearance at the plate seemed to give evidence to the possibility that this was just a normal AB for him. We are searching online for a 14" softball that we hope to be able to put into play before JJ's plate appearances. Congrats again Jay on this honor!!
WaterWorks is now sitting in our "comfy seat" at the top of the standings at 3-1, but the four remaining games will all be tough ones....revenge game against Chipotle, 2nd game against ESI Out and two games versus the gang from Last Call. Next challenger to step into the ring is Last Call!!
