The Dynasty Begins

We bundled and trundled our way out to the icy expanses of the Krieg Field 5 on Friday night. What kind of maniac schedules a recreational adult sports league game at 9:30 pm in the dead of winter? I wonder if the City of Austin gets a kickback for ever quadricep, hamstring, or pneumonia case that gets referred to a local doctor.

With some help from the Floyd-boy cavalry and a teacher friend of Shannon's, we fielded a full roster for the first time all year. This would be one of our best overall performances against a decent foe, Bust-n-Ballz.

Pitchin' Dirty:
I thought we had a monopoly on 'dirty pitching' until this week. Their pitcher was throwing some nasty, unpredictable bouncing rolls at us. This is the toughest pitch to hit, because striking the ball on its underside will lead to a sure out by way shamefully floating pop-up.

Despite facing a Phil Niekro-esque pitcher, we put a solid 4 runs on the board. The runs trickled in like customers cautiously approaching a poorly-advertised garage sale, thanks to our solid baseball fundamentals and aggressive baserunning. Special thanks to the Commish for teaching us so well in the Dawgs and Screenball days.

Good Fences Make Good Victories:
It was our defense that carried the day yet again. Following last game's shutout performance, we only allowed one run this week. A typical kickball defense is about as porous as Spongebob, but we are basically an Iron Curtain of unbreakable defensive fortitude.

It's been a good year in a surprisingly fun sport. At 5-1, we have secured the regular season championship with one final game to go. As a rapidly deteriorating, almost 30 year-old, it's great to get the old competitive juices flowing. And, it's great to win (and have a post-game pint of good cheer to celebrate.)

Some highlights:
The opposing pitcher tried a pick-off move to first base. Squisher, non-plussed as baserunner, caught the ball and tossed it back. This seemed to be vaguely illegal somehow, but nobody coud prove anything.

Patrick made a spectacular "diving" catch late in the game. I personally think the fall/dive was a bit of showmanship. As a member of the Olde School, Patrick probably believes that if you don't get your uniform dirty, you didn't play hard enough.

Our team was bundled up like crazy. We have to be one of the only athletic teams to win a championship while wearing bright blue fuzzy mittens.

I'll try to post some team photos and action shots from next week's game.