The Chubby Gangster’s had a double header on Saturday. How do we prepare for such a contest? How about a get-together starting at 10:00 am filled with fellow kickball friends, alcohol, food, alcohol, food, friends, and alcohol. It was Erika Chacra’s birthday and if the point was to fill her day with all the things she likes and is good at… then applying that rational it must have been everyone on the Gangster’s birthday because I know we all had a blast!
Game #1 Chubby Gangster (+2.5) vs. Whiskey Kick (-2.5)
We were an underdog going into this skirmish, and while most of that is probably warranted from our initial play at the beginning of the 2011 Fall Season, most of it has to come from Whiskey Kick’s impressive line-up. They may be a “new” team, but their roster is a veritable who’s who pulled from Jagernauts, Rumspringa, and Battlestar. Not only that, they’re also a who’s who of the social-acolytes that WAKA is so proud of. This game was guaranteed to be a good time if nothing else.
We were an underdog going into this skirmish, and while most of that is probably warranted from our initial play at the beginning of the 2011 Fall Season, most of it has to come from Whiskey Kick’s impressive line-up. They may be a “new” team, but their roster is a veritable who’s who pulled from Jagernauts, Rumspringa, and Battlestar. Not only that, they’re also a who’s who of the social-acolytes that WAKA is so proud of. This game was guaranteed to be a good time if nothing else.
While the Gangster’s have a ton of returning players, we still had some new pieces that still had not been tested, so the roster and line-up were an experiment of sorts, especially at pitcher, catcher, and charger. Those positions aren’t that important, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right? Let’s just say, on the defensive side of the ball, both faces new and old stepped up to ensure we were playing smarter and not harder. Dave Tortolini, against all better judgement (I believe he told me before the game [and I’m paraphrasing], “I haven’t played this game since 3rd grade. I’m too old to play catcher!”]), proved not only can he play both positions, but he had one of the best defensive days out of everyone on the team. The birthday girl herself snagged an impressive ball down in left field to end a crucial inning, Keith Morehart caught a deep ball in right field to hault potential runs scored in the 4th, Greg Woodland played an extremely solid game at 1st, and Nick Anderson was literally all over the field making plays.
As far as offense goes, we were a motley crew of small ball almost the entire game. Specifically, Liz Ricker did what she does best and laid an impressive bunt to stroll on base and make it look easy, while Emily Cook and Melissa Rarick were doing the honorable thing and sacrificing themselves to move over base runners. But the inning to talk about was the top of the 5th. We were down 2-1 and seemed liked, while we were making good plays to get on base, we had not been able to capitalize yet.
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| The Andersons made their CG debut on Saturday. |
Our top of the line-up comes up to the plate and follows the script. Dave Tortolini gets on base and is moved over by Eric Olsen and Emily Cook. Nick Anderson gets up and reaches base safely. There are runners on 1st and 3rd, and Geoff Morehart swaggers up to the plate (he probably didn’t swagger, but he had just asked what he should do, and it was suggested to “murder the ball”, so I knew this was going to be fun to watch). And murder the ball he did. He kicked in it out of our outfield and into the neighboring outfield. Whoever the lunatic coaching 3rd base was just kept waving everyone in because he knew they weren’t going to get the ball in fast enough. A 3-run homerun in the top of the 5th to take a 3-2 lead! “Wait, I thought you said it was a 3-run homerun, and you were down 2-1, right?” Yeah, well, you see what-had-happened-was Geoff missed 3rd coming home and WK was smart enough to pick up on it, and he was ultimately tagged out, but not before scoring the 2 runs we needed to take the lead.
The bottom of the 5th was stressful in the field, but in the end the Gangster’s were able to hold to win their first game of the season, and warrant much deserved celebratory cupcakes! (Lamel Moore even started a Cupcakes! chant over the Chubbies! chant)
Game #2 Foul Balls (+5.5) vs. Chubby Gangsters (-5.5)
Mother Nature must have been jealous of how much fun we were having on the field during the 1:00 games, because she decided to make us pay. This game was NOT an easy one. The rain picked up, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped down. Everyone was inpatient and ready for it to be over. In fact, I’ve never heard an ump, albeit under his breath, so anxious for the game to end he uttered, “Just pitch strikes!” Easier said than done my friend.
Mother Nature must have been jealous of how much fun we were having on the field during the 1:00 games, because she decided to make us pay. This game was NOT an easy one. The rain picked up, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped down. Everyone was inpatient and ready for it to be over. In fact, I’ve never heard an ump, albeit under his breath, so anxious for the game to end he uttered, “Just pitch strikes!” Easier said than done my friend.
While the final score may not show that there was much defense on the field, that really was not the case. Foul Balls outfielders made two excellent catches on some deep balls that definitely saved some runs. And the Gangster’s can really chalk their runs allowed up to one bad 4th inning. We were still trying to figure out our perfect catcher/charger combination, and Keith Morehart just couldn’t seem to get the ball over the plate to save his life (he walked 2 that eventually scored runs). Combine that with an ill-fated fly ball and the bleeding didn’t stop until 6 runners came across the plate, and an almost tied game was in our face.
Once again, I don’t have the exact stats due to my absent-mindedness, but I can definitely highlight some of the accomplishments. First off, Eric Olsen was having worries about his struggles offensively during the first game (he fouled out his first at bat), and after making some mental adjustments, pooched a perfectly placed ball over the 2nd and 1st baseman’s head to land in for a single and move over some runners. Jess Martin went to our hitting coach (Liz Ricker) for advice, and whatever she told her worked, because Jess laid a perfect bunt that not only got her on base but scored a run. Liz should be able to avoid arbitration post-season if she can keep advice like that up. Even Tiffany Morehart hustled her way to a bunt single and eventually displayed good base-running skills to end up on 3rd. Maybe the play of the game though belonged to Greg Woodland. In the bottom of the 4th the game had become close, and Greg Woodland kicked a 2-run homerun on a well placed ball in right field. That play broke the game open and the Gangster’s tacked on some more and held them off in the 5th for a 12-6 hard fought win.
On a side note the Chubby Gangsters have won 2 games this season so far. Over the 2011 Fall Season, the Chubby Gangsters won ONLY 2 games. So if the 2-0 record doesn't impress anyone about the CG's yet... just keep in mind we did it all without our fearless leader, Buster Patterson, who was too busy not drinking the water in Mexico. The CG's will be even more of a force to reckon with once the Big Boss Man returns!
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| Shitty 'shop done in MS Paint. Need to find a way to get a free version of Photoshop... |
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