1) U.S. Exporters vs Capitol Punishment played on 08/23/11
It was a crazy day with the earthquake disrupting traffic and therefore, my number of players at the game. My car was off limits in a closed government building. The problem was that it had all of my gear for the game (clothes, spikes, bats, balls, glove and scorecard). I had to have my wife bring replacements to me. As you may have heard, we started with 9 as 3 people did not make it to the game (Joe, Glen and Werner). Jason found a replacement who lived nearby, Christina Sobral. She was one of the best replacements we have ever had.
The Bungalow Exporters won 2 close games against the Lollygaggers who won the division last fall. The first game was full of strong defensive plays. The outfield played well in grass that was more appropriate for the rough of golf’s U.S. Open than a softball diamond. Add to that, heavy dew. That made ground balls in the outfield difficult to pick up and slippery to throw. The team held off a Lollygaggers rally in the last inning of game one to hold on for the victory.
Game 2 saw more good defensive plays to stop the ball, but the wet ball became difficult to throw. We battled from behind the entire game before evening the score at the end of 5 innings. With time running out, the Lollygaggers took a five run lead in the top of the sixth, but we had the hammer. Going station to station while taking advantage of their errors, we edged back into the game. Finally, Jason smoked a ball over the left center fence for a three run homer to put us ahead. There were two more singles before the umpire ended the game as time expired. Those were two good solid wins.
We lost both to the CCSP Empty Pitchers. They hit the ball well. Lots of line drives over the infield.
We swept both games, but made them closer than they should have been. The Road Loafs only had 9 which is usually a curse for us. However, some clutch homers and big hits held them at bay.
5) U.S. Exporters vs Dawgs played on 09/27/11
We played a good first game and then had a meltdown in game 2 after a bad call. Dennis made a great diving catch in the second inning. The Dawgs had runners on second and third. They both hustled back to their bases after the catch to tag. Dennis got the ball to the infield to hold the runners. It was then we heard the ump call “No catch.” Literally, the umpire was the only one within a mile that didn’t think that was a catch. As you can imagine, that set Dennis off. I was only able to hold off the inevitable for one inning before Dennis was tossed.
The Exporters swept long-time rivals, the Rounders, in an evening filled with walks. The only thing memorable about the games is that we won both games in the last inning.
Didn’t do well against Gray Plant Mooty, a tie and loss.
In game one, with the last inning called by the umpire, we managed to tie the game in the top of the inning. We got two quick outs in the bottom of the inning before giving up a single. That was followed by an infield grounder with an error on the throw to first which rolled along the fence toward the outfield. The runner on first easily advanced to third, but attempted to go home and end the game. However, a good throw from Rich to Werner caught him at the plate and ended the game in tie.
In game two, We just couldn’t get the hitting started. They didn’t have tremendous fielding. We just hit everything at them. We started to rally in the last inning, but fell short.
Werner Ennesser wrote: The Exporters played 2 tough games. In the first game we tied the game with GPM and ran out of time. In game 2 we lost. We had trouble getting hits early on. We made a come back but could not get out of the last inning as we gave up too many runs.
The Exporters chalk up a couple of wins with two dramatic last inning victories. . .and limp home with injuries.
Early games at VH always make me nervous. We started with 10 at the field including Christina again, but I put Dennis in the lineup because I knew he was on his way. Kyle was coming off of rehab for his pulled hamstring and Tiko had a tweaked groin pull from the weekend so I knew I had to keep an eye on them. Problems began in the fifth inning when Glen wandered off third base trying to draw a throw. It worked, but Glen slipped trying to get back and was picked off for the second out of the inning. He then picked up his belongings and left the field. We then batted around the order and Glen was the third out also because we had no replacement.
Fifth Base tied the game in the bottom of the fifth. We got the bats going again in the top of the sixth. Christina singled. Dennis flew out deep to right center. Joe doubled sending Christina to third. Tiko then singled her home. Joe initially was held at third as the ball headed home from the outfield. Tiko went to second on the throw which was cut off by the pitcher who threw to second to try and get Tiko. Instead, the ball caught Tiko on the nose and rolled into the outfield. Joe scored from third while Tiko stayed bend over the base. The game was stopped as blood poured from Tiko’s broken nose. Werner broke out his med kit to tend to him. The ump would not let Tiko continue while bleeding and I was told I would have to take an out if I had no substitute. From out of the darkness, Max emerged ambling toward the field. I yelled for him to hurry up that we needed him immediately. With no time to change into his spikes, Max ran out to second in his sneakers while Werner called his buddies at the firehouse to come and take care of Tiko’s injury. We put eight on the board that last inning and then held on to win the game.
Between games Jim Davis shows up and he is put in the lineup for game 2 as the DH. In the second inning, Kyle hits a grounder to third base and sprints to try to beat the throw. He ends up pulling up lame as he pulled his other hamstring. He could not continue and Jim moved to right field to replace him. In the low scoring game, we managed to use up our 3 home runs by the third inning. In the fifth inning, Dave put one deep over the center field fence for an out. We head into the last inning, down by three. Werner and Christina start off with hits giving us runners on second and third with no outs. Jim grounds out, but scores Werner. Joe singles in Christina. Dennis singles advancing Joe to third. I reminded Jason that we had no homers left and to keep it in the park. He hit a high deep ball to right that I feared was over for an out. Instead, it was caught right on the fence and scored Joe to tie the game. Dennis tagged and went to second. Although no throw was made to second, the shortstop feigned as if the ball was coming at the last minute. That caused Dennis to awkwardly collapse on the base twisting his ankle. He got up limping, but we had no substitutes so he needed to continue. Dave then laced a line drive in the gap to score Dennis and end the game.
Two wins for the Exporters.
9) U.S. Exporters vs Minutemen played on 10/25/11
The Exporters end season on a down note. We lost both games to the Minutemen. They used up all 3 homers in the first inning of the first game. Then hit two more for outs. It looks like Joe Kennedy will be the batting champ. He had a great night.
Final Standings, Fall 2011 (as of 10/25/11)
W L T Pts
CCSP Empty Pitchers 16- 1- 1 33
Arlington Metz 12- 5- 1 25
Gray Plant Mooty 13- 3- 1 27
Minutemen 11- 7- 0 22
Lollygaggers 11- 7- 0 22
U.S. Exporters 10- 7- 1 21
Fifth Base 9- 9- 0 18
Waterproofers 9- 9- 0 18
Rounders 8- 10- 0 16
Major League 8- 9- 0 16
Dawgs 6- 10- 0 12
Capitol Punishment 3- 15- 0 06
The Big Shots 3- 14- 0 06
Road Loafs 1- 14- 0 02