We finished in third place with a 5-2 record. Much fun, many sore muscles. More home runs than I have seen in awhile. The ball was carrying. We had an inning in which all three of our outs, were home runs over the limit. Not only is that a first for us, it is the first time I recall seeing it happen.
We are blessed with two wonderful pitchers on our roster. We also have our bet depth ever at middle infield. The Softball Scouting/Recruiting Gods have smiled on us. We are gracious. Not only are we the recipient of talented players, more importantly, they are really nice guys.
Playing in this tournament were: James Stokes, Alex Keffler, Mike Dimmitt, Patrick Hiller, Blake Honey, Tracy Elam, Chip Serna, Tommy Thomas, Shawn Hollenback, Alan Fox, Brodie Ellis, Lance Horner, and Casey De"Mall. David Felker was on the DL and coached first base for us. Eight of these fine ballplayers wore pink by the tourney's end. We have a strict confidentiality policy on Geritol that forbids finger pointing. So with that in mind I will only say that Zilla, Alan, Shawn, Casey, and Blake were not guys who wore pink.
Batters starting with a 1-1 count. Hittters coming to the plate ready to swing. Less pitches being taken. Less walks happening and the games moving at a faster clip.
1st Game Saturday morning 9:AM vs Pitch Slappers: Win 20-6
This was a 6 inning game. We scored in every inning except the 4th. Tommy, Zilla, Lance, and Alan hit home runs. Our defense was solid. As a team we were 26-40 for a team average of .650. James earned the pink hat by making the only out in the 6th and final inning. We scored 8 runs with 1 out, to end the game on the 12 run rule. Alan led off the final inning with a solo home run. For what it is worth, Alan hit the ball twice as far as he weighs.
2nd Game, Saturday morning 10:10 vs Slumpbusters: Lost 20-8
Well dang, there goes our 1 game tournament winning streak. We scored 5 in the bottom of the 1st and led 7-2 after 3 innings. Slumpbusters then scored 15 runs in the top of the 4th to ruin a perfectly good game. We never recovered and were mercy ruled, 20-8 after 5 innings. Blake, Patrick, Lance, and Alan hit home runs. Tracy earned the pink hat this game. As a team we were a woeful 12-27 for a team average of .444.
The general consensus is that we lost this game because of noxious fumes eminating from the southern hemisphere of our self-proclaimed All Star catcher. The Shelby fumigator claims another innocent victim. James claims that pink gives him gas. The team's theory is that James is an alien from a distant planet and he was sent here to destroy Earth one fart at a time.
3rd Game Saturday, vs Pepsi: Won 25-11.
The bats came to life again and we scored in every inning. We scored 17 of our runs in the 5th, 6th, and 7th innings.
Blake, Patrick, and Alan hit home runs in this game.
Tommy, Brodie, and Stinky Stokes, each struck out and had to wear Poodle Smoocher shirts. Interestingly, Tommy's back went out at the end of this game and he was done for the weekend. The Poodle shirt will take a good man down. WE wish Tommy a speedy recovery. His Doctor at Missoula Veterinarian Clinic, expects him to miss 2 dogie days, which is 14 people days. We should have Tommy back in a couple of weeks. Please take a look in the Photo Album section to see a Kodachrome of these 3 Big Dogs. These boys look like they have been eating poodles, not kissing them.
As a team we were 35-55 for an average of .636. Nice job guys and doggies.
4th Game Saturday, vs Wolfpack: Won 10-9.
Long day for us in our first tournament of the year. Our first game of the day as a play-in game and it has us playing our 4th game while most other teams are playing their third.
Patrick, Alex, and Lance struck out for us. This was Lance's first pink ever, and it was about time. Alex and Lance hit 2 stike foul balls, while Patrick gave Hammer the opportunity to ring him up on a close strike two pitch. Patrick has a very good eye at the plate. Our buddy's only mistake was giving Hammer the chance to throw him overboard. Patrick walked the plank, courtesy of Captain Hook. Patrick did come back and hit a big home run for us in the 6th inning.
This was an elimination game and we were trailing 9-7 in the bottom of the 7th. Lance, Alan, and Chip, our first 3 batters came through in the clutch, getting hits and scoring the 3 runs we needed to win the game. We did this without recording an out.
We were 22-40 for a team average of .550. A long and fun day comes to an end and we are into Sunday morning. It sure feels good to be playing softball again. Thank you to the Softball Gods.
SUNDAY'S GAMES:
1st game Sunday: 9:AM vs Lithia/Paul Wilson Painting: Won 20-7.
We hit the ball all day Sunday. Three very nice games for us. In this game we scored 5 runs in the 1st inning on our way to a 5 inning game. Our good buddy Tracy earned the pink hat for making the final out of the game. Blake and Smoochie hit Home runs for us that counted. Zilla hhit one for an out. We can forgive him because despite batting cleanup, by his turn to bat, the homers had already been hit. A nice predicament to have. Mikey asked to bat lead-off...sorry buddy.
Shawn-na-na of "Hollenback Poodle Farms" and Casey joined us for the first two games on Sunday. Their fresh legs in the outfield were a welcome addition. Four games on Saturday makes for a stiff Sunday morning. Thanks guys, you were a big help.
2nd game Sunday, vs The Fish (Kalispell) Won 29-23:
Fun game and not just because we won, altho winning certainly does add to the enjoyment factor. We scored in every inning and there were four lead changes in the first four innings. We also had a "First Ever" this game, when Patrick, Zilla, and Casey each hit home runs in the fourth inning...and all three of these home runs were outs. They can thank Blake, Brodie and Patrick for using them up by the fourth. Patrick hit three this game, two that counted. Blake hit two, and the rest of the team just got on base for them.
Our good buddy Alex, "Don't call me Poodle-Boy" Keffler, earned the pink hat by making the final out of the game. Grrrrrrrrr.
We were 36-56 for a team average of .642. Fun game against some nice guys.
3rd game Sunday, vs 8 Ball (Great Falls). Lost 24-23...Dang!
Another great back and forth game. We trailed the first two innings, tied the score in the 3rd, took the lead in the 5th. lost the lead by one in the 6th, tied the game in the top of the 7th, and lost the game in the bottom of the 7th. Holy Cow! What fun. Blake, Patrick, Lance, and even Zilla hit home runs that counted. Everyone on the team hit well. We had a tournament high 39 hits this game. That is an average of 5+ hits per inning. Every player had at least 2 hits, and 7 of our guys had 4 or 5 hits in this game.
As a team we were 39-57 for a tournament high fame average of .684. We had a ton of hits, we also left a lot of guys on base in this game. The scorebook said 15 runners LOB, not sure just how exact that is, but it is close.
TOURNAMENT RECAP:
We finished up 5-2 and 3rd place. Lots of games. Lots of home runs, hits, fine defensive plays, and of course quite a bit of pink. Most of all lots of fun. Great group of guys. Three new additions to our roster and it felt seamless.
On Saturday we scored 63 runs in 4 games for an average of 16 runs per game.
Sunday we scored 72 runs in 3 games for an average of 24 runs per game.
I will add more stats as I get time. Thanks for a great weekend guys. I think 2013 looks very promising. Makes me feel happy and most fortunate to be a part of it.