Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Moment of the Match

Moments:
Kates superb pitching - 1 walk, 1 strike out
Blasey's outfield catch
Kev's home run (including 2 slip ups)

3rd - Vic's base hit
2nd - Don's throw to 2nd to get the out
Winner - Kev's Gary-esque catch

Good game but we hit too many to the pitcher, SS and 3rd causing many to get out at 1st.
Ground fielding was difficult due to the wet grass.
The look on Liz's face when she found out as Gaby was late she'd be 1st base.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

My best game so far

The training over the past few months obviously paid off, as yesterday's game was definitely my best so far. Some great catches, no strike-outs and a couple of really good hits.

Of course, this meant I was in the game a lot more and made some really stupid mistakes! Catching the ball and forgetting to step on the plate at third. Running hell for leather for second with the ball still in the air, only to see it caught and finding myself out.

And then there was the wet grass - slipping and sliding all over the place and falling sideways like a tree going for a low ball to my right (and missing it as a result).

Bring on First Ball and some more game practice I can take out on Intellect (alas, due to next week's Devo concert and a union meeting the following week, I miss the next two matches).

Raiders Red v Loan Wolves - Low Point, High Point

Time to resurrect our tradition of reflecting back on the night before with our highs and lows. Remember, finish on a high!

Low Point - missing a ground ball as it bounced past me missing the opportunity to get one of their speedier runners out. I knew it was going to come my way but I wasn't able to stop it. Oh, and getting cold and wet. This is a summer game darn it!

High Point - Getting a monster hit and finally making it to 1st after two failed attempts.

The most-impressive-dive-of-the-night award must go to Kevin for his superb catches and the grace and skill displayed when he got his home run despite falling over at 1st and having to dive head first to home.

Go Wolves!

Raiders Red 19 - 3 Loan Wolves

Welcome, ballgame fans, to the first match report of the 2009 season. It's going to be a long one this year, with a whole twelve teams in Division Five scrapping for promotion or to avoid the drop.
First up for us was this away game to Raiders Red. We found ourselves facing a stronger side than we'd been expecting - Raiders are a big club (130 players now, I think one of them was saying). They picked up a lot of top-flight players over the off season with the effect of strengthening all their sides as good players get demoted to lower division teams within the club.
The weather had turned cold on the weekend, and yesterday it turned wet too. Drizzle most of the day had eased off, but as the match started a steady downpour began. This may have actually helped us - as a wise man once said, nobody's very fast when they're knee-deep in mud. Certainly, we can be proud of our performance in the first two innings, holding onto a 1-0 lead. The rain stopped though, and that's when it all went a bit askew. Sadly, our fielding was good but our batting let us down and they managed to get away from us later in the match. My hoped-for Good Season With The Bat (tm) has singularly failed to begin yet. I saw quite a bit of action at Catcher, but failed to make any outs from it. Among the high points I noticed were Kate's consistently effective pitching, good fielding at Third from Donnacha and excellent co-ordination between Kevin at Short Stop and Vic at Second. It was a friendly match and both sides had fun.
We accompanied the Raiders to the pub - the George is now the Avalon - and had a beer or two to drown our sorrows. They had Doom Bar, which was a bonus.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Back in the field

After a rainy Friday, the weather turned dry and sunny for Saturday. Which was just as well, as softball time is here again.
The Meteors, one of the bigger clubs, had invited the Loan Wolves to play a pre-season friendly tune-up game. We assembled mid-afternoon at Finsbury Park, and played them twice in a double-header. We played against sides mixed from all three Mets teams, including some really good players from Mets 1. So it's perhaps not surprising that we lost both matches - but it wasn't about the score, it was about waking up after the long winter and remembering what it feels like to play a proper match outdoors in the park in the sunshine.
I led off our batting, but was a bit too keen and struck out swinging. When my turn at bat came round again, though, I managed to get my act together and hit my way to base. Then a good clean-up hit let me get safely round, and I posted the first Wolves run of the season. It was good to be playing again, and we rounded the day off with a practice session of our own after the Mets had headed off to the pub to catch some of the Chelsea-Arsenal game.
The only football match I was interested in was the Wolverhampton Wanderers game. Three points would see us back in the Premiership next season. After the practice, Olivia kindly looked it up on her mobile phone for me, and read out the result:
"Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 - QPR............... 0".
I looked around at the other players as we set off for a well-earned beer in the evening sunshine, and smiled.
The Wolves are back.

[X posted from my Livejournal]