Having lost to one Raiders team last week, we were away to their other side this.
We emerged from the Tube at Clapham South into a rainstorm, but it dried up before the match started.
We batted first, as away side, and posted four runs before I hit the ball straight to their pitcher to end our inning. Then we fielded, and kept them to one. In the second inning, we made no more runs, while they chipped away at our slender lead. This set the pattern for the game – not many runs scored, with all ours coming in three good innings and theirs consistently in ones, twos and threes throughout the match. The sides were closely matched; both played well, both made good plays, both made a few errors. The Wolves benefited from Julian’s excellent pitching – nerves of steel, striking batters out, all through seven tense innings. We also had some good moments in the field – I think it was the second inning which saw three outs for no runs, all catches, all from different fielders. But then, so did they; we were shut out for four innings, after all.
The scores were levelled at nine all by the top of the seventh, and we knew we were in a ball game. With the home advantage, they would only need to score one more than us to win. We needed to score at least once to have a hope of victory. We made three. Would it be enough? Their last inning began. Soon there were two outs to us, but two runs scored for them. Runners on bases. Nailbiting stuff. It would only take one good hit to get them round. But then, it only needed one more out to end the game. And we made the out.
And so we had a win. For the first time ever, the Loan Wolves had won a competitive game. And it was a good win. The forfeit vs triBold doesn’t count, and the walkathon vs the Tornadoes would have been a hollow victory, but we played for this one, against a side we’d lost to before, and we earned our win. We played well, we played as a team, and we won fair and square. Everyone played their part, which was great. Due to lack of options, many of us were at unfamiliar positions, but we coped. I was at Second Base for the first time in a long while, making outs there and getting a tag on a runner.
After the game ended, we were in a euphoric yet numbed state (possibly helped by the trip to the pub afterwards). It hadn’t really sunk in yet. But by this morning it had. We have won a game. Remember today, little brother - today, life is good.
[X-posted from my LJ]
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4 comments:
Sounds like nail biting stuff. Really wished I'd been there.
Well done team. The Raiders made us work hard for our win! We were very evenly matched teams and it could have gone either way.
It was relatively quiet in RF but it gave me a great chance to watch everyone in action. I was very impressed by our team work, I saw lots of backing up and heard lots of shouts of encouragement (not all from me, honest). People did great in positions that they hadn't necessarily played in much before. Yep, we made a few errors, but we didn't let them get us down and we carried our concentration through the full 7 innings.
The rain thankfully held off and the sun even came out at one point although this made fielding a little tougher - how on earth did you catch that ball that came straight out of the sun Alison?
I still can't quite believe that we managed to pull it off after trying for so long and coming so close in the past. Go Wolves!
At about 9.30 the morning after the game I got a text message from my brother in Norwich saying well done with the softball win. Sadly I couldn't claim any part in our success (I think my actual words were "the buggers went and won without me!") but we shouldn't forget our fanbase or underestimate the merchandising possibilities which are out there! Well played all...
Hooray for all the diehard Loan Wolves fans out there...we all know who they are...
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