Hit And Run Championship Game - Season 1

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011, 9:00 PM PST @ El Dorado Park in Long Beach

Fresh off two dominating semi-finals performances, Hit And Run (6-4) and OPC Ballers (8-1-1) both had reason to make some noise in the championship game.

Hit And Run dispatched Legends, 18-7, while OPC Ballers mercied the 4-seed Top Gunners. Hit And Run and OPC Ballers split their two regular season matches, with both teams each with a blowout victory.

This game had all the makeup of a great game.

And an epic game it was.

It was a deja vu score after one-inning: OPC Ballers 2, Hit And Run 1. Earlier in the 6 o'clock game, we were down 2-1 in the semi-final game after one inning. However, this time was different. We weren't gonna blow these guys out. That's where the deja vu ended.

Our offense struggled mightily to start off this game. Our first two hitters, JP and Rosamartha both made outs. Jay Gee then hit a solid double and May got him in with an RBI single.

In the second inning and third inning, we put up two fat zeroes and they managed to muster out a run in each inning, making it 4-1 them, after three.

We finally got a little rally going in the 4th inning. I don't remember who lead off or what happened exactly but we got a couple of timely hits and took advantage of their defensive miscues. We scored 4 times, taking an important lead into the last half of the game. Psychologically, this was huge.

In the bottom half of the inning, I gave up a 2-run bomb (El Dorado park has a high fence and he cleared it) to their pitcher, Vince, who was talking mad trash the whole game (more on this guy later). Vince's 2-run homer capped a 5-run rally and our 4-run inning in the top half was washed. Right after the two-run homer, one of the girls on their team singled to right field and it just felt like their bats were on fire. The game was heading towards blowout territory. Fortunately, the very next hitter hit a sharp liner to my left, I snagged it and immediately through a rainbow towards first base - thankfully Mareesa was covering the bag and the sucker girl couldn't get back in time. Double play. Inning over. Rally over. Momentum stifled.

In the 5th inning, both teams went scoreless so the score going into the 6th inning was:

Hit And Run 5,
OPC Ballers 9,
End of 5th.

The sixth inning is where things got crazy. It was getting real late in the game and we needed to do something big time. We got lucky. The pitcher on OPC Ballers, Vince, started to get wild. He started walking people. With a couple walks here and there, sprinkled with some timely base hits, we were able to put up a much needed 7-spot.

I was coaching 3rd for most of this inning and I kept telling our hitters to make sure it's good. Vince didn't like it and he started barking some stuff back at me. I ignored him. He threw at least 9 balls in a row out of the strike zone ha.

Hit And Run 12,
OPC Ballers 9,
Mid of 6th.

In the bottom of the 6th inning, OPC Ballers were able to get their first two hitters on base immediately. Two outs later, they tied the game with an RBI single. So now we're sitting on a runner on first, tied ball game, 12-12, in the bottom of the 6th inning, and their pitcher, Big Vince, who had just homered earlier in the game, coming up.

I immediately looked at the on deck circle to see which girl was coming up after Big Vince. It was their left-fielder -- a legit softball player named Jamie (who by the way, had already made a handful of spectacular catches in left field). She was also 3 for 3 on the night. Whatever, I was walking this guy. I didn't throw anything near home plate and intentionally gave him the 2-base walk on 3 pitches. He then said Jamie's been hitting the ball better than me all night. I told his ass I'll take my chances. That placed runners on 2nd and 3rd with Jamie coming up (I walked big boy on 3 straight balls so he got 2 bases).

My first pitch to Jamie was a high arc one and it fell in deep. Strike. The count goes to 1-2 and I know she has to swing at anything close. The second pitch was away and way off the plate but she surprisingly took a hack at it and rolled a weak grounder to our third baseman, Randy, who fielded it cleanly. Randy looks up and instead of throwing the ball to first (which all night had a below 50% completion rate), sees Big Vince storming down the line towards third for no apparent reason. So Randy eats the ball and starts chasing Vince back to 2nd base. I went to cover 2nd but Randy was able to tag the stumbling Vince before he got back to 2nd. Three outs. Inning over. Tie game (fortunately the runner on 3rd didn't cross home before the tag out).

Hit And Run 12,
OPC Ballers 12,
End of 6th.

In the top of the 7th and final inning, Big Vince didn't come out to pitch. Apparently, he got hurt on the play trying to dive back to 2nd base. His replacement was some Mexican guy who was throwing BP pitches. Randy was first up and he lined a laser into deep left center. Unfortunately, that's where Jamie was playing and she made an insane catch on the dead run. One out.

Mareesa was next up and she hit a sharp one right back at the pitcher, he fielded it cleanly and throws it to first. Two outs.

Next man up was our manager, Daro. With our team in need of a baserunner, the man comes through with a clutch triple.

After Daro was Vicky and fortunately for us, she was able to walk on 3 pitches.

So with runners on the corner and two outs in a tie game, up came JP. JP takes the first pitch for a ball and then takes the 2nd pitch for a strike. So with the count 2-2, I was coaching at first and I told JP that he has to swing (the batting order is guy, girl, guy, girl, etc.). He does and he comes through with a big time base hit that drives in the go-ahead run. Vicky ended up getting thrown at home killing our rally but we miraculously were able to scratch for one.

Before the team took the field, I told them that's all we needed. I'm not sure how many of them believed me at the time but I was serious - I'm never short of confidence ha.

Hit And Run 13,
OPC Ballers 12,
Mid of the 7th.

As I took the field and picked up the ball, I saw that the weak part of their lineup was coming up. I told Rosamartha at 2nd to check that out and gave a little smile. That one run speech was looking a lot better at that point ha.

So their first batter comes up and it's this nice, short, stocky white guy that I've talked to before after one of our regular season games. Nice guy. Too bad the nice guy part immediately registered in my head and I know he's not swinging at the first pitch. I don't know how I knew but I just knew. So I pitch one right down the middle and he stares it by. Strike. Bingo. On the 2nd pitch, I'm pinpointing away and high because that seemed to be the weak point all night on these guys. Pitch number two is an easy fly ball to center and it lands nicely into the glove of my guy Jay Gee. One big out.

At this point I am dancing in my head because I knew that all I needed to do was get the next two girls out and we'll be dancing for reals.

Batter number two was probably the wife of batter number one. Same built. She was a decent hitter at best but I wasn't gonna give her anything to hit. She too takes the first pitch for a strike. The 2nd pitch was again up and away and she hits a weak comebacker at me. I make the routine play. Two outs.

Batter number 3 was the Mexican pitcher that replaced Big Vince -- a very solid hitter. As he stepped into the batter's box, I stared him down and I can tell he was scared. A lot of pressure was riding on him. I stepped off the mound and I told JP our shortstop that if he hits it to right field, you need to get out there, he gets a triple max. Anyhow, on the first pitch, he lines a nice solid hit to Rosamartha at 2nd and she makes a solid stop but couldn't complete the play at first. Safe. Tying run is on.

Next up was batter number 4, a thin, white-blond lady who bats left. She's not a great hitter but she's a contact hitter and she's been grounding it to the right side every single time. I call for a change. I told JP, our shortstop, to switch with Rosamartha, our second basewoman. On the very first pitch, she swings and rolls a sharp grounder right in the hole. But that's where JP was playing her and he boots the ball, and it pops up in the air over his head. It comes back down right to him and he makes a perfect throw over to Mareesa. Out by half a step. Ball game.

Hit And Run 13,
OPC Ballers 12,
Final.

Other game notes: there was also this memorable defensive play that was huge for us. It was in one of the middle innings and I can't remember which one but this guy hit a deep one to right field. May chased it down and played it cleanly on a hop off the fence and had the awareness to hand it to Jay Gee. Then Jay Gee zipped a bullet to JP, then JP relayed another bullet to me at home and I barely tagged the guy trying to score. Out. That was a huge momentum swinger.

Everyone on my team went nuts so I did too. I didn't even see what the guys on the other team were doing. This wasn't my first championship so I was trying to tell my guys to celebrate after the handshake but it was too late. They were already jumping up and down, chest-bumping, and throwing gloves in the air.

We did manage to get the handshake in and there were more celebration after that.

It's crazy that this team was 2-8 last season. I honestly thought that this was the worst group of players I've ever played with when I came on board late last season and they worked hard to improve their game drastically. Props to them.

Hit And Run Semi-Final Game - Season 1

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011, 6:30 PM PST @ El Dorado Park

Before the first match of the night between Hit And Run (6-4-0) and Legends (8-1-1), many experts predicted a one-sided affair in favor of the Legends squad -- considering just last week, this crazy final score: Legends 15, Hit And Run 0.

That was a regular season game though and I didn't play; this was a playoff game and I did play.

Sporting their championship T-shirts from last season, Legends' swag, and rightfully so, was filled with confidence and cockiness. This worked to our advantage because their focus was lacking (numerous errors and bad plate discipline). You definitely need to respect your opponents in order to win playoff games -- they didn't so we took it them.

John-Paul lead off the game with a lead-off double to right field and then purposely getting caught up in a pickle between 2nd and 3rd. At the end of the pickle, the 3rd baseman threw the ball into right field as JP was sliding back into 2nd. He scored on the two base error. Badda Bing Badda Boom, 1-0, we just scored more runs than last week and the seats aren't even warmed.

This ended up being a pretty boring game so I'm just gonna fast forward through the scoring. The score was 2-1 Legends after the 1st inning. That was the only lead they had. We went up 7-2 with a 6-run 2nd inning. Then it was 11-2 after the 4th inning. Then 18-2 after the top of the 6th inning. The 6th inning was the last inning as we were running out of time. They scored a meaningless 5 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning, making the final score a respectable, 18-7.

There was a memorable collision in left field in the bottom of the 6th inning. With one out and we still up by a dozen, this lady hit a fly ball into short left field. Our shortstop, JP, gave chase, while our left-fielder and manager, Daro, came charging in. JP makes a hell of a full-layout catch but then takes the brunt of a head-on crash with Daro. There was a nice snapping sound. He was down and out on the ground for a good minute, claiming his arm, back, and balls hurt. Needless to say, JP held on to the ball.

Aside from this, everyone made routine plays that were expected and we came out with a solid win. It ended up being a pretty easy route into the championship round.

Hitter of the Game: Jay Gee, 4 for 4, 2 homers.

Hitmen Game 10 - Season 5

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011, 7:45 PM PST @ Joe Rodgers Field

The Isotopes forfeited a couple hours before game time which was solid considering the Heat vs Mavs was pretty good.

The dreadful season ends with a forfeit win.

Here are the final standings:

Hit And Run Game 10 - Season 1

June 1st, 2011, 9:00 PM PST @ El Dorado Park in Long Beach

I ditched this game last minute and we got rocked 15-0.

I don't think I've ever seen a score like this ever.

Here's the proof:

Hit And Run Game 9 - Season 1

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011, 6:30 PM PST @ Cherry Park in Long Beach

Hit And Run (6-3) extended their winning streak to an all-time best 5 games with a forfeit win over Ctrl Alt Delete.

Hitmen Game 9 - Season 5

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011, 9:00 PM PST @ Joe Rodgers Field

Hitmen dropped their sixth straight in embarrassing fashion. We got smoked 23-3 by the Burners.

The dynasty is crashing.