Off the Schneid

A win?!

Yes you read that correct, Averion Softball has finally got our collective selves together and finally pinned a W on the left side of column. This ain’t no joke, a thrilling game was had last night and ended in dramatic fashion.  A confluence of ideal situational play both offensively and defensively paid dividends by end game.

To start, all was not looking well upon arriving at the field, with no beer in sight and considering the entire team has been on a 2 week hiatus, one would assume impending doom.  Not only did we not have beer upon arrival, Rich locked his keys in his car, and to me that was kinda sorta like an omen.

Offensively, we started out pretty strong, with men on base, Rohan blasted a shot to right, the outfielders were no match for the sun and thus was able to strike first with a sizable lead in the 1^st. (for our standards anyway) With Pirogen’s big bats we were forced to play deep to keep the ball in front of us, which also provided to be quite difficult because again the sun at this particular field was quite brutal.  Lucky for us, those big bats during BP did not translate very well in the game and we were able to make pretty good stops in the early innings.

As the norm, our bats fell silent in the ensuing innings, only to be revived by the strong offensive showing by Jimmy Luther, by driving in a crucial run to add to the lead, all was forgiven for being late with the beer and putting us at a psychological disadvantage without the suds to begin the game.

Not to assume that Pirogen’s offensive would continue at the anemic pace in which they started off, their offense was jump started and anchored by their ladies, yes, their ladies, who provided some pretty big hits and before we knew, it became a battle of attrition.  As they pulled ahead and the outcome starting to look sour on our end, we played some of the headiest softball this season.  The tail end of the lineup especially pulling through in tight spots late in the game, with 2 outs in the second to last inning, Marcella turned on the jets to provide a much needed hit and runner on base, which essentially sparked our late game rally.  (Did I just say that, LATE game rally, not that I don’t think we’re capable of such but I digress)

When it was all said and done, the rally gave us a 2 run lead heading into the late innings, lucky for us, the Pirogen bats fell in silence on the strong pitching of Jimmy Luther and some nice plays out in left by Katie’s bare knuckle grab, Mikey out in left center and yours truly robbing the pitcher of a multiple score shot to center. (It must be stated that said pitcher had my number the entire game, robbing me of several base hits, so this one was worthy of a SportsCenter WebGem, what, no? haha)

As the game drew to a close, the situations became a bit dicey for Pirogen, who were quite vocal throughout the game became clenched with anxiety for fear of losing to 0-and-whatever Averion, choked up at the most opportune time.  Not willing to lose this battle of attrition, with the game locked upped in the final inning we buckled down played conservative defense.  As usual it was about to end in typical heartbreaking fashion, at the time, a costly error by me, and the meat of their lineup on deck, the outlook was quite dire, but on the heels of a brain cramp by one of their players, Nelson tuned in a sweet and clutch double play to end the final inning and send the game into extra innings. (Are you kidding, me?)

In extra innings, we flexed our might, and stung together a few base hits and manufactured 2 runs, and riding the rally, Coach Sully made the biggest hit in the game aided by a little Columbian gold residuals in his glove for the insurance run.  Pirogen had wasted the heart of their lineup in the prior inning so the last inning was played out rather cut and dry.  And for the finally, Corey made the final out, with the facial expression like, ‘hey-did-I-just-make-the-final-out-to-end-the-game-for-our-first-win-and-did-it-in-over-time’ look, priceless.

I must say that to finally get off the proverbial Schneid, I must evoke the image of the Fail Whale being lifted by the Twitter birds, enjoy, and a great win had by all and contributions from all, in the most literal sense.

P.S.

An epic fail was avoided by an epic win and thus the epic post!

P.P.S

Now it must really seem like I have way too much time on my hands at work, but please understand that this was written during one of those god awful status meetings that has nothing to do with yours truly but mandatory for all, on pen and paper prior to it being typed out. J

-randy