Friday, April 15, 2011

Game 4: Hopkins V. Eastview

My heart rate just got back to normal after the win last night! My doctor says there is something wrong with my heart if it has been racing for nearly 20 hours, but I can't help but be excited after a win like that!

(Note: My heart rate has been regular, I don't have a heart condition.)

Your own Hopkins Royals won a thriller last night in the final inning of the game. The Lightning of Eastview made the trek to Pat Berger Memorial Field to take on the hometown kids, and they gave us quite a fight.

The offense for the Lightning started with a big boy hit over the left field fence off Timmy Shannon, but Tim shouldn't feel bad because the wind was blowing in..

Tim continued to work his butt off and got through the 4th inning with the game still right there.

We turned a few Lightning mistakes into two quick runs, and the energy in the home dug out was back up.

Glover came in to pitch and did very well. He was throwing a lot more strikes than the umpire gave him credit for and he got us out of potential big innings for the Lightning. A few defensive mistakes gave the Lightning a few runs. Going into the bottom of the 7th inning, we were behind 7-3.

Then the fun began.

The first two batters, Wicklund and Steve-O, walked to start the inning. First, Tanner singled to load the bases. Then, Kyle singled with two strikes to score a run, and I followed it up with a double to score two runs. After five at-bats, we were only down by one, with runners on second and third with no outs. Joey Bag 'o'donuts (my nickname for Joey Brettingen) reached on another Lightning error.  We had the bases loaded with no outs and we were only down by one.

The Lightning brought in a new lefty pitcher to try and finish us off. He was a hard throwing lefty with a nice back-door slider. After getting the first guy out, Benny stepped to the plate. He scowled at the new pitcher and flexed his muscles to show that he wasn't afraid. The pitcher was obviously intimidated (much in the same way that Tim scared the Benilde player into batting out of order), and he threw a wild pitch. Kyle ran home and tied it up, 7-7.

Now the pitcher was rattled. Benny licked his lips and gave flashed the pitcher a devilish grin. The pitcher threw a passed ball and I ran in to score the winning run.

Looking back at the game, there were a few things that surprised me. First of all, I was surprised that Coach Lerner didn't leave his chair to pick the umpire's brain. There were a few calls that caused his face to turn a shade of red that was reminiscent of Benilde's uniforms. The count remains the same.

Umpire Chit Chats for Coach
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Second of all, I was surprised that we had such a good fan section considering the weather was awfully cold. We definitely have a dedicated group of parents and girlfriends!

Lastly, I was surprised that Coach Strong would have the audacity to break wind during the team meeting at the end of the game. He claims that he was downwind, but we all know that only a man of his size and strength could drop a bomb like that.

I'm pleased to say that my blog has inspired Boys' Tennis Captain Michael Fields to start a blog of his own in much the same style as mine. Check it out at www.gohugeorgohome.blogspot.com.

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