Vegas on the line

So when I last left you, I was unwinding at the bar on Friday night after a harrowing drive near tornadoes in Springfield. Several of my teammates showed up about 30 minutes later and they didn't even drive through rain!! Unbelievable. We tried to do that, but it didn't work out for us. The second time we stopped we had dinner!! You think that would have been enough time for things to clear up.

Saturday morning we had our first game at 11 against a team from St. Louis called Sucker Punch Sallys. Amazingly, the fields were in pretty good shape despite all of the rain. It was a lot warmer than I thought it was supposed to be with a bright sunny sky and 85+ degrees, with some humidity thrown in there for good measure. It was a welcome reprieve from our recent bout of lousy weather tournaments. On the line for this tournament was a bid to the NSA World Series Tournament in Las Vegas in September. We beat SPS 12-4 in a good game for our defense and hitting. Personally I was at first and went 3-4 with all very good at bats....even the out.

Our next game was two hours later and pitted us against a team called Throwdown. We struggled a bit against their left-handed pitcher and I personally went 0-2 before being pinch hit for (the pinch hitter made an out also). However we had a late rally and won 9-8 in a great game.

About two hours later, we played a team from central Illinois called Burton's Drywall. The winner would play their next game for the championship. Our record against them in the last two seasons is 1-3 (so I'm told, though I don't remember). They beat us soundly in all aspects of the game something like 18-8. It was ugly. I believe I played third that game and went 3-4 again.

We then played Throwdown again as they came through the losers bracket. After the first half inning, storm clouds moved back in and our game was delayed about 45 minutes. Ugh. Nothing worse than a rain delay during a tournament. There's nothing to do, nowhere to go and the field is going to be in worse shape when you do start playing again.

All of that came true, but we were happy to play. We really wanted to finish the tournament on Saturday which meant we were going to have to play three more games to do it. Unfortunately, with us up 11-8 and getting ready to bat in the bottom of the 6th, the rains came again and this time they were torrential. The umps suspended the game and said we would start the game from that spot at 10 the next morning. Ugh.

Sunday morning was hot and humid again and the fields were surprisingly decent to play on. We scored two more runs to go up 13-8.....a pretty nice cushion for just one inning left to play. Unfortunately they came out hitting and used a grand slam (we're only allowed one home run a game by the way) to go up 14-13. I had gone 2-3 in this game before I was taken out for a sub (pinch runner I believe) , so I was left to cheer only at this point. We scored two runs though as Benny Baseball hit a bases loaded single to win the game and gain a rematch with Burton's Drywall.

Since the tournament was double elimination and they hadn't lost yet, we had to beat them twice. They scored 4 quick runs and we answered with four. The game was tight until the very end, but we lost 12-9. Part of the problem was me as I was hitting lead-off and 1-4. Absolutely terrible. So I think I was 9-17 for the tournament or a .529 average. Not too good. On Saturday I hit .615 though, much better, but I still wasn't thrilled.

However, it's tougher to get hits in these tournaments as the pitchers are better and the fielders are better, so our averages almost always drop a bit.


My performance on Sunday contributed enough to earn an All-Tournament medal. Our team is allowed to nominate four to five players to receive them and I was selected! It's only my second one, so I was happy that the coaches thought I deserved it, but pissed that we lost.

The good news is that Burton's might not take the Vegas bid, which would get passed down to us!!