Cheltenham Blue 11 vs Sandringham 16
Denise Healy reports
Let’s start with the match highlight. It was just like a movie scene – Chariots of Fire comes to mind – until the tumble!
In true Michelle style, she smashed out a strong hit and was on her way to first base. We were all impressed with Michelle’s new and improved pace (thanks to the new 2XU suck-em-in daks apparently). She was hooning along to first and all was looking positive until… a little trip up on the base saw her fly into the air but with Matrix-like levitation, she manages to land commando-style, rolling onto the ground in a neat tumble. There was a collective gasp from the team and from Michelle’s daughter (yes, she too has a daughter) but Michelle effortlessly completes her commando roll and seamlessly jumps up off the ground with a smile, throwing her arms up in the air with a big “ta-dah!”
It was worth the effort because she was safe. Stealing and some safe hits saw Michelle finally steal home.
We had some great pitching on Saturday between Sue and Barb who both got a few strike-outs and with no pressure at the end of the game (as we had no chance of winning) Tara stepped in and did a great job.
We did quite well catching the in-field flys, with Tara taking two and one each from Michelle and Denise, helping to keep the runs down. As usual, Tara made some great plays from short-stop to first. Our outfield players, Pia, Alex and Deb, were kept pretty busy with some big hits out their way. Although the big flyballs in the outfield eluded us, there was some great fielding and getting the ball back in.
Alex was back from her break studying and did a great job getting on base thanks to her speedy running. Tara also took advantage of her speediness and was able to get around the bases safely.
Apparently there was a bit potty-mouth going on in the outfield, which we weren’t aware of at the time. Pia was a bit perplexed when Alex started flapping her arms around and saying, “shit..shit”. When Pia asked if she was OK, Alex explained that she was trying to get a flesh-eating Dragonfly of her arm, which had attached itself to her. Anyhoo, no long-term damage was done.
Thankfully we were able to take advantage of quite a few fielding errors from Sandringham and got on base pretty regularly. Some dodgy throws from their catcher also allowed us to make our way around the bases confidently.
In true Rustlers style, Mardi came managed to get to the game despite a dodgy hip. What a great chick, not only did she come and support everyone knowing she couldn’t play, she took on the job to score which is not an easy task (Pete Leslie, we miss you!).
Ant would be a happy chappy if only we could be more consistent in the batting department. In one innings, with seven runs in, it seemed as though we could win. Unfortunately it was not to be and Sandringham took the match 16-11.
A huge thanks to Deb who at the last minute was drafted from the white team to help us out, and bonus, she bought the cutest bat girl, Georgia. Thanks guys.
Denise is hoping that her dodgy batting is in the past, after she finally got a decent hit away after a run of strike-outs. Putting it down to bad voo-doo for the past few weeks, she discarded her sexy flouro orange bat and used Michelle’s for the successful hit. Little did she know that Michelle’s bat is actually called, Voo Doo! Freaky.
Thanks Ant for being patient … we’ll get you a win REAL SOON!
