Cheltenham Blue 12 vs Essendon 10
Denise Healy reports
It was a stunning day for baseball on Saturday and we went into the game feeling pretty excited and confident of continuing our winning streak. We could feel it in our waters, there was another win on the cards. The start of the match reflected that confidence when we were able to promptly secure three outs without any runs scored.
Our opening pitcher, Barb Dooley started with a Hooley Dooley moment or two as she lobbed in pitch after pitch straight over the plate, resulting in four strike-outs for the match. She had the batters baffled, but even more confused was our “special guest” umpire, Stu Holding. He simply could not get over Barb’s pitches and how they dropped in over the plate. He said, “They’re unbelievable, I might have to stand beside the plate so I can see where they drop in… they’re coming in on a 45 degree angle… I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Clearly he needs to spend more time watching Women’s Div 3 to see how we roll. As Barb says, “I can’t explain how I do it. I couldn’t teach it if I tried!”
Following Barb’s lead in the pitching department were Sam and Tara who also did a great job under increasing pressure.
We were in complete control in the first part of the game with flawless in-fielding from Tara at shortstop, Jess on third, Pia at second and Michelle on first. Our first out came from a hit to Tara who, in her effortless style, nailed the throw to Michelle on first.
Sam in outfield had a bit of action and contributed to an excellent out when she fielded a ground ball and threw it beautifully to Jess at third who tagged the runner out. A massive hit was flying to Sue in centre-field, she leapt into the air reminiscent of Michael Jordan in his hey-day but unfortunately missed it by a whisker. What a bummer, it was so close.
Our first batting was impressive and overall everyone had a pretty good day in the batting box. Sue in her usual calm, confident manner made her way around the bases with ease and Michelle’s crack’n hit brought two players home in our first batting innings.
By the end of the first two innings, we were up 5-0, but then, Essendon stepped up and made some great hits and unfortunately we gave away a few walks. For the first time in the match there were players all over the bases, making their way home. By the middle of the game, they had equalized and before we knew it, Essendon was leading.
For some inexplicable reason and much to Ant’s frustration, we manage to put ourselves into very challenging situations. It was time to dig in and claw back.
Alex got the voodoo off her back with a fabulous hit to centrefield and Jess whacked one to leftfield where Annaliese was fielding (no, she hasn’t defected, she was kindly filling in for Essendon). Fortunately, the ball went past and Jess secured a two-baser. In a similar scenario, Pia’s loyalties were compromised when she was fielding in the outfield for Essendon when our mystery batter hit a fly-ball to her. Well, we all know Pia’s love-hate relationship with fly-balls, so we knew this could go either way. Thankfully the ball failed to find its way into Pia’s glove and Pia was allowed to come back into our team .
By now it was the final innings, it was 10 all and we had seven minutes to get at least one run in to win.
I swear to God, we should be working at the Wall St stock exchange because we sure as hell seem to love working (and delivering) under pressure.
Sue was up to bat and took one for the team with a pitch to the back. Whatever it takes, we’ll do it, and put our body on the line if it means a win!
It was Barb’s turn in the box and ever so cooly, the Dooley cracks a hit into right-field into the gap and brings two runners in when the game is called! Barb saves the day and we secure a 12-10 win to the Rustlers, woo hoo. Five and a half wins for the season so far.
A final note / quote for the day, our Ant likes to impart words of wisdom here and there but his latest offering had us all stumped, “It’s like kissing your sister.”
Queue confused looks.
Queue silence.
Please explain.
