No Mercy

What a game.

I think this was the game of the year.
Best Glove game ever?

And what's more, we beat those Mercy Corps [insert derogatory term here]!

This game had it all: public intoxication, diving catches in the outfield, people getting hit with the ball, public intoxication, strikeouts, homeruns, and public intoxication!

When the smoke cleared and the band stopped playing... at the end of it all, The Glove showed no mercy and straight up took the game away from Mercy Corps. And those of us who played together will forever be bonded by the pain and endurance, as well as the sheer will and determination it took to win that game.

The game went 6 innings, and it was back and forth all night long: they scored 6 runs, we scored 5; they scored 3 runs, we scored 4... and at the end of 5 innings the score was knotted at 13 runs apiece.

Extra innings.

The umpire screamed at the top of his lungs, "We're now playing international rules!" meaning each team would go to bat with a runner in scoring position on 2nd base. Mercy Corps was the visiting team so they got first crack, and they jumped on us scoring 6 runs in a very deflating top half of the 6th inning.

The umpire looked at us as we finally secured the 3rd out and started walking off the field. "You need 7 runs," he said.

Coach hobbled to the sidelines, his back tightening more and more with every step, thirsting for that can of Budweiser waiting for him on the bench. In a very calm voice he reassured the embattled Glovers, "We don't need 7 runs. We just need to score 1 run, 1 run at a time."

Wise beyond his years, that man.

We started the bottom half of the 6th with Sarah on 2nd base. First pitch, crack! Dan drills the ball over second base into right field and stretches out an RBI double. One run.

Next batters, Kate and Tim, bam-bam! two more runs.

Then we hit a dip, two quick outs on two pop flies. Hope was fading, and it was fading fast.

Down three runs with two outs and a runner on 3rd base, Kendra nails a line drive double over shortstop into left field. One more run.

Coach steps up to bat, boom! hits a towering triple to left field scoring one more run.

Jonanna steps to the plate and drills a liner up the middle of the field for an RBI single. One more run.

Bottom of the 6th inning, two outs, a runner on 1st base, down by one run, Nick steps up to bat, CRACK! The ball sails into deep left center and rolls to the fence. With those long dancer's legs and her PF Flyers cinched up tight, Jonanna digs deep and scores the tying run all the way from 1st base (one more run). With the ball still in play, Nick is waived in aggressively as he motors around 3rd base. The ball is thrown in from the outfield, hits the cutoff at shortstop who throws a rope to home plate, the pitcher falls back to cover the force out at home--it's gonna be close...

SAFE! SAFE! SAFE!

The last run.

On a walk-off inside the park home run, The Glove wins 20-19.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I want to give props to Kate & Amy for filling in again this week; you two are a godsend. And Kate was playing a little hobbled last night with two bad wheels, which makes her a big bright beautiful star!

Dylan also came to the field feeling less than stellar, but in typical Badman style, he sacrificed, persevered and came through in the clutch for us. Plus he anchored a very busy left field for us last night against a very good hitting team. Michael Jackson once asked the question, "Who's bad?" Dylan Magierek is bad. That's who's bad.

Kendra played an aggressive and solid 3rd base last night--filling in for the sorely missed Ali Brown--but she also shined at the plate going 5-5 and scoring 4 runs, including providing the spark we needed with 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th inning. Those are VIP numbers, folks, franchise player statistics. Holly momentarily took the tough girl title away from her last week, but Kendra tattooed that crown of thorns around her biceps last night, a la Pamela Anderson. Grrr! Let's just hope that doesn't come with Hepatitis C.

Quick note on Tim Gray, who has flown under the radar in our first two games of Fall Ball; not only does he bring a big smile and a powder blue San Diego Chargers visor to each game, he has quietly put up some good numbers at the plate and has played a very solid right field. Last night, he went 4-4 scoring 3 runs, including a big run and RBI in that exciting comback 6th inning. Plus, he had the play of the game last night making a diving snow cone catch in a soggy right field. Respect.

Player of the Game: Kate Skelton. Not only did she play injured the whole game last night (and didn't complain a bit, unlike that crotchety old Coach guy), but she played a little 2nd base, she played some right field, and she went 3-4 at the plate with 1 RBI and she scored (well, Sarah scored) 3 runs. Kate is, by all accounts, a true Glover.

Foreclosed

Clear Mortgage Solutions tried to deny The Glove, but we cashed in a little bat-and-glove equity and gave them a small glimpse at our high credit rating, 18-3.

This first game of the Fall season was nothing short of spectacular. We incorporated a few changes to our roster, but in typical Glove style we didn't skip beat and we managed to add a little sparkle to our game.

Before we move on to the game recap, I want to shine a light on some new Glovely faces.

Nick comes to us from a connection to another softball team. As you may recall, Nick subbed for us in a very important game last season, he filled a huge void left by Scott at shortstop, and came through amazingly well. I am very happy to have him anchoring the infield.

Holly is our new resident tough girl (sorry Kendra). Holly is no stranger to the field of play, honing her talents in the Underdog leagues, but she showed us very clearly that PMSA softball can't contain her either.

Ezra is the softball equivalent of a gym rat. Ezra probably knows Portland softball better than all of the rest of us Glovers combined, and he is a welcomed addition to the team, especially because I can finally get a break from the mound every now and then.

Kate (and Amy!) was a late addition to the team. We are still in negotiations with her people to work out a contract for the rest of the season, but management is hopeful that she will be a fixture on this team.

Then there's Tim... what can I say about Tim? Let me think about that one for a while. When I am with Tim, we usually laugh a lot, my wallet ends up lighter if not completely empty, somebody nearby usually gets naked, and the next morning is usually hazy. I'm not exactly sure what he brings to the team yet, but I know there are lots of fun times ahead :)

To all the new faces, welcome!

Now on to the plays (and players) of the game.

1. 2nd base was a hot spot last night. There were quite a few plays where Holly sacrificed her body to knock down some hard hit balls, and to her credit she never gave up on a single play and secured some tough outs for us on defense. Her roller derby background makes a lot more sense now.

2. Still at 2nd base. 4th inning, just when CMS was trying to put together a late game rally with a runner on 1st, Jonanna cleanly fields a ground ball, flips the ball to Nick who then fired a strike to Dan at 1st base for a beautiful 4-6-3 double play. It doesn't get prettier than that.

3. The other hot spot last night (thanks to some masterful pitching by Ezra and Coach who kept the CMS hitters off balance and relegated their offense to ground balls and weak fly balls) was 3rd base. I lost track of how many put-outs Ali had last night; her glove got worked last night, including some hot line drives, and as expected, she came through every time. I can't imagine ever playing softball without you, Ali.

Player of the Game is Holly Pierce. You never could have guessed that last night was Holly's first game as a Glover. From the moment she stepped onto the field last night she owned 2nd base. I mean, she practically lifted her leg, marked her territory, and said "This is my house!" At the plate, Holly went 3-for-3 and scored a run in a big 5th inning. I know Holly is happy to be playing with The Glove, and we are thrilled to have her on the team.

I wish I had a few more gems to point out about the game, but in typical Glove fashion we played a fundamental game, making plays on defense, and stringing together some base hits to move runners around the bases; nothing fancy, just solid softball... and I am pretty sure everyone had fun.

We got off to a good start scoring 6 runs in the first inning, but the nail in the coffin was an 8-run 5th inning. I'll finish this post with a recap of our hitting/offensive stats (no RBIs unfortunately), and as you will see, this was a team win; everyone did the work, everyone came through.

Great game, everyone!

Kendra, 3-for-4, scored 3 runs.
Marcus, 4-for-4 with 3 runs scored, including a home run in the 5th inning.
Ali, 2-for-4 with 1 run scored.
Nick, 3-for4, 1 run scored.
Jonanna, 2-for-3.
Dan, 3-for-3, 2 runs scored.
Holly, 3-for-3, 1 run scored.
Dylan, 2-for-3, 2 runs scored.
Kate, 2-for-3, 1 run scored.
Tim, 2-for-3, 1 run scored.
Sarah, 3-for-3, 1 run scored.
Ezra, 3-for-3, 2 runs scored.

Fall Ball!

The online schedule for the Fall softball league just got posted. The 6-game league runs from September 2 thru October 7, so if you have a conflicting vacation or out of town work trip on a Thursday during that stretch of time, reschedule it cuz The Glove is gonna get dirty playing with our Fall Balls!

There will be no makeup games, even if a game is canceled due to inclement weather.

For whatever it's worth, the top coed teams for Fall Ball are in Group I, ...and we are playing in Group II. That means we have targets painted on the backs of our gloves. That means we have to bring it. That means we have to represent!

Date & Time

H/V

Opponent

Field (Click for list)

Thu, 9/2 @ 8:40pm

Visitor

Clear Mortgage Solutions

Westmoreland #1

Thu, 9/9 @ 8:40pm

Home

Scared Hitless

Westmoreland #1

Thu, 9/16 @ 8:25pm

Visitor

Power Play

WVO/Budweiser

Thu, 9/23 @ 7:20pm

Visitor

Swings Both Ways

DeMarini

Thu, 9/30 @ 8:25pm

Home

Hammertime

WVO/Budweiser

Thu, 10/7 @ 8:25pm

Visitor

Clear Mortgage Solutions

WVO/Budweiser

If you ain't first, you're last

If you don't waste your spare time at work browsing the PMSA web site you may not know we ended up in the middle of the pack for the 2nd half of the summer league. Looking at the standings, no one really dominated. In fact, we beat one of the teams ahead of us in the standings and tied another. If not for a slow start against Hammertime, not to mention that horrendous pitching display against Past Our Prime, I dare say STG could have won the H league... or at least finished in 2nd place.

Coed H

Team Name	W	L	T
1st Swings Both Ways	3	1	1
2nd Hammertime	3	2	0
2nd Open Meadow	3	2	0
3rd Smell the Glove	2	2	1
4th Past Our Prime III	2	3	0
5th Fast Undercar	1	4	0

I hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather. And don't forget, Fall Ball is right around the corner!

Fresh Roasted Beer Nuts

Thursday evening was warm, the sun was bright, and Beer Nuts II got straight up roasted. We needed to win this game to win our division, and that's exactly what we did.

In typical Glove fashion, we brought the game to BN II. We didn't do anything fancy, we played played solid unremarkable defense catching pop flies and getting force outs at 1st and 2nd base; at the plate we brought a steady bat stringing together base hits and moved the runners around the bags. After 7 full innings, The Glove snapped shut in a deceptively close 12-7 final score.

This was probably the best way to end a season marked by an oscillating roster and an ever shifting schedule; we walked off the field having played a steady consistent game, and we did it with two subs who contributed greatly to the win.

As for plays of the game, I want to give it up to the entire team. I mean it when I say everyone contributed to the win.

Shawna and Nick hooked up on a sweet force out at home plate on a hard hit ball to left field. Nick was one of the most valuable subs we've had all season, he played a solid left center field and got on base every at bat. Shawna also had a good game, moving runners around the bases and catching a great game.

Thunder Dan brought the... thunder... one more time at 1st base. In typical fashion, Dan caught a line drive on one of the hardest hit balls all season, plus he had a great night at the plate.

Sarah "SG" Symons Glegorio put the finishing touches on a season of amazing growth. Her bat is coming alive, and she played another solid game at 2nd base.

Kendra filled in at 3rd base catching a line drive in the 2nd inning and making solid defensive plays for force outs at 2nd base and the routine plays at 1st. She also got on base every at bat and scored some key runs.

Scott played another solid (expected?) game at shortstop. In the 3rd inning, he caught a line drive that squashed another inning for our opponents. He also connected on a long ball in the 4th inning, just missing a home run by a few feet hitting the middle of the fence in left field.

Matthew covered some ground in left field, making all the expected catches and keeping their base runners from advancing more than they should have. He also showed how good that DeMarini bat really is by consistently getting base hits, moving the runners around, and barely missing what could have been the most towering home run of the season.

Jonanna did her Texas roots proud by fielding every ball hit to her cleanly in right center field, hitting her cutoff throws on the mark (BN II didn't even think about running on her), and she brought her stick to the plate each and every time racking up 3 RBIs, all at critical times of the game.

In right field, Debbie (Scott & Kendra's mother) did the family name proud. In the first inning, she caught a towering fly ball for a message-sending-out to all the bro's on BN II. She also showed the source of the Binney hustle on the base paths every at-bat, beating out one infield hit for a single in the 5th inning.

Finally, Coach also had himself a game hitting two doubles and scoring every time he got on base. He also had a nice running throw on defense in the 5th inning that got a force out at 1st and kept the runner from scoring on 3rd base.

In the truest sense of the words, this win was a team effort. It's not a platitude, it's not emotional hyperbole for the last game of the season, this win was the way of The Glove.

Thanks to everyone for another great summer of softball.

On a sad note, the end of summer ball also means the loss of 3 very important Glovers, founding members, key players game in and game out. We will have to find people to fill in for each of them, but they can never be replaced. More updates to come, but for now, with a heavy heart I say 'so long'...

Mark 'Crazy Legs' Zackowski

Scott 'Don't call me Kendra' Binney

Shawna 'What is the point of Decaf' Rodrigues

+++++++++++++

Click here for the alternate image for this posting. Not for the faint of heart, but funny :)

Out With A Bang!

Great way to wind up the 2nd half of the season. Open Meadow got straight up gloved last night, barely avoiding another Glove Ahead Rule, 17-8. And not to make any excuses, but those 8 runs they scored were the benefit of some gnarly sun out there in the left field part of the diamond. Props to Ali, Scott, Matthew, Kendra & Dylan for fighting through the elements and giving us a chance to win.

We finished 2-2-1 in this half of the league, and those two losses could very easily have gone the other way. Not too shabby considering we played with a lot of subs and didn't have a very consistent lineup all season long. Despite all that, we can still end up in 2nd place depending on the outcome of the game between Hammertime and Open Meadow on August 5.

Now, on to the top plays...

1. Straight out of an ESPN web gems reel, Ali battled the sun and the wind and gloved a fly ball waaaayyyyy out in foul territory near the fence, through the other team's dugout, over the tarp and in between a couple of fans looking for a souvenir. Big out, bigger catch.

2. Boing! Weird play at home plate last night more out of a George Michael Sports Machine highlight than ESPN... An errant throw from the outfield had Shawna playing the carom off the fence in front of the other team's dugout, a runner tried scoring from 3rd base, but a heads up play by Dan at home plate got the force out saving a run. High baseball IQ on that play.

3. From the mound, two nice catches from the pitcher. Same hitter jacks two line drives right up the middle, Marcus catches them both for inning ending and game ending outs... He makes it look so easy, but he has the bruise on his hand today to show for it. Nice job, Coach!

On that note and at the risk of sounding self aggrandizing (sucking my own dick?), I have to give (accept?) POTG to Marcus who a pretty good game last night. At the plate, 4 for 4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. On the mound, he showed some very good control of his pitches (not as easy as it looks with the wind blowing and the sun in his eyes) including 4 Ks (strikeouts), 3 put outs at 1st base, in addition to those two line drive catches. But a pitcher is only as good as the 8 people behind him and the 1 person behind the plate; for all the Glovely defense all season long, thanks for making me look good :)

Everyone also deserves another beer and a pat on the back for an awesome 4th inning. We batted all the way around the lineup, everyone got a hit that inning, and we scored 8 runs to lock up the win last night. We smelled blood, and we went for the kill...

Ball game.

Tie

We didn't win. And we didn't lose.

It was close and competitive (we played a very tough team, unlike last week), and despite the unresolved outcome I think every one of us had a great time. So nice to be part of a competitive game instead of the lop-sided ones we've been a part of all too often this year.

And now, without any ado whatsoever I'll jump right into the top plays...

1. The outfield played solid. Despite some very hard hit balls, everyone in the outfield made some timely and aggressive plays. Kendra and Dylan, in particular, charged some low hit balls in the shallow part of the outfield and came up with some big outs. Playing against a very hard hitting and offensive minded team, every out was a big one. Mark and Scott also made some very big outs, rounding out a very solid defensive game for The Glove.

2. Thunder Dan came up with another web gem, diving to his right and catching the ball on the fly for a spectacular inning-ending out. Dan, we're getting used to these...

3. Double plays: Two big ones.
a. Ali to Dan on a 6-3 double play on a very hard hit ball; Ali fielded the ball cleanly for the force out at 3rd and threw a rocket across the diamond to Dan, who had to stretch for the put out at 1st.
b. Top of the 7th inning, with a runner in scoring position, Marcus fields a short hit ball on the infield, leaps through the air and fires a strike (a la Derek Jeter) to Scott for the force out at 2nd who completed the DP on a solid throw to Dan at 1st base saving a run at a critical time of the game, giving us a chance to tie or win the game.

This game was filled with some really good softball, offensively and defensively. A 9-9 tie game through seven innings just goes to show that there wasn't a lot of room for error, and because of that there can only be one unanimous player of the game...

Ali Brown. Ali has been a force at 3rd base all season long. 3rd base is not a position for the faint of heart, and Ali not only plays the position with deft skill and grace but I think she actually loves the pressure that goes along with playing the 'hot corner.' We've played some teams this year that hit the ball hard, and Ali has been up for the challenge every single game. Ali was part of some big plays on Thursday night, a couple of double plays, shagging some hard hit balls to help keep runners from getting more than a single base, plus she went 3 for 4 at the plate scoring a big run during a very important 4th inning. She's not only the first person to take on a challenge, but more importantly she is the first person to cheer on her teammates. I'm happy to be on your team, Ali, and I'm very happy to have you cover my ass at 3rd base.

Special thanks to our subs who came out on Thursday. Andrea and Anna not only filled some very big shoes with a missing Abbey and Jonanna, but they contributed healthily at the plate and on defense. This also meant we could get SG out from behind the plate, and she played an amazing 2nd base. Way to go, SG!

Another valuable sub, Mixmaster Mike who filled in for Leticia on the scorebook. Mike had never kept score before, but we could not have tied the game without him ;)

Special recognition goes to Dylan who celebrated his 43rd birthday with us on Thursday. A few of us celebrated with him long into the night (and paid dearly for it on Friday), and it was nice to know that playing a game with The Glove was at the top of his wish list on his special day.

Happy Birthday, Dylan, aka The Badman.