We won a league game 12-1 in a five inning mercy killing on Thursday night.  We finally knocked the ball around the yard a bit.  Nothing too exceptional here except our 9 run second inning which sort of put the game away.  We’re using a very soft ball for league games this year, which helps the pitchers.  In 8 games we have just one homerun.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t hit any more the rest of the season–the balls are that mushy.  But for the sake of competitive games and saving pitchers from wicked line drives, I fully support the ball choice. 1/3

 In tournament play we use much harder balls.  Last night we won our first game of the Plangger Invitational 4-0.  We got an excellent pitching performance and played nearly perfect defense.  They loaded the bases with no outs in the third, but we managed to get out of it unscathed. 1/3

We play today at “3:00”–the " " meaning  it will likely be sometime after 3 due to long games earlier in the day or even a little rain.

Split a double header last night.  Lost 8-2 in our first game.  Scored 2 in the first and then gave up 6 in the bottom of the first.  Only got 3 hits all game.  In the second game we were down 2-0 going into the bottom of the seventh.  We managed 3 bunt singles, a hit by pitch, and a two run single to win 3-2.  We discovered a weakness.

We won 7-6 in nine innings on Thursday, our first league victory at last (1-3).  I played second base for a while, which is nice.  You have to be so much less “perfect” there than at shortstop.  I switched to shortstop 10 years ago or so, and I won’t be all that sad when I no longer play there.  I’m a center fielder, really, who is capable of playing middle infield.

2/5.

 Not much to say about this one.
We gave up 7 runs in the first inning of both games in our double header and never got going after that.  Pitching fail to start, offensive fail after that.  L 11-1, L 8-0.
At least it was a nice night.

We lost our first league game 3-4 to Trinity Green.  We played fairly well defensively, and they probably helped us out with a few botched plays in the field.  But most importantly, the temperature was reasonable and I felt comfortable playing.  Note to self: no more 40 degree games for me.  2/4 3B.

Smalltown Fastpitch * Early Bird Tournament (May 11-12)* Coldwater, MI

With temparatures consistently in the 40s all weekend and a frigid wind much of the time, our first tournament came off without my getting frostbite or seriously injured.  So I count that a victory.

Game 1:  Smalltown 4  Hastings Blues 5
After taking the lead in the top of the seventh, we walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the inning and the next batter crushed a high, inside pitch over the 290+ foot fence in left.  (1/4 3B)

Game 2: Smalltown 10 Westerville Capitals 4
Back on a real fastpitch field, we managed to hit a couple homeruns and beat a good, young Canadian pitcher.  (2/4 BB)

Game 3: Smalltown 20 Wabash 9
The wind picked up after a brief rain storm and the temperature managed to drop, but somehow we ground out this slugfest anyhow launching six homers in six innings.  I got plunked twice and walked twice and scored four times.  (0-1)

Game 4:  Smalltown 4 Thunder 11
After scoring four first inning runs, we couldn’t manage another as the Thunder homered five times to beat us by the mercy rule in five innings.  One of the coldest mornings I’ve ever played softball.  (1/3)

I scored 8 runs on the weekend, walked 3 times, was hit twice, had a triple, and went a modest 4/12 (.333).  With my 43 year old creaking knees and worn out achilles', I’m not dissatisfied with the weekend.  But I know why there aren’t any everyday players in the major leagues my age.  It’s not that they can’t hit anymore, it’s that the first month and half of the season is played in nearly winter weather, and there comes a point when you just can’t stay loose enough to move.  Next game is Thursday in Benton Harbor.  I expect it to be warmer.

Season Record:  2-2

Smalltown Fastpitch ended its season last night with a victory in the league tournament championship over the Twin City Gray Sox, 10-9.  With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, our pitcher took a hard one hopper off the face. While he split blood, we looked for the tooth, but didn’t find it.  His brother came into the game to strikeout the final batter for the win.  Just before we snapped a picture, I asked B if the tooth was knocked entirely out or just broken off.  He said, “I don’t know,” proceeded to show me.

“Your tooth isn’t missing,” I said.

It was still very much there in his mouth, but there was a much larger gap than normal.  I suspect the tooth is pretty loose and may be fractured below the gum line, but no wonder we didn’t  find the tooth in the dirt around the pitcher’s mound.

In the last five days we took home a lot of hardware.  Church league tournament champs, NAFA world series A consolation bracket champs, NAFA world series AA-major 3rd place.

Final season record was 28-26.  The Gray Sox finished their season 25-2 and as the MASA D-state champions.  Not bad for their first season together to say the least.