Challengers again stun Barracudas 12-6

It looked for awhile like the Tuesday (6 August) night game between the Challengers and the Barracudas was going to be a wash-out. For about 30 minutes, thunder-storms pummeled the field with rain, while lightning flashed ominously overhead. Making matters worse, the tarps that normally cover the bases seemed to have disappeared, thus allowing water to pool around the infield dirt. Nonetheless, when the rain finally let up, the field quickly drained and the teams were able to begin play.

On the mound for the 'Cudas was former Challenger Ueli von Burg, bravely toughing out the effects of a broken pinkie-toe. I had personally been hoping that von Burg's injured small toe would keep him from pitching, since his array of breaking balls held huge potential for making Challenger batters look silly. Given that the other 'Cuda pitchers had combined to drill me with pitches three times in the last game, I wasn't complaining. At least about that.

Right before lead-off hitter Kurt Kovac headed to the plate, coach Rob Sedin called me over: Rob: If Kurt gets on, I want you to bunt for a hit. Me: Oh man, really? Are you sure? Rob: Yep, just bunt for a hit.

Easier said than done, especially for someone, such as myself, who is craptacular at bunting. Sure enough, I managed to bunt the ball straight up into the air behind the plate. Not only was the ball caught for an out by the catcher, but Kovac was doubled off first. As I stomped back to the dugout while unleashing a slew of profanity, teammates quickly scurried out of the way (I had a bat in my hand and a murderous glare in my eye). I was still stomping around and cursing in the bottom of the inning, until left-fielder Michel Romang finally shouted at me to calm down and focus on the game (solid call).

The Challengers drew first blood in the top of the second. After Carlos Danger Nepomuceno led off with a walk, Oliver Bernet reached second on the shortstop's errant throw to first (Nepomuceno was forced at second). Bernet took third on a beautifully executed bunt by Dean Scherbaum (glad someone knows how to do it! I yelled), before scoring on a wild pitch. The 'Cudas got the run back in the bottom of the inning, however, and it was 1-1 heading into the third.

By this time, I was feeling slightly guilty about my earlier sulky behavior. That led to this exchange: Me Hey Rob...sorry about sulking before. I guess I should probably practice bunting more before I do it in a game. Rob Are you saying you can't bunt? Me Well I can bunt, just not necessarily properly. Rob So you're saying that you can hit a baseball, but you can't bunt a baseball. Me Well I BELIEVE I can hit a baseball...maybe my belief is misplaced though. Rob That's weird.

With two outs, Kovac singled and then stole second, providing me with my first opportunity to test my belief that I can hit a baseball without being able to properly bunt a baseball. Working in my favor was the presence of Eidrys Reyes, who was excitedly yelling instructions from his position in the third-base coaching box. Reyes and I have a strange relationship when it comes to baseball, as it seems that I'm only capable of hitting when he's present. It's sort of like that character from the movie Mystery Men who can turn invisible, but only when no one else is looking (wait, no one else on the team saw that movie but me? The pop-culture gap between me and Switzerland is killing me). With the count 2-0, von Burg fired a low fastball over the outside corner, and I drove it into left-field, scoring Kovac from second. It's always great when Reyes is there!

The Challengers made it 4-2 in the top of the fourth: After Nepomuceno reached on an error leading off (and breaking his brand-new wood bat in the process), he stole second before reaching third and then scoring on two consecutive wild pitches. For some reason, while trying to score from third, Carlos decided not to slide, despite the close nature of the play. At first I thought it was because he didn't want to get his pants dirty, but since he'd already gotten them dirty stealing second, there had to have been another explanation (I still don't know what it was though). Unfortunately for the Barracudas, Nepomuceno arrived at the plate at the same time as von Burg, who was covering the throw. In the subsequent collision, the runner's knee soundly defeated the pitcher's arm, which was extended out for the tag. Despite suffering a dislocated shoulder, von Burg was able to continue after a teammate popped the shoulder back into place (gross!!).

It was 3-1 Challengers going into the bottom of the 4th, when starter Kovac, who had been cruising, ran into a bit of trouble. After a lead-off walk and a stolen base, Kovac struck out the next batter, but the ball got away from catcher Nick Lehmann, and the runner was able to advance to third (the batter was thrown out at first). The next batter singled - driving in a run - stole second, and then took third on a ground out. That brought up the top of the order - and a pinch hitter for von Burg. That batter singled as well, tying the score, but was then picked off by Kovac to end the inning.

In the ultimate instance of a pitcher helping out his own cause, Kovac took matters into his own hands to put the Challengers back in front, smashing a double to left, and then scoring on a throwing error by the shortstop. Gordon followed with a walk and a steal, and after a single and steal by Renzo Falcone, the Challengers had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Consecutive RBI ground-outs by Nepomuceno and Bernet scored Gordon and Falcone respectively, and made it 6-3 Challengers.

For the sake of completeness I thought I'd mention that the umpiring crew for this game consisted of the same two gentlemen who umpired the previous week's game, and, as had occurred in that first game, the duo were subject to a bit of verbal abuse as a result of some head-scratching calls (although there were no ejections this time). With two outs in the bottom of the 5th, the Barracuda batter reached on an error, and then attempted to steal second. From my vantage point in center, I can tell you that he appeared to be out by a good foot or so. Apparently the umpire's vantage point led him to a different conclusion, because he called the runner safe. On the next pitch, the runner attempted to steal third. From my vantage point in center, it sure seemed to me that he was safe by a fairly wide margin. Once again, the umpire had a different opinion, calling the runner out, much to the dismay of the Barracuda's third-base coach, who offered the not-so-convincing argument of Oh my god, he was SO safe!!! (which was true, but he was also so out at second...so it kind've evened out I'd say).

The Challengers broke the game open in the top of the 6th, taking advantage of erratic pitching and sloppy fielding by their opponents. After Lehmann and Gregg Zingg reached on consecutive singles,the runners advanced on a passed ball. Then high comedy ensued: With Danny Strolz batting, and the count 2-1, the pitcher unleashed a wild pitch that went all the way to the backstop. For some reason, perhaps due to chronically sore knees, Lehmann didn't move from third. Strolz, however, perhaps thinking that the shouts of go go!! were intended for him rather than Lehmann, took off towards first at full speed. The only problem was that the pitch was ball 3, which meant that he was not actually allowed to run to first, and had to go back to the batter's box to continue his at bat. You can't make this stuff up.

Subsequently, Strolz reached on an infield single, which scored Lehmann - who arrived with a dramatic, knees-first belly flop (we seriously need to practice sliding as a team) - and sent Zingg to third. After Strolz was thrown out trying to steal second (primarily because he didn't attempt to slide - I cannot tell you why not), Kovac walked and stole second, bringing Gordon to the plate.

After three straight balls, I watched a pitch sail a good foot and a half outside the strike zone for an apparent ball four. As I tossed my bat aside, and headed towards first, I heard the umpire say strike. I stopped at stared at him in stunned disbelief, before picking up the bat and heading back into the box. Of course, the next pitch drilled me in the back, just a few inches away from where I'd gotten plunked the last game. Of course it did.

After Zingg scored and the other runners advanced on a passed ball, Falcone walked to load the bases. A single by Nepomuceno scored Kovac and Gordon, and Falcone scored two pitches later on a passed ball. Finally, Nepomuceno also scored -- but to be honest I'm not sure how. All I know is that I heard someone shouting and Carlos was crossing the plate. According to the scorer there was an E-3 involved, but I didn't see what happened. In any event, when the dust had cleared, it was 12-3 Challengers, and the game was, for all intents and purposes, over. The Barracudas tacked on 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th, but that only served to make the game look slightly closer than it really was.

The Challengers still have room for improvement, particularly in terms of defensive communication and the basic concept of sliding generally, but the team was quite happy with the sweep.

by Alex Gordon