THE HIGHS AND LOWS IN A SEASON. 

Game # 20

August 10th, 2022

Hurtin' Units vs. The Dogcatchers

Hurtin' Units win 6-5

Team Record 12-5-2

Coventry Park- Holy Crap! I can't believe we are already playing game number 19, the season is just flying bye. So this game was the 19th on the season. The Hurtin' Units played the Dogcatchers, for the first time, back on June 15th, 2022 and came away with a very powerful performance. That night we had our highest scoring game of the season defeating the Dogcatchers by a score of 32-13.The Hurtin' Units record at that time was 7-1-0 and we lead the league in plus minus. This game against those same Dogcatchers was the lowest scoring game of the season. It just goes to show that in this league, teams can win or lose on any given night and that parity really does exist. 

Our rating system does a great job at creating parity in this league. This season is a bit of an anomaly because of the number of new players ( approximately 40 new players) and where they might actually fit in the ratings. Next season will sort out any powerful players and rate them properly. 

I have mentioned it on several occasions recently how much parity there really is this season. If you take the Rebels out of the equation, the next 7 or 8 teams are very close to each other and the battle and challenge is really for the second place finish. The Rebels are probably going to win the season, and mathematically there are still teams that could catch them, but with a 10 point lead it's only a matter of time until they clinch. The battle for second place or third place is the one to watch. 

The weather for our game with the Dogcatchers was warm ( not hot like over the last weekend) around 23 degrees and a sun/ cloud mix, probably more cloud than sun, but still a good night for baseball. 

At game time we had 10 players dressed and ready to play. We were missing Jon, Fernando and Pete for this game. We picked up Joe Lovegrove as a sub on the night. Peter was at the game, but was nursing a hip flexor and did not play. 

The Hurtin' Units were the home team, this game was played on Coventry # 1 at 7:00pm and Bev Steeves was the scorekeeper. 

In the first inning, the Dogcatcher's lead off batter got on with a single, but that was all, the next 3 batters went down 1,2,3. In the bottom of the inning, Marc would get a lead of triple Jerry and Brad would get out, Chilly would hit a single to score Marc, Stef would fly out and first inning was over. 

In the second inning, the first 2 batters for the Dogcatchers would fly out, Justin would hit a triple, Lumpy would score Justin with a double, Cliff would ground out to end the top. In the bottom of 2, Darrell would single, Jimmer would fly out, Russell would hit in to a double play and that was it " change em up boys". 

In the top of the third inning, the Dogcatchers would send Cliff (sub) up to start, Cliff would ground out, Jamie would fly out and Kevin would fly out, 1,2, 3. In the bottom, Rico would fly out, Joe L. (sub) would fly out, Marc would hit a single, followed by Popeye with another single, Brad would crank out another single scoring Marc and advancing Jerry to 3rd, Chilly would fly out and "Let's go to the forth inning". 

In the top of the forth, the Dogcatchers went down quickly (3 pitches, 3 outs), Cal would fly out, Allen would ground out, and Randy would fly out. In the bottom, the Units would go down almost as quickly as the Dogcatcher, more pitches, but same amount of batters. Stef would lead off with a single, Darrell would hit in to a double play and Jimmer would fly out again. " Cruising right along boys". 

In the top of the fifth inning, Charlie would lead off and grounded out, Justin would hit a single, Lumpy would fly out, and Larry would hit in to a fielder's choice getting Justin out at second. In the bottom of the inning, Russell would fly out (really good contact), Rico would ground out, Joe (sub) would hit a single, Marc would hit a triple and bring in another run, Jerry would fly out and "Here we go to the sixth inning" in 35 minutes of play, 7:35pm on my watch and 5 innings in the books. 

In the top of the sixth inning, Cliff (sub) lead off with a single, Jamie would hit a single getting Cliff out at second base, Kevin would also hit a single, Cal would ground out for the second out of the inning, Allen would hit a single bringing in Jamie, Randy would hit a single bringing in Kevin, Charlie would sneak a single in scoring Allen and Justin would also hit a single scoring Randy (the Dogcatchers would hit 8 singles in the inning), Lumpy would ground out to end the rally. Dogcatchers would score 4 big runs in the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Brad would single, Chilly would fly out, Stef would single, Darrell would fly out, and Jimmer would fly out again. CRAP!!! After 6 complete innings, the score was Dogcatchers 5, Hurtin' Units 3. 

In the top of the seventh inning, Larry was leadoff, Larry would ground out, Cliff would hit a single, Jamie would fly out, Kevin would get a single, Cal would strike out to end the top of the inning. 

Going in to the bottom of the 7th inning the Units were down by 2 runs, Russell was the lead off and ground out, Rico would also ground out, Joe (sub) would hit a single, followed by a double by Marc to score Joe, Jerry would also double scoring Marc to tie the game, Jerry was at second, Brad would hit a single scoring Jerry from second base and the Hurtin' Units would have a come from behind victory. 

Winning this game was a high, the score was low, the game was quick (under an hour) and the win was the 12th for the Units this season. 

My thanks to Bev who scored this game. I don't usually go hit by hit or out by out in these posts, but the score was so low and Bev does such a great job scoring a game that I just felt like going through it all. Check out how complete this scoresheet is. Amazing job Bev!!