UNITS SMOKIN' BATS BEAT THE BATSTERS.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE INGLORIOUS BATSTERS.

Game #2 - May 17th, 2017

Hurtin' Units win 27-17

Team Record - 1-1-0

Keogh Park- This was a high scoring night, the game before ours ended in a 23-23 tie. Our game ended in a 20-17 win. A total of 90 runs for the 2 games combined. 

The weather for this game was hot, during the day of the temperature reached 29 degrees, an usually warm day for May. There was a slight breeze and the sun was shining in the eyes of the right side of the field. 

At game time, the Units had 10 players dressed in green, (actually, only 9 were dressed in green, Keith had not received his shirt yet), but 10 players were ready to play. Absent from this game were Darren (Lefty)and Dave (Stormsy). We were the visitors for this 8:15 start. I looked at the schedule, and I think we were visitors for the next a total of 4 games before we have a home game. How nice would it be to win some of these games before we head home in front of our home crowd? 

This game we got off to a good start, scoring 4 runs in the top of the first inning. But are spirits were quickly this squashed when the Batsters scored 7 runs in the bottom of the inning. I the top of the second inning, the Units went down quickly, only sending 4 batters to the plate. In the bottom of the second inning, the Batsters scored another 5 runs. At the end of 2 complete innings, the Units were down by a score of 12-4.

In the middle innings 3 to 5, the Units bats started to warm up, scoring 8 more runs. The middle innings also saw the units defense in start to tighten up, making some sound defensive plays. The Batsters only scored twice. The score of the end of 5 complete innings was 14-12 for the Inglorious Batsters.

In the 6th inning, the Hurtin' Units bats got even hotter, the Units would score 7 runs in the top of the inning. In the bottom, the Units defensive would, once again, shut down the high powered offensive of the Batsters. 

Going to the seventh inning(open inning), the Units now had a five run lead and in the top of the inning, the sizzling hot bats would continue to score more runs. When the diamond dust settled the Units would have put up 8 more runs on the board. In the bottom of the 7th inning the Batsters would push back a bit, scoring 3 more runs, but would fall short. The Hurtin' Units win by a score of 27-17. 

Considering how this game began, and how down we looked after the first 2 innings, I think this was a great confidence and character building win. Nice job Units!!!

Game highlights. 

• Steve Brooks hit a home run over the right field fence
• Dion B. playing, and playing well, after dislocating his finger the night before in the Units loss to the Dusty Cleats. 
• Steve W. and Keith D. both went 6/6 in batting; Steve scored 5 runs on the night. All the Hurtin' Units batters had great nights at the plate. 
• Units came back from a 8 run deficit, to win first game of the season.
• Brett, Bob and Pete all made some great defensive catches and overall the Units defense was really good for only the second game of the season. 

The Next Hurtin' Units game is Tuesday May 23nd at Coventry Park at 7:00pm.😀

UNITS GET DUSTED BY CLEATS.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE DUSTY CLEATS.  

Game # 1 - May 16th, 2017

Hurtin' Units lose 10-3

Team Record - 0-1-0

Coventry Park- The start of the blogging season has begun for me and this season I told myself I was going to scale it back a bit, hopefully I can manage to do it. I think I can get my point across with pictures of game sheets and boxscores. I will probably throw in the odd highlight, but no more long winded, babbling blogs. This post is/was giving me a difficult time; I could not change the font colour, and I could not get all the same size font...very frustrating at times. 

The weather for this game was a bit cool, only around 12 degrees at game time, overcast skies and, at times, there were strong wind gusts.

At game time we had 11 Hurtin' Units players dressed in Kelly green (new shirt colour this season), the only missing player, on opening night, was Keith D. 

We did have 2 hobbled players for this game, one before, one during. Dave (Stormsy) had a bout of gout and Dion would dislocate his finger while batting during the game. 

The season was slated to begin on May 1st, but mother nature had different plans. In week one, the rain came down all week canceling every game and the Town put a hold the league using the diamonds until things dried up. The diamonds were so saturated that the Town would not release the diamonds until the Thursday of week # 2. 

The bottom line is the season finally got under way and the Hurtin' Units had a layer of rust on opening night. The defense looked decent for a bunch of guys who had never played together, but the offense was the part of our game that seemed to have the issues. 

The Units defense made some good plays, but we had a couple of moments where we threw the ball away. The offense was not hitting well and the Units left numerous base runners on the bags. The game was close and the Units never gave up more than a 2 runs in an inning. If you look at the score sheet, the Cleats scored 2 runs in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th for a total of 10 runs.

I went back and looked up how the Hurtin' Units have done since they came in to the league. We have won more than we have lost, but the last 2 opening day games have started to even it out. This game is the second straight game we have lost on opening day. 

Season Opener	Result	Team
May 16, 2017	10-3 Loss	Dusty Cleats
May 4, 2016	5-4 Loss	Grisslies
May 5, 2015	13-10 Win	Hottub Woodies
May 8,2014	10-8 Loss	Blues Brothers
May 8, 2013	16-11 Win	Draft Kings
May 2, 2012	5-5 Tie	Dog Catchers
May 10, 2011	16-11 Win	Dodge City Rounders
May 6, 2010	14-19 Win	Red Dogs

Last season we lost on opening night, but we still went on to have a better than .500 season. We also finished in 5th place, won the HTKP tournament, won the Beer Cup and went 4-0 in the round robin portion of the 2016 playoffs. We did however lose to the 2016 champions in the quarter finals in the playoffs. So, when it comes down to this opening night, it can probably be chalked up to opening night jitters.  

The Hurtin' Units next game is Wednesday May 17th at Keogh Park vs. the Inglorious Batsters. 😞