Storm sneaks by Hanet

Things started well for Storm. The 1^st inning was solid on both sides of the ball. Mike pitched a three-up, three-down inning to get the game started, and Storm bats started swinging early. Jeff led off with a single, followed by a Duran double, a Joey single, a double from Craig, and then Lance launched a three-run homer over the left field fence. On the pitch before his home run, he hit a sharp line drive down the 3^rd base line nearly taking out Joey and Dave, and for some reason he apologized to Duran, who was sitting safely on the bench.

Storm didn’t stop in the 2^nd. Hanet managed to get one run in the top of the 2^nd, but some good defense stranded a couple of runners. Storm kept swinging the bats well in the 2^nd. Joey hit a massive three-run home run. Of course, that meant Storm was +2 in home runs when Craig came up. Craig struggles with batting when Storm is +2. He his swing looked more like a volleyball volley. He popped it straight up in the air and, thankfully, the catcher dropped it allowing Craig to make it to first (after spinning around confusedly in the batter’s box for a while). Lance drove him in on a triple and a few hits later Storm had scored another 6 runs to take an 11-1 lead.

You’d think for a team as strong as Storm they would be able to finish the game off easily at this point, but no, they decided they’d make things interesting. In the top of the 3^rd, Hanet got some offensive life scoring three runs. Storm decided they didn’t need to score any more runs, and didn’t in the bottom of the 3^rd. When Hanet picked up two more runs in the top of the 4^th to bring the score to 11-6, Storm thought, hey, maybe we should keep hitting. Duran got a little over anxious and led off with a solo home run that bounced off the top of the fence. Of course, this meant Storm was +2 again with Craig coming to bat. This time, instead of hitting it straight up into the air, he hit it straight down into the ground. The effect was far better, as it turned into a hard ground ball single. The result was the same, as Craig was on 1^st base. Storm would score two more runs, and the inning would come to an end as Brad thought he was Duran and tried to score from first on Kenny’s double against Hanet’s strong outfield arms. He was gunned down at the plate.

Storm seemed to have things settle down a little bit as they kept Hanet scoreless in the top of the 5^th. Storm had an opportunity to put the game away after shutting Hanet out. Instead, they scored nothing and let Hanet hang around a little longer. This was nearly disastrous, as Hanet remembered that it’s fun hitting, and in the top of the 6^th did a ton of it. They scored six runs including 2 home runs (one solo shot) that brought the game to within two runs. The home runs did allow Storm some more home runs, so when Craig batted, he didn’t have to worry, and he launched a massive (solo) home run over the left-field fence. Bob, Brad, Kenny, and Mike put together consecutive singles to add three more runs, and it looked like Storm had it all sealed up.

Looks can be deceiving, however, as Hanet still had plenty more hitting to do. With the top of their order up they delivered gapper after gapper and were able to put up six runs to tie the game. Storm had last at bats, and needed only one run to win. Dave led off by grounding out, but that still meant that Storm had the top of the order coming up, with only one out and needing only one run to win. Hanet had also generously given Storm home runs back, and any one of the next six batters could have ended it with one swing. But why do things the easy way? Or the glorious way? Storm decided to go at it the hard way.

Jeff singled between 3^rd and short. Duran, who had previously and effortlessly hit a solo home run, hit a single up the middle moving Jeff, the winning run to 2^nd. Joey, who frequently hits towering fly ball home runs to every part of the park, hit a ground ball to 3^rd base. That’s right, with runners on 1^st and 2^nd, he hit the ball to 3^rd. Thankfully he hit it hard, and it bounced off the 3^rd baseman allowing everyone to make it safely.

Then came Craig. Craig, who sneezes and the ball goes out of the park. He had already hit a towering home run in the game, and didn’t need to worry about hitting a home run out. With visions of a walk-off grand slam in his head he stepped up to the plate, and nearly jumped out of his socks to hit a towering fly ball to the …catcher. The catcher dropped it and the ball was called foul. Craig had a second shot! What did he do with it? He hit a towering fly ball to… 2^nd base. Infield fly. Two out.

Lance, had also hit a home run earlier in the game. He was now batting with two outs and the bases loaded. Having already hit a glorious walk-off home run this season, the bench was primed for the walk-off grand slam. But no. Lance decided that Joey was his idol, and if Joey wasn’t going to hit a walk-off homer, neither was he. If a hard ground ball to 3^rd with the game on the line was good enough for Joey, then it was good enough for Lance. And that’s what he hit. A hard ground ball to 3^rd. And it was good enough. The ball got through and Storm won by one.

What a finish!

Fun facts:

In the second inning, before Dave had even reached first base, the umpire, without waiting for Storm, called first courtesy on first.

Cycle Watch:

Duran and Craig were both triples short of the cycle.

Lance, who is clearly much faster than Duran and Craig, got the triple, but missed the double.

Brian missed the single, double, triple and home run.

HR's: Lance, Duran, Joey, Craig

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Hanet	0	1	3	2	0	6	6	18
Storm	5	6	0	3	0	4	1	19