The Storm is A1 vs HP

DISCLAIMER: Make it known that the Writer of this most thorough and in depth game recap is in no way affiliated, officially attached or connected in anyway to that most vile of human, the forgetter of  post game beer, the non-bringer of the amber nectar, Brad “ He Who Shall Not be Named” MacDougall.

Your biggest athletic supporter,
S. Jockovitch

Scoops Jockovitch here, stepping in for our intrepid recap writer who is either, on a family “vacation” or a legally enforced 14 day program. I leave it to you dear reader to decide.

Our beloved human orange pylons aka "The Storm" returned to the diamond after a duo of well deserved and immaculately played forfeit victories. Which in the end left a feeling similar to that of my honeymoon…full of despair and unfailing regret.

Across the diamond stood their mighty adversaries. Some know them as Team Cats in the Cradle ( so many fathers and sons) to others they are the Plastics from Mean girls ( a cinematic gem if ever there was one!) to us they are the sauciest of squads 

Team HP! 

Coincidentally, the games between HP and the Storm remind me of my first year of marriage…mostly friendly but peppered with bitterness and complaining and more than one ball mishandled. More on that later…

Duran “ El Cholo” Spray showed the patience of…a really patient guy... when he lead off the game with the every exciting walk. To follow Lance played tic tac toe but only with an X while Craig seemed to really enjoy his SAC.  Joey and Bob populated the pond for Rene who set his PVR to record his impersonation of the Exxon Valdez as he cleared the pond of ducks.

In the bottom of the inning the well seasoned HP poured out 3 straight outs which the Storm admired so much that they repeated the recipe to a T in the top half of the second.

It's at this point faithful fan, that this intrepid inscriber lay witness to something so rare, so unbelievable that it equals the experience to those brave souls who have seen such mythical beasts as the Loch Ness Monster or  the mysterious Sasquatch or even the most rarest of rare, the intelligent Trump supporter.

Joey “Presidential Bounce” Pilkey committed not 1, not 2 but 3 fielding errors in the same inning! This reporter can safely say that he has not seen this much poor ball handling since his aforementioned Honeymoon.

The Plastics molded 4 runs that inning to tie the game!

It was with an “Ation” of some kind that seemed to get the Storm rolling. Be it Inspir, Desper or perhaps it was even Persper?  Because in the top of the the third the Outlook was Good as Team Tangerine scored a magic 8 ball of runs. Highlighted by a “Lancer Beam” of a 3 run tater!

Not to be outdone, but obviously not having read the rules ( more like guidelines) on how to beat the Storm, Team Cat Stevens ( Fathers and Sons) shot 2 solo birds over the fence while somehow according to the scoresheet scored thrice!

In the 4th those fine weather challenged boys went down quietly except for what most are considering young Joseph Pilkey's fourth error of the day…a solo home run.

For their half of the inning the favourite condiment of the UK plated 3 to draw ever closer. This inning highlighted by Craig “ Trebuchet” Procknows  awesome impression of a medieval weapon of war ( google it, I dare you!)

Off to the 5th and it may be the Storms favourite number of fingers as they scored a handful. Kenny "The Kanoe” Bodnar came thru once again with his second solid single after “Blacklist” MacDougall failed to get on base and then Air Jamaica took another 3 run flight over da wall mon.

Team Harry Chapin scored a single heading to the top of the penultimate inning with the Storm up 19-11

Everyone but Craig, Bob and Rene (They didn’t get up) and Joey (an OUT! ) felt like hitting, as composite struck glowing yellow leather 9 straight times. Including 2 doubles (Air Jamaica and the Excelerator) and a triple by the guy who must hate old people and puppies because he forgot the team beer!

Not to be left behind the intrepid multi-generationals scored 3 in response.

With time becoming a factor going into the final frame the score stood at 25-14 in favour of the Orange Party.

Time was tight, the clock was ticking, calendar pages were flipping ( there was a breeze). All the Storm had to do was have a runner or two on base and time would expire. And according to plan the 3,4,5 hitters decided that it was a silly plan and went down in order.

This sliver of light, this ray of hope was like a small triangular blue pill ( that I’ve heard of from a friend) to Hanet! Score and score fast!

Speed was the theme for the bottom of the 7th for everyone except those with a really long pre-batting ritual ( no virgin goats were harmed, that we know of)

Ump called time and the score reverted.

A hard fought, slightly chirped game for both squads.

On we go into August..WTF happened to July!

Scoop Jokovitch esq.

Highlites:

Iron Arm Tyl bent batters to his Iron will and went 3-4

Al “ Briefs or Boxers” Stansfield closed the game with his usual style

Joey had 3 errors, yes its a low light for him , but for the rest of us :)

Low lights:

Did we mention that #7 forgot to bring beer, not sure we mentioned it enough.

#7 forgot the beer!!!!

HR's: Rene, Joey, Lance (2)
HR Outs: None

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	4	0	9	1	5	6	x	25
Hanet	0	4	3	3	1	3	x	14

IG Wealth Forfeit, Victory for the Storm

Another forfeit Win.

Brew Crew can not field a team

Brew Crew could not get enough guys out to play the Storm on Wednesday night, so it's another win for the Storm, all be it of the cheap variety.

Falcons fly through Storm

In true pool party game fashion, the Falcons- Storm game was finished in just over an hour as Storm was itching to get to Dave’s. Usually Storm accomplishes this through solid defense, which was present in the game, but today they also sped up the game by completely forgetting how to hit.

In the first inning, Storm managed only two hits and one run. This comes a game after the team sent 14 batters to the plate scoring 11 runs in the first inning (last game’s first inning run total was more than this game’s total run total). The Falcons plated three in the top of the 1^st to take the lead.

In the top of the 2^nd, it looked like Storm was going to return to form. They managed three runs to take the lead, but after two innings, had still not batted through the order. The 3^rd and 4^th inning were putrid. Storm managed only one run total in the two innings, on three total hits. The Falcons put up five runs over the same frames and led 8-5 going into the 5^th.

In the 5^th Storm remembered that it was slo-pitch, not major league baseball, and decided to hit. They managed seven hits (they only had seven hits in the first four innings combined) and five runs (again matching their game total so far). In this inning, Jeff kept his consecutive game hit streak alive, and Duran kept his team leading reached base streak alive at 172 games. At this point Storm had the lead again and was looking like itself. But the temptation of the pool, burgers, and pulled pork proved to be too much. Storm scored nothing in the 6^th, thinking their defense could take care of it, but the Falcons scored three in the bottom of the inning (including the game’s first home run). Storm then clearly decided they were hot and hungry and completely rolled over going down in order to end the game.

Offensive Highlights:

Joey hit in his team leading 160^th game. Duran managed to keep his team leading reached base streak going at 172. But other than that, not much.

Defensive Highlights:

Lance made a really nice catch coming out of nowhere, overrunning the ball, reaching behind him and making the catch.

Greg made a beautiful running catch ending in another one of his custom rolls.

Notable Boxscores:

None. The offense sucked. But to fill some space:

Kenny – 2/3, 2 runs

Brian – 2/3, 2 RBI

Duran - 3 RBI

(Not so) Fun Fact:

Jeff got his first regular season strikeout since 2011. He then argued that keeping his two-year-old from drowning in the pool was a good enough reason not to have to barbecue. Thankfully Craig had to fulfill his rookie duties to barbecue anyway.

HR's: None
HR Out's: None

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	1	3	0	1	5	0	0	10
Falcons	3	0	3	2	1	3	x	12

Storm starts strong…coasts to finish

Storm started strong. They scored eleven runs in the first inning, batting through the entire 13 man batting order and ending at the top. 10 hits were recorded, including Joey’s massive two-run blast that he raced home from the cottage for. Jeff was the first and third out of the inning, the first when he was tagged out on a play at 3^rd (it was a force out, but the third basemen elected to tag him).

Storm still hit in the 2^nd, putting up four more runs. Joey hit in the 3^rd, knocking out his 2^nd two-run blast of the game. For the rest of the game, Storm did not do much. 1^st inning Storm 11- Greenthumb 0. Rest of game: Storm 9-Greenthumb 7.

The game was called in the top of the 7^th. This was unfortunate for Bob, who had just hit a home run. That home run marked the first time he was positive in the home run to home run out ratio. But the lightning came and it was just another home run that didn’t count. And for the record, Craig hit another home run out. And Duran hit a solo home run.

Notable Boxscores:

Greg – 3/3, 3 runs, 2 RBI

Kevin – 3/3, 3 RBI

Joey – 2/3, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 runs

Duran – 2/3, HR, 2 runs

Kenny – 2/3, 3 RBI, 2 runs

Mike – 2/3, 2 runs, RBI, strikeout!

Craig – 2/3, 2 runs, RBI, Home Run Out!

HR's: Duran, Joey (2)

HR Out's: Craig

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	11	4	3	0	0	2	x	21
Greenthumb	0	3	0	2	1	1	x	7

So close to Slopitch shutout

Storm was so close to the rare slo-pitch shutout. There was a zero on Coulas’s scoresheet right until two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Then, a double split Lance and Kenny and a solid single scored Coulas’s only run.

It was truly a team effort defensively. There were no errors. Every single Storm defender made a play. Mike and Al were painting the corners and throwing wonky curves and knuckleballs that kept Coulas from solid contact.

Offensively, Bob was the leader. He hit two three-run home runs. He has now pulled even in the home run to home run out margin. Unfortunately, Duran was not so lucky as he launched yet another home run out. He’s about -40 now 😉

The team hit well top to bottom with really big 2^nd and 7^th innings.

Notable Boxscores:

Bob – 4/4, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 4 runs

Lance – 3/4, 4 runs, RBI

Joey – 2/2, 3 runs, 3 RBI

Al – 3/4, 3 runs, 4 RBI

HR's: Bob (2)

HR Outs: Duran

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	4	7	0	4	0	0	8	23
Coulas	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1

Storm rains down runs on Rebels

The opener strategy worked so well against the A’s that Storm tried it again against the Rebels. It was less effective this time, as the Rebels scored five in the first and didn’t hit any solo home runs or home run outs. Storm was only able to respond with three runs. The Rebels ran out of steam after the fist, however, and they were unable to score another in the 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th innings. This was helped out by some solid defense, including a catch on a hard line drive at 3^rd by Rene, and a nice 3^rd to 1^st double-play. Storm did not have trouble scoring runs in those innings. They scored four in the 2^nd which included the first of Lance’s two three-run home runs in the game. In the 3^rd Storm scored 13 runs including Lance’s second three run home run of the day and a home run by Joey.

In the 4^th and 5^th Storm tried to slow things down as they went base to base, and Lance, who had hit two home runs earlier, switched and batted from the left side. This led to less than favorable results with an awkward strikeout that included an awkward foul ball, a swing and a miss, and a ball that hit the front of the mat."thanks to an illegal pitch that wasn't called"

Storm scored seven more in the 5^th while going base to base.

Notable Boxscores:

Lance – 3/5, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 runs, strikeout. Notable for both the good and the bad!

Rene – 4/4, triple, double, 2 runs, RBI

Joey – 3/3, HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs

Bob – 4/4, 2 doubles, 2 runs

Al – 4/4, 3 RBI, 3 runs

Greg – 4/4, 2 runs, RBI

Jeff – 4/5, 2 runs, 2 RBI

Kevin – 3/4, double, 3 runs, RBI             

Mike – 3/4, 2 runs, RBI

HR's: Joey, Lance (2)

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Rebels	5	0	0	0	0	3	x	8
Storm	3	4	13	0	7	x	x	27