Winter can be a hard time for baseball fans and those who enjoy playing recreational slo-pitch. It is a long dark period with very little light. But winter, followed by a season lost to covid, followed by another winter, followed by a delayed start to the season, well, that’s like the Winter from Game of Thrones. Except without the Night’s Watch, dragons, and a plucky female assassin to help you ward off the White Walkers.
661 days after their last playoff game
(thanks Joey for doing the math), Storm finally took to the field. There was
bound to be some rust after such a long layoff, and it certainly showed up
throughout the evening.
Game 1
In the top of the first, Kevin was in a
very generous mood, and when a high fly ball was hit to him, he volleyed it over
the fence for a four-base award to the A’s. Storm didn’t let it get them down
as they responded with four straight singles to start their first at bats of
the season. Al knocked in two on a double and the Storm ended the first up 3-2.
Mike started the second with Storm’s first
strikeout of the season, but Jeff hit a two out triple and was cashed in by Bob
as Storm was able to add another run to their lead.
Craig led off the third with a solo home
run (with Duran out of the lineup, solo shots were free for the taking!). Storm
held onto a 5-4 lead after three.
The A’s put up four runs in the top of the
fourth. That was also the inning where Storm forgot they were playing slo-pitch
and started hitting like they were up against Jacob deGrom. Storm put up zeroes
in the fourth through sixth innings, going down in order in the fourth and
fifth. Managing just two baserunners in three innings is not how you win in
slo-pitch.
Jeff pitched a scoreless fifth, but then
seemed to forget it was a game, and treated the sixth more like batting
practice as the A’s notched six runs. The
inning only ended because of a home run out.
The A’s had a big lead in the seventh, but Storm remembered how to hit, and started chipping away at the lead, until the A’s called in a time limit rule with two outs. It was a frustrating end to the game, but it saved Brad the indignity of being the third out and going 0 for 4, so there’s that.
|
Boxscore |
||||||||
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
Total |
|
A’s |
2 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
15 |
|
Storm |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
9 |
Game 2
Storm was looking for revenge and to get
back at the A’s in game 2, but, things didn’t quite work out. Storm was blanked
in five out of seven innings in slo-pitch. It really must have been Jacob
deGrom hurling for the A’s, especially in the sixth inning when Lance and Kevin
struck out. Storm only managed runs in the third and fourth innings, where Storm
managed the maximum six, leaning heavily on Craig’s three run homeruns in each
inning.
There was plenty of rust on both sides of
the ball for the opener for Storm, but there are plenty of games ahead, and it
was great being out playing ball again.
Interesting note: The last time Storm lost
a season opener was 2013. The last time Storm lost the first two games of the
season was… sometime before 2008, but the team’s google calendar with results
only goes back to 2008, and I don’t get paid enough to find the season records
before then.
|
Boxscore |
||||||||
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
Total |
|
Storm |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
12 |
|
A’s |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
21 |
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