Good day Sports Fans! Scoops Jockovitch here, award-winning sports journalist!
We could break down the weekend into a Peter Jackson kind of approach bit I say forget that, lets Francis Ford Coppola a Director’s cut here and go all games in one 1 recap!!
Buckle in my dear Readers!
To quote our elemental friends Earth, Wind and Fire
Do you remember
The 21st day of September?
Love was changin' the minds of pretenders
While chasin' the day away!
This past weekend saw the mighty combatants of the WMSPL take to the fields and drink in the parking lots of an elementary school! Or High School? Does it really matter? Also, some Slo-Pitch took place as the season ending tourney roared into life!
Your boys and yellow having finished third in the season were lucky enough not to play Friday however an early start to Saturday was their curse. We won't talk much about this Saturday, needless to say it did not end up as the Storm usually flow through the morning cartoons however with a loss to Broadway that meant the boys would have to face a tough uphill task come the day of our Lord Vader. On Sunday they would be facing three tough games with not a home game in sight.
SUNDAY 9:00 am – Facing those odd numbered neutrons the Isotopes, our Storm started the opposite of Saturday and were both picky and choosy leading to three consecutive walks and then turned them all into runs, though the starting pitcher Dug himself into a bit of a hole, a pitching change stifled what looked to be a sure mercy inning. Storm still scored four. The Tangerine Dream still couldn’t seem to shake the hitting doldrums from Saturday as they were only able to tally three runs total in the next two innings, and the Isotopes had a big bottom of the third and took the lead 8-7.
Like Pink Floyd the Storm were up against the wall and could have folded, but after the first two batters got out, Storm rallied for four in the fourth and kept the Isotopes off the scoresheet. Then in the fifth, the clouds (metaphorically speaking) rolled, and a Storm ensued! Taking advantage of the open inning and our boys batted through the order and then some, scoring 12 runs in the inning and opening up a commanding lead. The Isotopes managed to get three back in the fifth, but were neutralised in the sixth and seventh, and the mostly Blue boys (with a highlighting orange) won 25-11. Setting up a date with the #1 team of the season.
SUNDAY APPROX 13:30
As you know dear reader, we do enjoy our nicknames here in the Stormwatch. Well, it seems that at the beginning of the tournament, Broadside said that BP would have a new nickname by the end of the tournament. He probably never guessed it would be “squirrel” or “Blind squirrel”, but that’s exactly what happened.
Storm got off to a decent start thanks to the Rainbow Unicorn who used his positive energy to launch a two-run home run to give our lads a quick two run lead. Defence and pitching (as it had all weekend worked like OJ Simpson (hand in glove) (a double parentheses?) No wait a triple! Damn!
Anyways, Storm blanked The Crew in the first inning. Storm found some thunder in their bats in the second inning, scoring a max six on a sequence of singles and a double from Mills. The Crew was like me with wife #4 and shot blanks in the second.
The offensive downpour continued with added another run in the third, but the Crew (just like a 13 year old me and that mid-fifties circus performer) busted their scoring cherry scoring their first run. The fourth started off with a bang when Mr Gamgee launched a solo home run. (because One rings rules them all of course!) The Storm kept the hit train going with a bunch of singles and a signature Big D triple and Rainbow Unicorn double to add four to the score. The lads were up 13-1 going into the bottom of the 4th. It was in this half inning that a new nickname was to be squeezed out of the moniker birth canal. BP started to struggle to find the board and one of The Crew’s players decided to start chirping him from the bases. When a pitch finally did hit the board, he referred to BP as a “blind squirrel finding a nut.” Well that blind squirrel found a few more MF’n nuts, and the inning ended with The Crew scoring two runs. So how do you like those NUTS crew boy!!
I apologize my homerism is showing.
Yet I digress
Storm seemed to rally behind their new Squirrel with Bollocks # 1 fan changing decades of referring to pitchers as “kid” and started referring to BP as “Squirrel” when he handed him the ball before each inning pitched.
Storm didn’t score any in the fifth and The Crew launched a two-run home run, and the game was 13-5. The Hobbit launched his second solo home run of the game to increase the lead to 14-5. The Crew was unable to muster more than a single in the sixth.
The seventh saw the Storm gather all the Brew Crews nuts for the winter. They battled through the order one and a half times and scored 12 runs in the inning (more than they had scored in a couple of games on Saturday). The Crew went down in order in the final inning
The Storm and their favorite Squirrel kept the #1 team in the league to 5 runs…I wonder if the Crew have a song for that?
SUNDAY September 21 approx 15:00
A Forewarning to you dear readers all Theatrical metaphors have been provided by our excellent co-host and Storm commentator Chip Binkley.
Many thought it couldn’t happen others that it shouldn’t happen and yet our Storm got the encore performance they wanted against Broadway, and they didn’t miss a beat.
The defense was choreographed perfectly with a number of excellent catches in the outfield and the infield was solid. The lineup was full of bangers as the team produced a number of hits.
Big D and the Rainbow Unicorn each doubled, and Storm scored one in the opening act of the game. Broadway was able to double Storm’s output and took a 2-1 lead after one inning. Storm and Broadway each sang a chorus of Os in the second and the game remained 2-1.
Both teams found their voices in the third and the hits started to turn into runs. Magnus’s Dad launched a home run and The Doctor nearly took out a child on the playground as he launched his home run so far it is said that folks heard a flight attendant ask if anyone wanted Fish or chicken on the flight. Storm briefly took a 6-2 lead. But Broadway wasn’t about to throw in the towel. Ryan started with a single and Brad took a walk, which led to a 3-run homer by Tyler. A few hits later and Broadway had regained the lead 7-6.
Mr. Baseball knocked a big double in the fourth that helped propel Storm to a five-run inning capped by Magnus’s Father 2nd home run of the game. Storm took the lead 11-7 and kept Broadway off the scoresheet. Storm added two more in the fifth, but this time Broadway responded immediately with a single from Shawn and a triple from Gord scoring two and cutting the lead to 13-9.
The chorus of Os was back in the sixth and Storm headed into the seventh with a four-run lead. Storm managed to score one insurance run, but the inning was cut short as Squirrel tried to turn a single into a double as was thrown out by an acorn. Storm led by five going into the bottom of the seventh. More solid defense helped Storm hold on to the lead and the General caught the last ball of the game as Storm became champions once again.
Some interesting notes about the tournament. Storm played excellent defense. With the exception of one inning in one game, Storm managed to keep mistakes from compounding like the interest on a 30-year mortgage. Instead, mistakes were kept to a minimum, and Storm picked each other up and made outs in big moments. Storm never gave up more than 11 runs in any of the six games in the playoffs.
While the bats struggled on Saturday, scoring only 28 runs in three games. It was a different story on Sunday as Storm scored 65 runs in three games giving the team some breathing room.
The effort across the weekend was a complete team effort, with each player making a nice defensive play at some point, and everyone coming up with a key hit in one of the games. It was a nice way to win and everyone on the team should feel like they contributed to the victory.
Well done lads! It’s been an up and down season but like my second wife says in the end it’s all about who comes first!
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