It was 71 degrees, not a cloud in the skies and winds from left to right. It was absolutely “Mrs. H” for a season opener. Without question the SFRC were in mid-season form. Physically and mentally. That only happens in Week #1 when teams spend 12 months a year together. This only happens by running the SFRCP hills in January and keeping the chatter going watching pitches in the cage in March.
Game #1 vs. H-Bomb
There are a few certainties in SFRC softball. One is “numbers don’t lie.” The other is that Pub Krull will have grass stains by the end of the evening without exception. In 2010 this happened on the first batter of the game. It was a blooping pop up to shallow left. Pub Krull got a good jump on the ball, used his world class D/E speed and made a nice diving effort on the ball. A single. The first inning looked promising for Ol’ 35 at short, making two putouts in two attempts (it went downhill from there).
How many times do you see it? How many times do you see a guy dive for a ball (and miss it) in left field to start a game, then lead off the top of the 1st for the home team? How many times does said left fielder lead off the bottom of the first and the first AB for the 2010 FRC watch the first pitch and then hit a HOME RUN? Hey, there aren’t many firsts for the SFRC anymore (we’ve been going strong for 20 years), but I think it is safe to say Pub Krull’s 2010 leadoff HR is a SFRC first. This does not happen by taking HGH in early April. This only happens when HGH is used as your daily vitamin. Pub Krull has been sharing his secrets as the FRC hit FOUR homeruns in Game #1. In addition to Pub Krull, T-Mac had 1+ (more on this later) and the FNG (Silkey) had a HR for an out.
As mentioned earlier 35 made the first two plays hit his way after taking a bad hop in the fact last week. After those two plays, the flood gates opened. We had another SFRC first. Three straight errors on three straight batters. All by Ol’ #35. Not exactly how someone wants to go down in the SFRC record books. These errors allowed the H-Bomb crew to stay in the game. H-Bomb had a two run lead heading into the bottom of the last inning (6th inning due to time). Per the norm you did not hear “we need two to tie.” Not on this team. Not in the SFRC dugout. Rather, a number of guys were making the “We need three to win!” call. Truly a sign of winners.
Brain led off the inning with a solid hit. Matty followed that up by smoking a ball to left center. Being the aggressive base-running team that we are, Matty went for three and had Brain making a late dash for home. Everybody safe. The FRC now were down one with a runner on third. T-Mac stepped to the plate hoping to get the “Mr. No Clutch” hex off his back. He managed to hit a wind aided game winning HR. Oh wait, even though H-Bomb had hit a HR the rules say you both have to hit two HRs before either team can hit another one. “Mr. No Clutch” came through again with a HR for an OUT! No matter, the SFRC don’t have quit in their vocabulary. Ryan got on with a game-tying RBI single. CW got on base on a fielder’s choice. Runners moved over to set the stage for 2’s (aka CP). 2’s came through with a walk-off RBI single, scoring CW.
SFRC WIN! SFRC WIN! OOOOOHHHHHHHH SFRC WIN!
The FRC are nothing if not dramatic.
Final Score: SFRC 17 – H-Bomb 16
Play of the game (aside from the open grass stained Pub Krull): Ol’ #22 with the walk-off game-winning single. As someone stated later in the evening, “CP was huge tonight. And he hit well too.”
Last out: Ryan on a fielder’s choice hit by CW
Game #2 vs. Televent DTN
The FRC started where they left off. The hits came early and often. We scored two in the first, a couple more in the second a few more in the third, and so on. In what turned out to be the last inning, the FRC went Peter North on the opposition en route to 20+ runs. After batting around multiple times heard from the opposing bench was, “No damage done, let’s go.” I guess that’s true if you define “damage” as the mess left in the Biffy prior to Game #1 by one of the SFRC faithful. We locked them down in the field ending the game with a double-play.
Highlights of the game: Pub Krull swinging and MISSING on two straight pitches for a K (I’d like to say this is a SFRC first – hitting a HR and swinging and missing twice in the same night, but I don’t think it is). Also, Pauly being the team player taking two walks.
Lineup call: I have written about how much I love softball. Here is an excerpt:
There are countless reasons to enjoy softball. Being outdoors, the laughing and joking during and after the games, the chance to be competitive and maybe the greatest thing is hearing the lineup called for each inning. Playing with the same guys for a number of years usually ends up in calling each other by their nickname. A lineup could read: Moose, Hollywood, Pig, Shooter, Flash, Shorty, Deuce…
Based on names from a friend’s squad, their lineup could read: Cozzie, Moore, Moore, Byrnes, Whipple, Uber. Or, it could read: Moore, Cozzie, Uber, Bush, Moore, Whipple, Byrnes… Read that fast like you are calling out a lineup. You can’t make stuff like that up. Just fantastic. If you don’t see the humor in that lineup, well, stick with book club and avoid the softball field.
Well on 04-28-2010 if you listened carefully you would have heard something like this: Steve, Greg, Sampson, RON, JEREMY, Alex, Sprout, Eric, etc. There is something to be said about a lineup that can provide a stick like RON, JEREMY.
Final Score: SFRC 27 – Televent DTN 4
Last out: Ryan (twice in one night – ouch)
A shout out to the FNG for catching two straight games. Silk and Mauer are generally known as the two best catchers at calling a game. The calls from behind the plate led to multiple strikeouts thrown by Sans. All of the Schlitz Gusto Fighting Red C Gusto Guys hit well. Moving Brain over to short definitely increased the reliability of the team in the field. It’s worth mentioning again, the SFRC were in mid-season form on their chatter. Check out some of the best on the Quotes page.
Fan of the night: We had a very solid showing on Week #1. Mrs. CW was present, Patsy and friend, Merrie (Pauly’s sister), TO, et. al.
He’s our Darrin Nelson, our Barry Sanders, our Billy Simms, he’s Brian Schmoll. What do they have in common with the 2010 version of the SFRC? 2-0 describes them all perfectly. The Schlitz Gusto Fighting Red C Guys have never lost. Never. “Numbers don’t lie.”
We are already looking forward to “Cinco de Mayo con Cinco.”
Filed under: Recap by 35 - 1 Comment →
If there is one certainty in life, it is that the Schlitz Gusto Guys bring their talents to South Beach, Lac Lavon. This is never more true than “Processed Food Night.” We had a record crowd for the annual event with somewhere between 40-50 people attending the event (and games). It was plenty hot out on July 21st. The ump was afraid storms were going to disrupt us. Clearly that ump has not been a umping the Skyline Fighting Red C’s and Schlitz Gusto Guy for the past 20 years. It doesn’t rain on the Gusto Guys. Numbers don’t lie.