Yesterday, on a sports-filled Saturday in Boston, the Bruins beat the Canadians 5-4 and the Sox beat the Rangers 5-3 to create that Boston fever I am sure will remain for the whole holiday weekend. But before any of the professionals geared up for the games, a group got together for their first game of the season.
Yes, softball has begun and this year’s season opener was an exciting one! Team Venture beat the No-Names 22-18.
The “Team Venture” line up (Tellef, Walsh, Lisa, Ethan, Dave, Trevor, Megan, Andrew, Pat and Megan) started it off at “No-Names” (Nathan, Chris, Abigail, Jeff, Allan, Cory, Huy, Jay, Lauren, Sharon, Marcie) by approximately 2:30. Team Venture definitely came out strong with a quick 6-1 lead after the first inning. Walsh hit an amazing homerun at the top of the second to extend their lead, but Nathan and Chris of No Names drove in three runs in the second to keep their team in the game.
Lisa made the No-Names look bad in the third and fourth innings, giving up only 2 runs. Team Venture’s offense kept hitting, producing a 9 run gap by the end of the fourth. But the No-Names were not disheartened. With Abigail needing to leave early, a quick shifting of the teams did wonders for their morale.
Pat was traded for Sharon at the bottom of the fourth inning. In his first at bat as a No-Name in the sixth, Pat hit a home run that rallied his “new” team. Both teams’ run production slowed in the seventh, perhaps due to starvation (as indicated by Walsh’s scorecard drawings). Then Jeff reached back for a little something extra and shut down Team Venture in the eighth. An amazingly quick move by the No-Names catcher Marcie on a foul straight back by Dave started off the ninth with an out. This was not just any out, as Dave was arguably Team Venture’s MVP, driving in a lot of their runs and making 6 catches in right center, including one spectacular over-the-shoulder grab!
Between the eighth and ninth innings a transformation had occurred, with Team Venture only scoring 1 run while the No-Names scored 6. But the rally came too late to take the glory from Team Venture, who walked away with their first victory of the season!
In the eighth, Tellef made a dramatic diving/falling catch on Allan’s hard hit to left field. One wonders if this or another hard-played fielding attempt resulted in his injury. Whatever happened, Tellef left the field yesterday with a bloody thumb. He was not the only one with scrapes and bruises. With amazing effort the No-Names pitcher, Jeff, dove at least three times to snag sharply hit grounders and throw out the runners at first! His knees, however, are not very pleased with him. Nathan’s enthusiastic base running resulted in a tumble between first and second, but with a quick recovery he made it to second in one piece.
Everyone played great and had fun. As the game wrapped up, people went their separate ways already talking about the next game, Saturday April 26th. Pictures, courtesy of our excellent photographer Josh, will soon be up so check back regularly! For now you can view the score cards and see how you did, or what Walsh was thinking of while you were at bat.
