:: Rally Caps ::
Cannons. Second Place.
Not something you probably expected to hear - this season or any other - is it?
No, you probably thought (and rightfully so) that you'd be more likely to read something like "Cannons second-last" or "Cannons banned from slo-pitch for alcohol abuse" or perhaps "Outfielder Bucholtz arrested for statutory rape"
You know, the usual.
And while those headlines may yet be written sometime during Cannons' history, we'll focus on that first one.
Cannons. In second.
Holy Fucking Shit.
Amazing yes, but 'tis no lie. Somehow the Cannons - perennial division bottom-feeders, and basically the Kansas City Royals of Langley Mixed Slo-Pitch - started off the playoffs with a win and then never really stopped.
Friday night? Win. Saturday? A win and a lose - but the win came against the Finishers again, who were the "best" team in the league, standings-wise.
Losers.
Sunday - the final day - was an interesting one. We got through our first game smoothly enough, beating the "I'll-only-swing-if-I-have-to" Patriots by a run or two. That sent us to the semifinals - and by then we had a pretty solid cheering section - parents, grandparents, friends, and even other teams from our division who really want the underdogs to pull it off somehow.
So we did. After all, you can't disappoint the fans.
It was a doozy of a game though, against Tornadoes.
It started pretty strong - we chalked up five or so runs and had a healthy lead until about the fifth inning, when the Tornadoes crawled back after some trademark Cannons defence gave them some free runs.
We tried getting the lead back in our half of the inning, on an infield hit, but I was out at the plate.
And then I watched the rest of the game from the bench.
Fucking umpires. You call them "fucking idiots" once and they give you the boot. On the plus side, I was the first Cannon to be ejected from a game. Proud, proud moment, folks.
Hey, at least I'm in the record book. God knows I ain't gettin' there with my home run totals.
So with me on the bench, and Terry filling in for me in left-centre field, we needed five runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the ballgame. The top of the order was up, so it was definitely do-able. We smacked out a couple hits, scored a few - and I think Chris and Scotty each had home runs (again. Those two hit the ball a mile all weekend).
When the bottom of the order came up, we had already knocked in 4. Dana was the tying run on third. There were two outs, and Katie - with her 4 or 5 games of lifetime experience playing ball - was at the plate.
No problem.
Katie took a few pitches, and looked pretty nervous up there, knowing the season was on her shoulders. Then she smacked the ball to the pitcher, who couldn't field the ball on time because he slipped.
Katie hustled to first. Safe.
Dana ran home. Safe there too. And the crowd - and dugout - went wild. I've never seen a happier ball team then I did at that exact moment. It was fucking awesome.
That morning, before we'd even played a game, Katie told me that she was going to do something great that day. Something that would win us a game.
Something that people would remember, and later on they'd say "Hey, remember when Katie did that?"
Good God damn prediction.
So the game went to extra's - with the last out from the inning before starting at second base with one out (international tiebreaker rules).
By then the momentum had swung decidedly back in our favour, and boy did we score some runs. Seven of 'em before they could get two outs.
Game. Set. Match.
Fucking rights.
So it was off to the 'ship we went - minus me of course, having been banned for the rest of the fucking tournament - against the mighty Generals.
I'll admit, while I had all kinds of faith we could win considering the roll we were on, I thought maybe, just maybe, the Generals would be too much. They have all kinds of hitters, and they usually thumped us in regular season (like most teams).
We played one outstanding game, though, staying with them - even leading at times - right til the end, when we needed four runs to tie in the bottom of the 7th.
We got three, and the tying run was on third, just a few steps away.
Ah well, can't win 'em all I guess. Although that weekend I wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if we did. Man, did we play well.
The only thing that sucks is that next year we're gonna be expected to do some damage in the standings, no more of this 4-18 bullshit.
Which is good because maybe we'll actually do it, but I really liked being the underdog last weekend. And I loved the look on the other team's faces when somebody would say to them, "You got beat by who?"
By the Cannons, that's who.
Nice season guys. Nice season.
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