SHINE bRIGHTLY ALL YOU DREAMERS

Tropical depression Gordon hung low as the wind swirled and the skyline was filled with pink, blue, and purple luminescence.  Some gentle soul had already decorated SkyDome with pastel streamers as though they knew that the Dreamers would be taking the field for an extra special occasion.  It was the magic of playoff baseball, where puppies grow to be puppers and bugles sound the coming of fall. Where Valley Cats howl at the night sky and Comrades prepare for the October Revolution.  Where Blush ready themselves for homecoming and Humdingers…um….keep humming? Anyway, it is a beautiful and glorious time and the rains held out so that for yet another week we could all make baseball together.

In the spirit of the playoffs, captains readied themselves, with one sending out this little sweet note, ” Not that I think we are in short supply of generosity as a team at all but, sometimes the play-offs bring out our more competitive sides. While it is certainly fun and engaging to have high stakes situations and to perform at one’s best, we also want to remember the priorities of this league. Let’s keep being generous to the other teams and to one another. We’re still all in this together!”

And together they began under the grey dusk of fall.

If you are curious as to the results then you’ll have to keep reading to find out!

(4) ROUGE RIVER BLUSH vs. (1) CREDIT RIVER COMRADES

The heavily favoured Comrades took the field with marching orders from central command to share baseball like it was the final loaf of bread, while the Blush made it known that they weren’t just a bunch of pretty faces.  In the first inning the teams combined for 9 runs on the strength of excellent base-to-base running by LJ Robinson, Peter Demakos, Yogi Acharya and some powerful swats off the bats of Darren Puscas and Johann Juarez. The Blush meanwhile countered with their own special kisses thanks to the speed of Joseph Bautista and Jenny Chan and the “she’s so extra” lip liner swing off the bat of Craig Fortier that resulted in a 3-Run Home Run!  After the first inning Credit led 5-4.

This back-and-forth continued inning after inning with the Comrades rationing their swats for the exact moment when it was time to give according to each other’s ability, so to speak.  Gita Madan and Robyn Letson dropped flies in the outfield as Rachele Gottardi and Nav Sidhu ran the bases like a nationalized oil refinery – efficiently, with purpose, and not scared of getting a little dirty. Tanis Franco cracked rbi singles and the Comrades were out in front 9-7 after 2 innings. The third inning saw the Blush walk the runway with a 5 run inning that was highlighted by Andy Smith’s towering 2 run Home Run that scored TH Vega who was playing a spirited 3rd base on the night.  But the Comrades met the Blush ruble for ruble and by the end of 3 innings the score was Credit 13-Rouge 12.

It was beginning to look like a familiar story as the Comrades had defeated the Blush in all 5 of their matchups this season by a combined scored of 68-50, but perhaps the Blush has simply been waiting all season to apply the kiss of death – a SEPHORA exclusive we’ve been told.  The Blush came alive in the 4th and 5th innings scoring 10 runs including a memorable double by Lisa Wong, a perfectly placed single by Lainie Basman, a key sacrifice fly by Terrance Luscombe, and a drop shot into the outfield off the bat of Umar Saeed.  Going into the home half of the last inning Rouge led Credit by a score of 22-14.  In the 5th, the Blush engaged in a final hush, hush, cheer in order to prepare for the task at hand. Despite the 8 point lead, the underdogs had seen their games sleep away to defeat time and time again this season and they entered the 5th with more than a little bit of stage fright.  But on this night, the queens of the diamond were playing like they were filled with diamonds, and a catch on a pop fly and two ground outs to short made quick work of the Comrades who will be playing in the consolation game in 2018.

Moving on to the finals, for the second straight year, is the 4th place team, this season’s Rouge River Blush.  Rouge now has the chance to become the first team to repeat as Field of Dreamer’s champions following, perhaps ironically, in the footsteps of the Rouge River Ballsheviks of 2017!

(3) DON RIVER VALLEY CATS  vs. (2) HUMBER RIVER HUMDINGERS

To give you a sense of how evenly matched these two great teams have been this season – they finished with identical records of 6-7-1 – the only tie of the season was between these two teams – they went 2-2-1 against each other in 5 meetings – with an overall score of Humber 69 – Don 61.  The last game resulted in a Don victory by the score of 16-15.  So it was with great interest that the admittedly small crowd of onlookers stayed in the cold weather to observe what was sure to be a fierce battle with the Valley Cats clawing at a chance to play in the championship and the Humdingers trying to keep on tune after a defeat in their final game of the regular season.

As expected the Cats came out to play. Led by their fight and flight offence Phill Morgan wheeled around the bases like there was a mouse in the house, Giibwanisi laid waste to softballs like they were balls of puff attached to a string, Katie German continued to meow at the most opportune times, Amanda Saunders never left a kibble on the basepaths, and super sub Aylwin Lo roamed the field like a tabby looking for just the right stoop to perch upon.  It was no wonder that they scored 4 runs to kick the game off.

But those Humdingers have been singing a surprisingly consistent playlist all season long and it meant that Rachel Small’s first inning single rang out “started from the bottom now we here” which was quickly followed by Natalia Saavedra who was laying out “la modelo”.  Devin Clancy’s first inning single had everyone groggily screaming, “because he’s soooo smooooottth” and Ryan Hayes’ RBI single came from the underground like MIKE out in NYC.  This was the tenor of the evening and the Humdingers took a 5-4 lead.  But the back and forth continued all game as Comrade turned Kitty Yogi Acharya doubled to get into scoring position and Caren Weisbart opened up a can of Whiskas to help Don to a five run third.  Meanwhile Stu Schussler and Andrew Stokes were not forgotten as they meow meow meow meowed their way to a combined 6 RBIs and by the end of 5 the Don River Valley Cats held an 18-16 lead.

The umpires, who were surprised by the quick inning were in a pinch as they had assumed the 5th would be the final inning.  This created a tense situation with a conference on the mound between the two umpires and captains for the Cats and the Music Makers.  A classic Dreamer situation arose as the teams did their best to be kind and generous in the face of possible victory and defeat.  But with 20 minutes left, the Commissioner’s office stepped in to suggest that the game go on – after all – we are in the business of making baseball – not in the business of closing up shop early.  So we played on.

A tense affair, the Valley Cats were stymied in their half of the 6th and the score remained 18-16. In the bottom of the 6th the Humdingers saw Susannah Mulvale, Colin Hastings, Annelies Cooper, Jo Jefferson, and Rachele Gottardi all bounce on a beat so awkward you might think it came out of a Kanye West production..but they were able to tie the score at 18-18 with 2 outs in the inning. With Natalia Saavedra up to bat, a looping fly ball was dropping in the night sky….but out of nowhere Yogi Acharya flung into the air trying to make an acrobatic catch that would end the game – and force the Commissioner’s office to make a final call as to how to decide the winner – the glove went up and the ball rattled in it momentarily but in the end…Yogi couldn’t keep his claws on it and it dropped, with Humber scampering home with the winning run 19-18.

The Valley Cats despite a heartbreaking loss that was pulled away from them moments after smelling victory, were gracious in the result and will live out one of their remaining eight lives to face the Comrades in the Consolation round.  And for the first time in league history the Humber River squad will vie for the championship after narrowly squeaking out victory.

See the game box scores here

See player stats here

See league standings here

See all-time career statistics file (updated for August 1 2018) here

MILESTONES