END OF 2018 REGULAR SEASON! LET THE PLAYOFFS BEGIN!

It seems like it’s gone dreadfully quick, but last night marked the end of the 2nd regular season in Field of Dreamers history! But don’t fret fellow baseballers, there are three more games left to play! Playoffs begin on Sunday, September 9th and run through Sunday, September 23rd! With the Credit River Comrades having locked up the top spot and the Rouge River Blush occupying the bottom, there was only one key playoff race left to decide: Would it be the Humdingers or the Valley Cats who hosted their first round playoff matchup?  Would the Valley Cats follow the ball of yarn to the 2nd place or would the Comrades block their attempts through camaraderie and determination?  Would the Humdingers buzz their way into 2nd place or would the Blush apply the kiss of death to Humber?

If you wanna know the results…

You’ll have to keep reading to find out!

DON RIVER VALLEY CATS vs. CREDIT RIVER COMRADES

On a soupy muggy buggy night, the Valley Cats were on the prowl.  A victory over the comrades would set them up for a chance to claw their way into second place in the league standings and make them the home team against the Humdingers, a team that has been trending up the charts all season.  The Comrades were down to only a small vanguard with only 6 of their regular players suiting up for the game.  The Valley Cats would seek to take control as the Comrades simply wanted to share baseball, but games will be games, and there was one to play.

The Comrades came out in full communism for this tilt, each batter passing the baton to the next, they strung together 10 runs before the Valley Cats could even lap up their first taste of Fancy Cat.  Peter Demakos and Robyn Letson teamed up for 9 hits and 9 runs each as they spun around the bases as if Ground Hog Day and May Day got mashed up into one glorious utopian holiday! But the Comrades weren’t just about the bats, they were also nationalizing defence with some incredible plays by Gita Madan and Johann Juarez. Nav Sidhu connected on hit after hit and sub Kelsey Patton sprinted along the bases with the zeal of a young Mao at the height of the 1948 revolution.

But there was no sense crying over spilt milk for the Valley Cats, they knew that a 10-0 deficit was impurrrfect, but they soon showed they would claw back. In the top of the 3rd, the Valley Cats went feral flying all over the field in an effort to catch their prey.  Richard Peters, Kate Uffelman and Katie German (who came sporting a players weekend home made KG! on the back of her jersey) all got hits to load up the water dish and subs Aylwin Lo and Kaleigh McGregor-Bales did not let the opportunity to lap up RBIs slip.  Some high pitched defence in the bottom of the inning from Niloofar Golkar and Laura Pin narrowed the score 10-4. As though right out of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, these Cats were starting to dance and this was highlighted by the way that Phill Morgan pounced around the bases for a 4th inning home run that made the score 10-5.

Alas, this is the closest that the Valley Cats would roam in this game as the Comrades locked down their battle stations and put up another 10 runs to overall double up on the Valley Cats by a score of 20-10.

With the loss, the Valley Cats needed the Rouge River Blush to defeat the Humdingers by 12 points to force a tie-breaker set up for 2nd place. It was a daunting task and the Valley Cats definitely rubbed up on the legs of the Blushies in hopes that they could curry some favour in that regard.

HUMBER RIVER HUMDINGERS vs. ROUGE RIVER BLUSH

The evening tilt between the Humdingers and Blush started with a buzz – and no not merely because the number of mosquitos and other bugs had doubled since the start of play – but because the faithful Humber squad had pulled out kazoos in order to sing Happy Birthday to two of their squads star performers, Ryan Hayes and Devin Clancy.  The birthday song filled the air as the Hummmmmmmmdingers….set their eyes on the #2 spot on the charts.  If it was good enough for Nicki Minaj, they queried, it was good enough for us.  On the other side of the field, the Rouge River Blush welcomed super-sub Lisa Wong as a permanent member of their team replacing the venerable Merle Davis Matthews.  Not since Didi Gregorius replaced Derek Jeter at short stop for the New York Yankees has there been as much pressure on a player to fill another’s make-up bag.

The tenor of the game was set from the first inning with the Humdingers leading the game off with a sizzling honky tonk of a hit off the bat of Rachel Small that had Blush Centrefielder’s Craig Fortier makeup running all over the grass.  The double was quickly cashed in by Nat Saavedra’s single to get the Humdingers up 1-0.  They continued the barrage scoring 4 in the first half of the 1st inning, but it was no time to kiss and tell as the Blush already had plans to cover up that blemish. In the bottom half of the first Rocio Velasquez Guzman cashed in two on a perfectly lined hit and then Joseph Bautista and Terrance Luscombe set up Lisa Wong to make her first major mark on the Rouge squad with an electric red double to tie the score.  Sam Banihashemi followed up with a double as well and by the end of the first it was Humber 4 – Rouge 5.

Like a duet between Celine Dion and Mariah Carey, this game turned out to be a battle of divas, each trying to out-sing and out-shine, and out-swing, the other.  The Humdingers immediately showed that their hearts would go on when they drove in 3 more in the 2nd to take a 7-5 lead thanks in part to the love can move mountains running of Annelies Cooper and the where does my heart beat now hitting of Devin Clancy.  But in the 3rd inning, the Blush showed their sweet sweet fantasy baby when a hero came along in the face of Terrance Luscombe and Umar Saeed showed that we belong together as they helped power the Blush back out on top 10-8.  In the 4th inning the teams traded 2 runs each and the scored was 12-10 for Rouge going into the fifth.

The 5th and final inning showed the divas duelling for the ultimate show stopper.  Jess Duarte and Karen Campbell began the inning by showing the power of love and Alex Brant made it all come back to me now with a tying single evening the score at 12-12 and then Ryan Hayes challenged the Blush to see who would be the Beauty & who would be the Beast as the Humdingers took a 15-12 lead.  In the bottom half of the inning the Blush got back-to-back lead off singles by Sam Banihashemi and Umar Saeed, who will always be our babies, but this momentum was quickly erased with back-to-back fielder’s choices by TH Vega and Lainie Basman making it look like the game would be another heartbreaker for the Blush.  An RBI single off the bat of Craig Fortier made angels cry (and the score 15-13) and then a 2 run scoring single by Joseph Bautista had the Blush feeeling e-mo-tions as the score was now tied 15-15.  Terrance Luscombe pushed the bases loaded and it all came down to an at-bat by the newest Blushie, Lisa Wong, with 2 outs in the bottom of the inning.  Lisa hit a zooming line drive to left field that had the Blush seeing Visions of Love, but Left Fielder Devin Clancy wasn’t going to let the Titanic sink without at least trying to get up on the floating door alongside Rose. With a sliding attempt, the ball bounced in Devin’s glove, then tipped out, bopping him in the shoulder before resting on the ground. As the Blush set sights on the fall-time and said goodbye to the summer, Lisa Wong’s hit had them thinking that all I want for Christmas is you!  Rouge River 16 – Humber River 15.

Despite the loss the Humdingers were near and far whereeeeeever you are, and withstood the Valley Cats to officially finish in 2nd place. They will host the first round playoff matchup with Don!

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