DOG DAYS ON THE DIAMOND
No, as much as we all want to see it happen, Humber the dog didn’t assemble with puppy pals Appa, Stevie, Blueberry, and others to take over the field, instead, the mid-season heat of August was soaking Dreamer jerseys like that old carwash out on the Queensway. While every day is bring your pup day to the Field of Dreamers games, this week’s matchups felt like we were just hitting our stride and learning our teams!
Would the Credit River Cuties outperform the Don River Don Don Revolution or would the peeps in purple level up against the west end darlings? Would the Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion top their cupcake with sprinkles or would the Garrison Creek Gargoyles stand still enough to see victory within their grasp?
If you wanna know the results…
READ MORE TO FIND OUT!
Photo Credit: Victoria Barnett
CREDIT RIVER CUTIES @ DON RIVER DON DON REVOLUTION
By Annelies Cooper, Humber River Habeneros
Coming off last week’s triumphant win over the spicy feet of Humber River, the Don Don Revolution arrived to the SkyDome with a spring in their steps, ready to cut a rug against this week’s rivals as they filed into the Home team dugout. But their rivals, the visiting Credit River Cuties who are as sweet as they are skilled, were ready to charm their way to a third victory.
Lainie Basman led off the lovely line-up of Cuties in her season debut with a hard hitting double to kick off an incredible 5-run inning featuring hit after hit thanks to teammates Johann Juarez, Fianna Dirks, Jenni Klonteig and sub support Annelies Cooper and Lucky Visvanathan. But the fancy feet of the Don River radically imagined a transformative change to the tenor of the game. A couple close missteps would not throw off the dancers of Don, as they saw a string of singles off the bats of Kasey Walmsley, Tamara Daley and Jeffery Ansloos. It was Kay McGregor-Bales who cranked up the tempo and hit a 2RBI single to bring the purple prancers back on pace with their rivals.
Don kept feeling the rhythm into the top of the 2nd, holding back the darlings of the league in their second at bat. Jenny Chan’s feet moved in perfect pace with the music as they caught a fly ball off the bat of spicy substitute Devin ‘420’ Clancy. The fancy feet were contagious as the Don fielders held off the hits to shut out the Cuties from banking more runs. But Credit River doesn’t just get cute, they get drop-dead gorgeous, hunny. The always
endearing Johann Juarez led off the third inning with a spectacular triple to up the charm offensive. Fianna Dirks, Jenni Klonteig, Nicole Bond, Devin Clancy and Oskar Eliashevsky brought the glamour factor with hits and runs to deliver on another 5-run inning for Credit.
The Don Don Revolution may have fallen a step behind, but led by Craig ‘Fancy Footwork’ Fortier, they stole another run in the 3rd inning to show those cuties that with a little rock music, everything is fine, and they’re in the mood for a dance! Supported by hits from back-up dancers Karl Gardner and Victoria Barnett, the DDR kept the dance
stage neon-lit through the 4th inning. If it weren’t for an enchanting triple play by the deceptively sweet Cuties, the DDR marathon could have gone all night.
The final inning saw beautiful batting from both teams. A string of hits had Jeffrey Ansloos, Kay McGregor-Bales, TG Wong, LJ Robinson and Victoria Barnett voguing through the bases to keep the Don grooving to the end. But the Cuteness factor was too hard to beat and the Cutie pies held on to their perfect record with a 20 – 8 victory.
Final Score – Credit River 20 – Don River 8.
Garrison Creek Gargoyles @ Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion.
The night sky was decidedly un-stoney and full of twilight pastels last Sunday at the Sky Dome, as the Garrison Creek Gargoyles and the Rouge River Rainbow Rebellion took the field for their first matchup of the season — and there was certainly something special in the atmosphere.
After lightning-heeled Molly Fremes and Victoria Barnett scored the green team’s first-inning runs, the Rainbow Rebellion started chipping away at the Gargoyles’ defense with a con-trail of singles by the likes of Laura Shepherd, Leah Silverman, and Sena Hussain. It wasn’t long, though, before the Gargoyles started to show the added benefits of batting rocks for practice, as Stuart Schussler and Siobhan Saravanamuttu led a slew of RBIs.
The red team battled hard in the field: Terrance Luscombe’s gazelle-like stride and golden glove was behind Gargoyle Nicole Bond being robbed of a likely multi-base hit, and Rhiannon Cobb made a dazzling catch at second base, showing the true beauty of the Rainbow Rebellion.
However, no one saw a show-stopping cameo appearance by Field of Dreamer all-star Yogi Acharya coming, which animated the Gargoyles’ game on both ends of the frame. In the end, it was the Gargoyles coming out on top with a 14-8 victory.
Final Score – Garrison Creek 14 – Rouge River 8.