By Annelies Cooper (Garrison)
On a sticky July Sunday, the Dreamers gathered under a waxing moon in Sagittarius with an optimistic outlook and a hope that the balls would be thrown in their favour that night, 3 of our rivers and one little creek converged at the Trinity Bellwoods Sky-Dome.
Would the Undead Don River run down the Garrison Glimmer with an apocalyptic outbreak of hits and runs? Would the signature Credit River Care Bear Stare give the Rouge Racoons a serious scare?
READ ON TO FIND OUT….
Game 1 DON OF THE DEAD RIVER @ GARRISON CREEK GLIMMER
The last time these teams went head to head the Don of the Dead it was a tense and close game which ended with a one point victory by the Zombies. This game was no less excitement-filled as both teams brought their best fight to the field.
The first three innings saw the glittering Garrison come on stronger than a full sequinned jumpsuit with huge hits from Johann Juarez, Ryan Hayes, Colin Hastings and solid singles from Katie German and Annelies Cooper, and Devin Clancy. Their defence was no less impressive with solid fielding, notably consistent plays at second base by Kari Pederson and a sparkling stellar cut-off play from Luke Fox holding the Don off in Left field.
But the zombies would not relent. The brain-eaters kept playing with their monstrous spunk and creativity, backing each other up in every defensive play and dishing the brains to their cadaverous comrades.
The regained ground on the shimmering Creek, thanks to a stellar defensive second-base playing by Rocio Velasquez who stopped a sharp ground ball and tossed it to first base in time to make the out and extinguish the twinkle on Annelies’s hit. The impressive Rachel Small let no ball fly past her, and made plenty of major hits of her own. The freaky demons started to close the run gap in the 4th inning seeing strategic and risking base running by T Vega that kept their teammates creeping and crawling up the scoreboard. Add to all this to the solid hitting of the Jordan Pachiarz, Tyler Chartrand, Rachele Gottardi, Raccoon sub Yogi Acharya, the Don would not be undone.
In the end, the Glimmer would not stop shining, as Krysta Williams came in late in the game to give the team the extra sparkle they needed to push through two more runs in the last inning. With the help of stellar subs — Katie German, whose first game of 2019 was punctuated by a heroic play made at 2nd base that cost her some scrapes and her glasses, and the heavy hitting, pop-fly catching, Richard Peters — Glimmer was the winner!
Final Score: Garrison (11) Don (7)
Game 2 ROUGE RIVER RACCOONS @ CREDIT RIVER CARE BEARS
Don’t let their plush teddy bear mascot fool you, the Credit River Care Bears cannot be reduced to softies! They’re just as tough and scrappy as those raucous Rouge River Raccoons, as both teams stood at the top of the league standings going into Sunday’s game. This match-up promised to be a close one to watch, as the nocturnal critters prepared to apply their dexterity to their defense, and the tender teddies activated their belly badges to the ball diamond.
The Racoons and the Bears were evenly matched at the top of the game. The Care-a-lot crew harnessing tender Terrance Luscombe and caring Craig Fortier sharing the spot of short-stop to harness incredible defensive plays all game long. Loving Lainie Basman and joyous Jenny Chan rounded bases and cast a magic spell for dingers. The spell must have hit Jarl Gardner who stepped up to the plate and switch hit for the first time, and the ball burst off his bat like a belly beam and disappeared into the outfield, for a magical home run.
Swift Heart Bear Rees Nam fielded an incredible grounder at first base and Robyn Letson embodied the spirit of Care Bear Credit spirit with their plays at second base. Despite a bad umping call on an out at second, the Care-bears made sure the Care-o-meter for the league wouldn’t waiver, and let the Racoons log a run made on the controversial call.
But the night bandits stole the night with the help of swinging for the fences Yogi Acharya, Natalia Saavedra, Stu Schussler and Darren Puscas. Phill Morgan made a tremendous near home run hit that rolled out into the dog park, and rookies David Ravensbergen and Susannah Mulvale stole every run they could rummage. With Sena Hussain, Kate Uffelman and Shelagh Pizey Allen looking like Rocket Raccoon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Raccoon) scaling the bases with speed and ingenuity, the Toronto trash pandas climbed ahead in the later innings, to take the victory!
Final Score: Credit (8) Rouge (16)
Don
Rachele Gottardi – Recorded 160th career at-bat!
T. Vega – Recorded 90th career at-bat and 50th career hit on the same night!
Rachel Small – Is just 2 hits shy from 160 career hits!
Jordan Pachiarz – Is just a double away from recording a single, double, triple, and homerun in their rookie season!
Jo Jefferson – Is only 3 singles away from 10th on the all-time list!
Tyler Chartrand – Recorded 3 hits in one game!
Rocio Velasquez – With 2 singles, passed Andrew Thompson for 29th spot on the all-time single list
Joseph Bautista – Is just 2 hits shy from 70 career hits!
Garrison
Devin Clancy – Recorded 220th career at-bat!
Kari Pederson – Recorded 4 hits in one game!
Annelies Cooper – Moved into 6th all-time with 138 career singles
Johann Juarez – See oddities!
Ryan Hayes – See oddities!
Colin Hastings – Recorded 150th career RBI!
Katie German – Went 2-2 in her return to the league, recording her 67th and 68th career hits!
Krysta Williams – This season, has passed career totals in at-bats and hits!
Luke Fox – In rookie season, is among top 10 players in terms of number of hits in the 2019 season!
Richard Peters – Moved into 15th place all-time with 113 career hits!
Rouge
Shelagh Pizey Allen – Recorded 55th career hit!
Ness Dixon – See oddities!
Yogi Acharya – Leads the league with 50 at-bats this season!
Kate Uffelman – Is just 3 hits shy of matching their total (of 18) from last season!
Susannah Mulvale – See oddities!
David Ravensbergen – Has only been recorded out 4 times this season, has a batting average of 833!
Phill Morgan – Ranks in the top 20 of all-time home run leaders in just his second season in the league!
Stu Schussler – Is just 2 hits shy from reaching the 100-hit plateau!
Sena Hussain – Is now hitting with a batting average of over 600 for the season!
Darren Puscas – Now ranks 7th all-time with 38 career doubles!
Nat Saavedra – Now has more than 80 career hits!
Credit
Craig Fortier – Has now scored more than 200 career runs, the most all-time!
Michelle Kidd – See oddities!
Jenny Chan – Is second all-time with 158 career singles, only 9 shy of the all-time record!
Victoria Barnett – In their rookie season, has the second most at-bats (42) in the entire league!
Terrance Luscombe – Recorded 140th career hit!
Robyn Letson – Is 1 hit shy of 100 career hits!
Rees Nam – Recorded their 16th single of the season!
Jarl Gardner – Is just 4 HR shy of passing Adrian Rodill for 4th on the all-time list!
Lainie Basman – Is just 6 hits away from 100!
Oddities
Garrison
Johann and Ryan followed each other in the batting order Sunday night, and both recorded their 20th career triples!
Credit
Michelle Kidd has knocked in as many runs (11) as they have scored so far this season!
Rouge
Rouge teammates Ness Dixon and Susannah Mulvale both recorded their 50th career at-bats!