Shock Collar

Previously on Rising Suns Softball: We played with ourselves and enjoyed it.

Tonight's Episode: Prior to this game, I was thinking we could perchance squeak out a close upset or at least put up a decent fight against the Collar. I was wrong. The Collar is easily the best fielding team in the league and it showed last night as they kept us contained to 4 runs. What I did not expect was for them to hit as well as they did. Oh well.

Photo by BK

I will say this, our play continues to improve. Several batters managed to put the ball in the very few holes the Collar left open. Communication in the field was better this week, and our fielding was smarter. We had a few close plays at second that Collar runners just barely beat. As per usual, errors were costly, but as a whole the team has been reducing the amount of errors each game. One error that continues to haunt us is making a throw in the heat of the moment. Several fielders have a tendency to throw the ball without looking at their target. This especially hurts with throws to second, where we generally have shorter players.

The Score: 29-4

Mr. Bump Injury Report: Allie took a ball to the arm and Joe Barber rolled his ankle.

Aesop's Moral Victory of the Game: The Snark Tank was not needed.

When Your Bank Says No, Champion Says yes Champion of the Game: John Pugh, for turning a good grab in the outfield into a double play and BPH for a sliding catch in the outfield.

Quotes:

"Did you get it because of the huge sweet spot?" - BPH, about Charlotte's bat

"If it's any consolation, we lost 30-8 to the Zoo." - Budsy

"Science > Softball" - Three unnamed Academy staff

"Why don't you slide?" - The Goo Goo Dolls, to Ali V

"You always say cover me if it comes but it never comes!" - Scrappy

"Is that Snark Tank-worthy?" - Eager Collar players who are fans of the Snark Tank

"Hey, I can't make the game today. Can you try and injure Pat for me?" - Josh
"I'll see what I can do." - Huss Buss

Smack My Bishop

It's a lovely day for softball, gals and guys. Tonight, we venture to Edgely 8 to do battle with last year's CCSL runner-up, Bishop's Collar. The Collar, like Catahoula, are a very good defensive team. Good hitting and smart base running will go a long way this evening. Apart from that, the Collar is kind of all over the place this year with a 2-4 record and scores as diverse as the cast of Doug.

Talk about a melting pot

Last year's meetings with the Collar both ended with losses, a 26-8 loss in May and a 22-13 loss in June. I think we will do a bit better this evening and keep it close. Who knows, maybe we can build off of the momentum of last week's half-win to upset the Collar. Either way, they're a fun team so tonight should be a good time. I leave you now with a little video from our friends over at Fox.

Go Suns!

The Sun Also Rises

Previously on Rising Suns Softball: We struggled against the top two teams in the league and had our game against Pen and Pencil rained out.



Tango!



Tonight's Episode: The Rising Suns split down the middle for an epic battle of Rising vs. Suns. This scrimmage allowed us to try out some new positions in the field and fool around with the batting order a bit. The game remained very close, as expected, until the 5th/6th innings (depends on which captain you ask). Both sides hit well and the fielding was promising.

BK opened up the scoring with a home run, and just about everyone got on base at some point. Amy Hussey was a bad ass in right center and shortstop, making clutch plays when Josh wasn't trying to kill her. Mike "Boomer Sooner" McCracken made up for a few fumbles by getting me out late in the game. Barry's pitching absolutely befuddled Team Suns, as it has several of our opponents this year. Harry Potter had a good turn on the mound as well, particularly with his heckling.

Several people did well in new positions. Jill and Tiff used their fancy science for some plays at short and second, respectively. Allie pitched an inning, B3 held it down at first, Erin was impressive at second. Unfortunately, I never did get around to playing catcher, but it's cool. The world isn't ready for that amount of heckling.

Victory tastes sweet

The Score: Suns 22 - Rising 10

Mr. Bump Injury Report: B3 was walking gingerly with hamstring issues. Barry, Spellman, and Mike M were all a bit banged up. Liana was icing her ankle at some point. But Tango is ok.

Aesop's Moral Victory of the Game: Everyone got to play, we had fun.

When Your Bank Says No, Champion Says Yes Champion of the Game: Team Rising, for playing without BVDubs and John Pugh, and First Lobster for paying BVDubs and John Pugh not to come.

Quotes:

"Way to spread those legs!" - HP on BK's batting stance

"She just wants to get to first base." - Me, about Charlotte
"Yeah, stop cock blocking me!" - Charlotte, to Mike


The aftermath of Josh tackling Amy



"Is that the position you're playing?" - A bad ass to an outfielder who moved from right center to shallow left

"That's at least 40 points in skeeball." - Some asshole about a low pitch

"Stop arguing!" - Switzerland

"It's like Thanksgiving!" - The Pope

"I'm just explaining!" - BK

"Got it!" - What A. Hussey actually said
"Please run over here and knock me over." - What Josh heard

"Made you look!" - Scrappy to Boomer, after she did, in fact, make him look

"We're a Friends sitcom on Thanksgiving. We play against each other, fight, and half of us have made out or slept with each other." - Source Unknown

A Guaranteed Win

You win some, you lose some. Tonight, we do both! The night has arrived in which the Rising Suns split for Team Rising VS Team Suns. If everyone shows up, I am fairly certain we're looking at an 11 on 11 match up.

Team Suns, captained by First Lobster Ali, includes Joe Barber, Scrappy Doo, Amy "the Bad Ass" Hussey, KLynch, Kat, Josh, Harry Potter, the Pope, Jill the Scientist, and yours truly. Team Rising, captained by BK, has the other 11 people. I'm fairly certain that team includes Allie, BVDubs, BPH, and Walter subbing for John Pugh.








 

 

 

What's at stake are three things:

1. Bragging rights, obviously
2. The losing team buys the first round of pitchers for the victors tonight
3. Some sort of side-bet with the Captains. I don't know what BK gets if he wins, but Ali gets to do the lineup for a game TBD should her team be victorious.

More importantly than all of that, tonight is a night for having fun, trying new positions, and playing the field.


See what I did there?

 My prediction is that it will be a close game and people will have fun. Particularly during the inning in which I am catching and thus able to mercilessly heckle each batter.

Expect discourse to remain on this level

That's all I've got. See you tonight.

A Tale of Two Somethings

Previously on Rising Suns Softball: We dropped a game to the Fleischer and found out that Tina desecrated the Commisioner's Cup.

Tonight's Episode: Our first game of the Facepalm Double Header saw us venture to the cold, hard tundra of Belmont 4 to square off with the Tap Room. A team known for its power hitting added more power hitters, who spent a lot of time sending the ball somewhere toward Altoona. There wasn't much to be done about that, but according to the book we held them to a couple of scoreless innings later in the game. But enough about them. Let's talk about us. First and foremost, we scored 15 runs, which is the most runs we have scored in one game. The fifth inning was particularly kind to us, as five batters scored in a row. Not too shabby.

Snark Tank getting crowded

The following evening, we met the Catahoula Refugees at Dairy 2 for an equally chilly encounter. In the top of the first, we retired the top of their order in a beautiful 1,2,3 inning. After that, the Fugees started putting up more runs. As Catahoula is easily the best fielding team in the league, we didn't start scoring until the fifth inning, when I called BK safe at first. Derm insists he made the throw in time, but it was a bit closer from my angle. At any rate, we woke up a bit and put some runs on the board.

As far as predictions go, I expected 25-10 against the Tappers. Both teams scored 5 additional runs, so I was a bit off on the score but right on point with the deficit. As for Catahoula, I was thinking 17-9 and it ended up being 17-5. I think it'll be closer next time.

After the game, First Lobster announced the results of the first ever intra-team draft for next Tuesday's scrimmage. I'm looking forward to the heckling, the practice, and the free beers Team Rising will be giving us after the game. GO SUNS!

The Scores: 30-15 SPTR, 17-5 Catahoula

Mr. Bump Injury Report: Three games in a row with no bloodshed! Huzzah!


Harry, making bad decisions



Aesop's Moral Victory of the Game: Scoring 15 runs against SPTR and the top of the first against Catahoula

When Your Bank Says No, Champion Says Yes Champion of the Game: For the game against the Tap Room on Monday, I'm going to go with John and Max for their hitting. The Catahoula game honors go to newcomer Walter for an impressive debut.

Quotes:

"I have 4 less teeth in my mouth than you do!" - Mrs. Buddy
"More room for activities!" - Some asshole

"Worst blog post ever." - Someone who does not like the blog

"Yeah, mines real small. It's cold." - Speak-N-Spellman

"Please make that last longer." - First Lobster

"Narragansett? What's that?" - Someone wearing a Narragansett shirt

"The kids said I looked like Harry Potter." - 2012 Mike
"You don't." - 2012 Jill
"It's going to be your blog nickname anyway." - 2012 Pat
"He doesn't even look like Harry Potter." - 2013 BK

"You've got to try a fat lesbian!" - Maureen

"I was reading your blog and couldn't figure out why you kept talking about Burger King. Then I realized you meant Pickle." - Derm

"Goddamn you shortrib, you've ruined this brisket for me!" - Me, according to B3

"You need adult supervision." - Barry to Harry

"No one can cock block BPH." - Kidnappable Allie

"I need balls." - Whitmarsh

Duck and Cover

Tonight begins our first CCSL double header of the season. We put our 0-3 record up against the one-two punch of the South Philly Tap Room and the Catahoula Refugees. It ain't gonna be pretty, folks. Let's take a look at how these games will go.

South Philly Tap Room: Last year, we played the Tappers twice, losing both times (27-5, 30-5). While I think the margin will be a bit closer, maybe in the 25-10 range, it'll still feel a little bit like this:

Ouchies

Catahoula Refugees: In our one game against the ex-Force, we fell 14-2. And they went easy on us. This game won't be as painful as tonight's, maybe a 17-9 finish, and there will be much more heckling.

My spirit animal

My best advice for these games is to play deep. Really deep. Maybe we can hold them to triples instead of homers if we play deep. Like, super deep. For example, in our season opener against the Franklin, we shocked them by starting off with three consecutive home runs and then a triple. For the rest of the game, they played deeper and we stopped scoring. Perhaps we can try that tonight.

This is how they would react

Now, not every person on these two teams is a power hitter. After the first inning or two, we should be able to adjust in the field. As for early in the game, you should be able to recognize their top hitters.

Like this guy

See you at the fields!

Why'd You Do It, Tina?

Previously on Rising Suns Softball: We put up a spirited fight against the Zoo and things were looking up for the Rising Suns.


Our participant ribbon


Tonight's Episode: Last night's Fleischermania IV began with some friendly banter between the Fleischers and Rising Suns early arrivers Erin and yours truly. Tina began heckling me as soon as I arrived, and for those of you who drank from that beautiful cup pictured on the right, you may want to skip the quotes section. Just saying.

Apart from the aforementioned banter and heckling, last night did not go as expected. On the plus side, we stepped up our defense, most evident by the spectacular showing by BVDubs all over the freaking infield. Seriously, is there a base she didn't make a play at? John Pugh and Scrappy Doo continue to work together well at Short and Second, getting key outs. Josh moved from first to third and came up with a clutch out late in the game. Right field looked a lot better with stellar playing from Amy the Bad Ass Hussey, Jill the Scientist, Marky Mark (sans the Funky Bunch) and the debut of Tiffany Allen. I also seem to remember Joe Barber closing an inning with a key grab in left. Once again, our ptiching was on point with Barry and Harry getting a strike out.

Unfortunately, our hitting was not as good as last week. Our heavy hitters (Kevin, Joe, John)did well getting multiple bases and allowing base runners to cross the plate. Beth, Amy, Charlotte, Mike, Spellman, and Barry all contributed hits as well. Since opted for some BP at the end of the game, i forgot to look at the book to get stats, so apologies if I missed anyone. We also had quite a few strike outs in the game, which didn't help. Hopefully the strike rule will go back to normal once we get into May!

On a more pleasant note, it was good to see such a great turnout at Bishop's Collar after the game! Playing in this league is a lot more fun when we go out and get to hang out with other teams. So thanks to Jill, Amy, Kat, Ali, Kevin, Valerie, and Beth for coming out. After Monday's game, join a few teams at North Star Bar for some fun!

The Score: 17-8 Fleischer

Mr. Bump Injury Report: No one got hurt, though Josh was trying to kill me before the game.

Aesop's Moral Victory of the Game: No one got hurt. Also, we allowed less than 23 runs. We had extra beer, too.

When Your Bank Says No, Champion Says Yes Champion of the Game: BVDubs. If not for spectacular play at both first and third and a good performance at the plate, definitely for the awesome play at the plate on former Fartie Kyle.

Quotes:

"I peed in that cup!" - Elated Tina
"Shit. I drank out of that cup." - Deflated Pat

"Balls to the mouth never stopped you before." - A cheeky Harry Potter

"I want to be her when I grow up." - Kat, vocalizing what the rest of the team was thinking after BVDubs tagged Kyle out

"I can't go anywhere, I'm chained to the fence." - El Presidente
"That's what she said." - A Scientist

"Jesus, Buddy, that thing grows two inches everytime I see it." - Lanice (of the Collar)

"I only see it when I'm in your mouth." - Allie to Ali

"What made you switch teams?" - PW
"This team drinks more." - Kyle, simultaneously summing up the CCSL and earning my respect

"I self fist bump because I don't need other people to validate my awesomeness." - BVDubs

"Nice beard." - A friendly HP, to a batter
"That's an ok beard, not as good as the last one." - A less friendly HP, to the next batter
"Nice minivan." - Much less friendly HP, to Joe

Next time on Rising Suns Softball: A double header against the two top teams in the league, South Philly Tap Room and Catahoula Refugees.