Jigsaw 9 Laughlin/Constable 8

Can I assume that everybody in the room is familiar with the term “nail biter”? Well that’s what we had last night. In the stifling heat under sometimes sunny and sometimes cloudy skies, we battled. Once again they scored first. But we came back to take a 2-1 lead going into the 3rd inning. And then the “nail biting” came into play. Jigsaw didn’t score again until the bottom of the 6th. Meanwhile L/C scored 6 more runs. 7-2. Not good. But in the bottom of the 6th inning things changed. Remember that Jigsaw heart I spoke of in the past? It came into play. We scored 5 runs to knot the score at 7 all. L/C scored 1 in their half of the 7th before we came in for our last at bat. 8-7.

A lead-off triple and 2 good defensive plays by L/C left us with a man on third and 2 outs. Nail biter is an understatement. The dark storm clouds were amassing and thunder echoed in the distance. It was almost like the final homerun scene in The Natural.

Minus the homerun. And the stadium full of screaming people. And the exploding lights. Like I said, almost.

A hard hit ground ball to the 3rd baseman; that bobbled just enough to score the tying run and let the batter reach first base safely! 8-8 with 2 outs and a man on 1st. The next batter hit a fly ball into left field and the runner bolted for second base! The ball fell just fair and the runner rounded 2nd base at full speed! The left fielder reached the ball, scooped and fired the ball back into the infield! But the throw was long. The runner hit 3rd and coast into home! Game over!

As a coach, I don’t like games like this. But it’s nice to know that we can suck it up and get it done when needed.

Next week it’s Cramer Krasselt at Kletzsch Park. Come out and gaze upon the glory that is Adworkers Softball. The first beer is on me.

Coach