Welcome to the start of the Titans div 2 season. First up we are away in the Thunderdome against the Thunderbolts. Based off last year and the Start of Season Blitz Titans have edged out on top with a league and start of season win vs. one league win for the Thunderbolts.
Will Thunderbolts be hungry for revenge or will Titans continue the hot streak from the start of season blitz? The Titans start off the season by showing some intent this year, with player and club investment in the shape of new bats. ‘Wing Commander’ Wallace brings The White Flame to the plate, will he burn through the opposition? Rumours are ‘Duck and Roll’ Corkery made a pact with the Devil to bring some mojo to his batting and ended up with the responsibility of trying to tame The Dark Shadow. Last but not least Renegades bought a new lighter bat for team use. Due to its unfortunate colouring, the leading contender for its name appears to be The Snot Rocket.
Line up for the game was:
- JC – SS – AKA “Duck and Roll”
- Elaine – 1st – AKA “Not the face”
- Ricardo – 3rd – AKA “The Latino Laser”
- Jeannette – CL – AKA “JB”
- Dave– C / 2nd – AKA “Gandalf”
- Sinead– 2nd / RF – AKA “Sinzers “
- Alan– CR – AKA “Base Hunter”
- Johanna – RF / 2nd – AKA “Mount”
- Conor– LF / 2nd – AKA “Go Go Gadget Arm”
- Paul – P – AKA ” Wing Commander”–
- Jo – AKA “Wabbit Hunter”
A wise man once said “It’s a game of two halves” unfortunately the author isn’t wise and the original quote wasn’t about softball. But we’ll stick with the general meaning and approach the match from an Offense / Defence perspective:
We were the away team so lets start with the Offense side:
Titans took to the plate looking ready to do some damage with a mixture of old and new players leading out the team. The first few innings were a steady progress with the team hitting some excellent base hits. By the bottom of the third inning Titans were up 8-1. A muted fourth inning brought in another runner making it 9-1 with the Thunderbolts up at bat.
We’ll switch to Defence for a while at this point:
Titans surged out onto the field for their first inning of defensive duties. In all it was a very controlled looking team out there with only a few cobwebs to blow away. Some of the defensive highlights being:
Like a scene in Lord of the Rings Alan the Base Hunter (a close relative to Gimli so of Gloin) gathered up a ball in the outfield and relays it to Duck and Roll Corkery who launches the ball towards Dave Gandalf Bob at home who, if reports are to be believed, can be heard in Dublin Airport shouting “You shall not Pass” as he tagged out the runner bearing down on home. Something not seen in last years season with the mixed back of catching displays. It gave this reporter a nice warm feeling to see the play come off so well
Not to be outdone by the “Men”, ‘Not the Face’ Prunty had an excellent time on first, proving to be a safe pair of hands not allowing any overthrows no matter what sort of muck all the boys in the yard threw at her.
Mr Conor Go Go Gadget Arms made a great catch in the outfield and lived up to his name using his deadly arm to sweep up the short balls from the outfield and get them into the cut-off holding many a runner on second.
JB in her first league game made a great catch to show the kids even the newbies have got some skills. Just like Conor she did a great job sweeping up loose balls showing how quickly she was getting into the game.
Mount Johanna, Jo and Sinzers provided excellent support in the right field position with allowing only one ball out for a home run. Excellent job done by all three and superbly backed up by Alan the Base Hunter with his mega accurate arm getting the ball into the cut off to hold the runners.
The Latino Laser managed to apply his powers in throwing accuracy and visual perceptiveness in foul ball assessment. Ricardo in his first league game proved a very steady third baseman and a great asset to the line-up.
Play of the day probably goes to the double play which had the Wing Commander, Duck and Roll and Not the Face involved. Wing Commander, on pitching duties, managed to smother a hit batted back at him. Hearing the call for the ball on 2 pirouetted and threw an accurate ball at the base which was being zeroed in by Shortstop Erf (Duck and Roll). Ball and man connected with perfect timing to get the runner on two out. Duck and Roll launched a (thankfully) straight shot into Elaines Gloves (therefore missing her face as instructed) to get out the second player on one.
Play of Shame unfortunately goes to Gandalf and Wing Commander. In a pop up fly that landed directly between the Pitching mound and Home plate. The guys, in a scene reminiscent from something out of the Love Boat, got lost in each other’s eyes. Even forgetting the ball was still in play while they gazed, some would say, longingly, into each other’s eyes.
This would set a bit of a pattern for the fourth defensive inning as Shortstop Erf earned his new nickname by completely misjudging the bounce of a ball leaving him rolling around the sand like a Jack Russell rolling in it’s own muck after a bath.
We’ll quickly leave the defensive disaster that was the fourth and finish off the report on a high.
Fifth inning at bat started off at the bottom of the batting order. This bottom is not so saggy however as Wing Commander in his wisdom decided to have a bit of meat on it.
Up he stepped and promptly launched a screamer that Big Bertha herself would be proud of. The cheering section erupted and the fans went wild.
He was ably followed by Mr Gadget Arms to finish out the O. Back to the top of the O and using their Captains example of inspiration the team went around the order to get a total of thirteen runs in on the fifth inning. Great hitting display from everyone and an exciting prospect for the rest of the summer.
Leading girl scorer Mount Johanna was later asked how she got her nickname. She replied “It’s because every time I pick up a bat I feel like I’m going to explode” I don’t think anyone will question this pocket rocket.
While unable to match the highs of the fifth inning the rest of the game played out with the Titans getting another four runs in.
End score 26-12 for the Titans. Almost everyone got on the Scoreboard with bragging rights going to Paul and Ricardo with 4 In, John, Johanna and Dave getting 3, Elaine, Jeanette and Sinead getting 2 and Conor propping us up with 1 in. JoJo didn’t have enough time at the plate yet to show off her Wabbit Hunting technique but there is plenty time left in the softball season.
Great start to the season, particularly a great start for the Newbies and returning players. The Titans were ably supported by the travelling support and scoring of Grace, Jono and Michelle. It was a little quieter than normal for the lack of James and Gill on the side-lines who were unable to join us in support. All of the Titans wish them well.
