Colby is pumped following the team’s first win of the season  (Misha)

The Verdasys Softball 2008 season has been unfruitful thus far. Mother Nature rained-out three of the team’s first five games, include the previous game. The two games the team did play were competitive and close, but the team was unable claim the win in the end.

Facing an extended regular season, winless and with the threat of game-time showers for today’s game, things were looking gray for the team. That is why team skipper Andy Wolan put out a rally call in the clubhouse for the team to claim a long overdue first win of the season. Will the team step-up to the call or will Mother Nature spoil things once again? And can Ruben be convinced to put down his rain dancing shoes amidst tight deadlines?

Making their season debut for Verdasys were Steven Bergstein, Jerry Buote and recent infield acquisition Colby. Kim Reynolds, originally scratched from the line-up was convinced to get out of her sick bed and into the line-up when it was revealed that the team would be short one lady. Kim agreed as long as her on-field activity would be kept to a minimum.

Before the game had officially begun, there was some interesting on-field activity during batting and fielding practice. As Andy was setting out for a spot on the field behind third base, Jerry Buote hit a ground ball to Ryan Huynh at third. A-WOL assumed Ryan would field the ball and let his guard down. However, Ryan slipped, causing the ball to hit his foot and go airborne. The ball then struck A-WOL in the month, giving him a bloody lip. As a precaution, A-WOL was taken out of fielding duty.

Ron Smith also had a brush with a live softball. While pitching to Don Muldoon, Don hit a line drive shot back to Ron. He reacted by protecting his head with his arms. The ball struck him in his right arm. Fortunately, the ball just hit beef, so he was ok. Ron would stay in the game.

Game 6 featured the 0-2 Verdasys Softball club going up against the 1-2 Mass Medical Society. (The people behind the “New England Journal of Medicine”.)

Mass Medical would outscore Verdasys to take an early 5-3 lead after one. The Verdasys infield unit struggled to make routine plays due to the introduction of several new players. Grimard helped set the team on the right track by leading the V’s offense with a 2-out 2-RBI double in the innning.

Each team would match the other’s run production in the second to tie the score 8-all. Johnna got the second inning going with her first team base hit, as did Bergstein, Buote and Naren. Ron Smith capped the inning with a 2-RBI triple, scoring Naren and Elliot. A-WOL was robbed of a bloop base hit after “The man with the orange shirt” made an incredible running catch for the out.

Ryan Huynh scores on a 2-RBI double by Muldoon in the fourth  (Misha)

Verdasys would take a 15-8 lead in the third by rallying for six runs off of 7 hits. Alex helped the caused with a 2-RBI single. Kim made a nice base-running play in the inning. After beating the force-out at second, Kim’s momentum pulled her off the bag. With the second basewomen lying in wait at the base, Kim chose to run to third, and did so successfully with the second basewoman in futile pursuit.

In the bottom half of the inning, team skipper A-WOL choose to address the team’s infielding trouble by putting Ryan Huynh on second. The move paid off, as Mass Medical went down in order to end the inning.

Verdasys would score five more times to take a commanding 19-8 lead half-way through the fourth. Don contributed to the fun with a 2-RBI double of his own. In addition to a single and a run scored, Mike OConnor pitched to his teammates in the inning. He also managed to trip over his feet and flipped-over on the ground while retrieving the ball. Mike was also hit by a line-drive in the arm. He would not pitch another inning, but would stay in the game.

A scary moment also occurred in the fourth. With Kim and Darrell on second and first respectively, Alex has a base hit. With the fielders off-guard, Kim was told to make a seemingly aggressive move to score on the play from third. Due to a serious miscommunication on the part of Verdasys, Kim was told to retreat back to third as the ball was thrown into the infield. On her way to third, the ball was tossed from the catcher to the third baseman. Kim retreated back to home plate, but was tagged out by the third baseman. As a result of the play, Kim was knocked down onto the ground, injuring her left knee.

The question on everyone’s mind: was this knock-down intentional? Kim mentioned that she was pushed by the third baseman, causing her to tumble. Jerry had observed that the third baseman had been playing little dirty through-out the game. While the play was starting to look very ugly, Don noted that even though Kim was pushed, the third baseman simply got carried away in the heat of the moment.

In the end, the teams choose to dismiss the event as an accident after the Mass Medical coach came over to the Verdasys bench to chat about the play. “Unfortunately, he’s my brother and he can be a jerk” commented the coach. “If it means anything, even I don’t think highly of him!”

Mass Medical would score three times in the fourth to make it a 19-11 ball game. But by this point, it was clear that the momentum of the game had swung to Verdasys’ favor.

Each team would score a total of 6 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to make it a 25-17 ballgame. A-WOL had a 2-out bases loaded 2-RBI single and Don had an RBI triple to highlight the fifth and sixth innings. Mass Medical put up a good fight with some crushing base hits into the outfield. One would be far enough to net an ITP HR.

And so, to the seventh we go. With the team facing its first win of the season, team skipper A-WOL took no chances and put out the team’s closing fielders out on the field. The move paid off as Mass Medical would fail to score any runs in the inning. Recent team acquisition Colby highlighted the inning with a nice double play. With a runner on first, Colby would catch an infield bloop pop-fly. The runner mistakenly advanced to second on the play, so Colby tossed the ball to first for the force out to end the game.

And so after three rain-outs and two losses, the team rallied to the occasion and claimed their first win of the season against Mass Medical, 25-17.

In attendance at the "Bison County Post-Game Show" were Mike O, Darrell Teague, Don Muldoon, A-WOL and Steven B. Making a special guest appearance to the program was beer expert Robert Reuter.

As usual, A-WOL kicked things off with his assessment of the game. “Once again, our team played a close game. The difference today was that we were able to play a few steps ahead of the competition, giving us a comfort zone we had not had all season. This took a lot of stress off the players, allowing everyone to contribute. I feel everyone that came and played did a great job contributing in whatever way that they could.”

A-WOL also commented that the third inning was the turning point of the game. “We have just scored six runs [to take the lead] and our defense made them go down in order in their half of the inning. The next inning, we score five more runs to take the lead. I don’t know about you, but going quickly from a tie game to down 11 runs is a huge motivation killer.”

Robert Reuter makes a special guest appearance on the Bison County Post-Game Show  (Wolan)

Darrell Teague then led a discussion regarding the players on the Mass Medical, and mentioned how two players on Mass Medical “crushed the ball” into center field. Darrell also mentioned how athletic the “guy in the orange shirt” was. “Not only could he crush the ball, but he was pretty good in the outfield as well. Case in point: the play where he ran in from the outfield to rob A-WOL of a bloop base hit.”

Robert commented on the Mass Medical first baseman that had trouble manning first. “Picture that baseman. That would be me out there. That is why I don’t play softball!”

The guests to the show then addressed the question on everyone’s mind: if you were to be stuck in a foreign location for two months and could only take one type of beer with you, what would it be? The group agreed with Budweiser. “Ya, it’s not as good as the other beers, but it gets the job done” commented panel beer expert Robert Reuter.

The show concluded with Mike O discussing his affection for the team website. “I am actually a very big fan of the team website. I visit the site whenever I have the chance. I talk about it with my mother on a daily basis. Even my mother visits the site.”

“Ya, he even talks about it on his blog,” commented Don.

Despite being sick, Kim helped the team avoid a forfeit by participating in the game. Her on field performance went well above and beyond the call of duty, batting 4 for 4 and driving in two runs and playing in right field despite a request for limited fielding duty. Kim even stayed in the game after being knocked down and injuried in a play in the fourth inning. Volvo salutes Kim’s on-field contributions by naming her the Volvo Player of the game.