They showed us nothing in the first, going down with a whimper. Things were different when we got the bats in our hands. Jim opened the game for us with a single. Steve drove in our first run with a triple to score Jim. Billy Masson scored Steve with a single and John A. followed Billy with a single of his own. When it was over we had scored 3 runs to take the early lead.

The second inning was a defensive one. They went down quickly, including John A.'s first strikeout of the season, and only John W. managed to hit safely (double) for our side, as the score remained 3 - 0 our favor.

The third was more of the same. Not much from their offense and not enough from ours. Zoraida opened with a double, Liz reached on a Fielder's Choice, and Jim got his second single but no runs. The score was still 3 - 0, advantage Insult.

It was getting monotonous but the fourth looked a lot like the second and the third. They never threatened in the top of the inning and only Billy Masson could hit(?) safely for us in the bottom. So we took our 3 - 0 lead to the fifth.

Gettin' tired of hearing the same story? Well the fifth was another ditto. John A. got his second pitched strikeout on defense, and no-one reached base for us on offense, but we were still leading by 3.

Things changed in the sixth. Suddenly they had bats that were capable of hitting the ball, and hitting it where we weren't (I knew I should have challanged the legality of those bats). Not only did they manage to score in the 6th, they managed to score 4 times and stole the lead. We answered back in the bottom of the inning with single from Sammy and no more. So, after leading for almost the entire game we went to the 7th TRAILING by one at 4 - 3.

Our defense was good enough in the 7th, with John A. picking up his third strikeout of the game and not allowing them to increase their lead. Offensively, it was 2 quick outs before Jim got to the plate and lashed a triple to right to give us a chance to pull out this "sleeper". In a big surprise, the game ended on a called third strike and, stunned, the team dragged itself off the field in disbelief.

This was not a shining hour for Final Insult. We were good enough defensively but were miserable on offense. We had a total of 10 hits in the game (3 of them by Jim), and only 6 hits after the first inning (possibly the worst offensive showing in our history). I think we were just "lulled to sleep" by the seemingly inept offense of "Those Guys". Unfortunately, when their offense awoke, ours didn't so they get the victory.

Special thanks to our fans for this game: ex-Insult'er Melanie and future Insult'er Amanda Anderson.

After the game we hung around the cooler for a little while and then a few of us headed to Palumbo's for pizza and beer. At least that's a guaranteed winner.