We were the visiting team and got to bat first. Jimmy led us off with a double and tagged up to third on a fly ball from Rob. Pete walked, and then Rich hit a sacrifice fly to left to bring in the run. Our third out came when Rick lined the ball up the middle - and right off of the pitcher's forehead. The ball came arcing back toward the plate and Rick, gentleman that he is, caught it. Unfortunately, our softball league has some crazy rule about batters and baserunners not touching the ball while it's in play, so he was out. Good catch though! After a few minutes of recovery, the pitcher headed to the bench. No evidence of permanent injury, just one heck of a bump (complete with stitchmarks!). No runs for the Sliders in their half of the inning, so after 1, we led 1-0.

Inning two started with a single from John D. John A. had a single that moved him to second Kathy hit a ground ball that forced John A. out at second, but then the fielder threw the ball away trying for a double play, leaving Kathy safe at second and John D. back on the bench after coming home to score. We wrapped up at that point, and gave our opponents a chance to retaliate. And retaliate they did! They picked up three runs to go ahead of us 3-2.

Nothing doing for us in the third, with the exception of a single from Pete. However, the Sliders scored one more to make the score 4-2.

Rick doubled in the top of the fourth and scored on a sacrifice ground ball (if there is such a thing by Zarah). John A. singled, but we were put down from there and held at just the one run for the inning. The Sliders answered with one of their own and we were still down by two at 5-3.

We went down in order in the fifth and gave up another run, so we now trailed 6-3.

A double from Pete and an RBI single from Rich was all we had going in the sixth, but we were able to keep the other team from scoring and close the gap to 6-4.

We were now down to our final at-bat and trailing by two runs. Would our offense be able turn things around? Bob was our first baserunner of the inning with a single to left center field. Jimmy doubled and then Rob hit a 2-RBI double to tie the score at 6. Pete hit a double that moved Rob to third and then Rich singled to bring them both in. Rick hit a single to give us runners on 1st and second and then a ground ball from John D. brought Rich home. Rick quickly followed him on a single from Zarah. The Sliders put a cap on our comeback at this point, but some serious damage had been done. We had rebounded from a two-run deficit to take the lead by 4. It was time to see if our defense could hold on. Things looked shaky as they scored one run and then loaded the bases with only one out. One of their batters hit a single to score a second run and then things went a little crazy. The runner on third, seeking to take advantage of some seeming confusion, took off for home. It turned out to be a very poor move, as he was gunned down easily at the plate by Rich. At that point, the runner on second decided he'd try his luck too and headed for third. Unfortunately, he left the catcher plenty of time to get the ball to Pete for the tag, his attempt at a headfirst slide earning him nothing but a smack in the face with a baseball glove. So after a couple of poor base-running decisions, we were out of a jam and had won the game 10-8.

This was one of the best endings I can recall, with a great offensive rally for us and some exciting plays on defense. All in all, a fantastic game. Afterwards, the team hiked back to the parking lot to cool down and rehash the game's events. A small group of guys (and an unlikely group at that!) headed to Palumbo's for a post-game meal. A great time as always!