Joe Senser's Softball

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SENSER'S WADES TO 4TH STRAIGHT SPLIT

By Mike Dirksen, M.P.
Senior Visiting Consultant

ROSEVILLE, MN- The field was mighty soggy. The Twin Cities area was soaked on Thursday, May 22 with close to half an inch of rain, but that did not deter Team Senser�s from splitting a doubleheader. Team Senser�s entered action Thursday with a 3-3 record, garnering splits in each of the proceeding three weeks.

Acting manager Mike Dirksen had the team fired up early and the players responded by scoring 18 runs in the first 4 innings and holding off the opposition to win 18-10. Newcomer Eric Lindholm led the offensive charge by hitting for the cycle in his first four at bats. During the post-game interview Lindholm stated, �Man I was strokin� the ball out there early.� Such a display by a �ringer� has not been seen since the first appearances of Ryan �LT� Thomas many many moons ago.

The real story of game 1 was definitely the condition of the field. Outfield correspondent Mike Biebl explained to this reporter the intricacies of �rooster tails� generated by softballs rolling through wet grass. According to Biebl, as the ball rolls through the wet grass and collects water on its faux-leather cover, the centripetal force of the rolling ball exceeds the surface tension of water and sends a �rooster tail� looking spray of water up in the air. The infield was in poor shape as well with puddles all over the diamond, especially in the most used areas around the bases and pitching rubber.

Game 2 began as game 1 ended with Team Senser�s not hitting the ball. The first 11 batters of game 2 went down in order. At this point, acting manager Mike Dirksen went over to coach third base. He struck up a conversation with an extra player on the opposing team by saying, �Hey, are you guys sitting by your pitcher?� Confused, the player responded with �Yeah, why not?� Dirksen stated at this point that their pitcher was throwing a no-hitter, but just at that moment, Eric Lindholm lunged at an outside pitch and pulled the ball over the left field wall for a solo homerun, a hit that broke the no-hitter and shut-out all in the same stroke.

Senser�s did not have any more luck the rest of the game, scoring only 1 more run and losing by a score of 14-2. The game ended in a telling fashion with Mike Biebl grounding into the team�s first double play of the season, 6-4-3.

At the end of 8 games, the offensive leaders of the team are Mike Kennedy and Jeremy Kletzin, blazing the way for the rest of the team. Kennedy stated, �I feel great about my stats, you know I get a lot of crap for playing tennis in college, I am here now to show that my skills are for real.� Kletzin did not comment on his stats after the game, instead referring to how disappointed he was in manager Fanucci skipping the game for a car race. �They only take lefts!� Kletzin growled, �How the hell can that be any fun to watch?� This reporter concurs.

Next week the games are at the VFW field in Roseville, the first game starts at 6pm.

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