Who let the DAWGS out ... Who put them away !?!?!

rogergoehring
Sep 28, 2023
4 min read

What a great day we had for this Monday's Stickball outing!! A game of 9 -vs- 9 where our scorekeeper/DH, Denis, benched himself due to so many player batting on the day. It was a day of many SURPRISES as we had some new players show up and some newly returning players, new players catching fly balls!! and some great catches along with some great blasts past the Automatic line!! Tina, Dani and Rick made their first fly ball catches today, Dani with the shirt/arm catch and Tina and Rick with the palms. Dani has been vowing to catch one in her shirt for some time now and finally got the chance to 'flash' her expertise, among other things ;-) :-0 Rick was catching like Roger (making fly ball outs as they came his way, much to Dr, Phil's dismay :-0 ) and Roger was hitting like Rick (plinking singles into the ground rule spaces on the right side of the field. Our resident new-comer, Dennis Striker, earning best new-comer honors, as he batted 5 for 6 with a homer, 2 doubles and a single to his credit with 3 RBIs!! We also had Tommy joining us in the festivities, starting his stickball career off with a double and a single along with an RBI! Eddie Holder making a rare appearance, perhaps his last as he plans to leave our little community in the near future, goes out with a collection of 2 RBIs for his winning team on 2 singles - We'll miss you Eddie, good luck in Tifton and hope you continue to play as you introduce the stickball game to south GA!!! And with him, Cindy Withers returning to the fray to display her previous stickball talents as she contributed an RBI with her double, single and a leadoff triple in a 3 for 5 plate appearance day!! We even had a walk-on, Ginger (no MaryAnn to be seen) Cowan, try her hand at the plate and smacked a double after a few practice swings - we hope she'll rejoin us after she clears her schedule or we shift ours :-0

Dawgs (not GA) v Tide (not Crimson!!)

We had a great high scoring game despite a full complement of fielders and the doing some great fielding (the score might have doubled otherwise :-) The game started off big for the visiting Dawgs as they erupted with 9 runs in their first twinning, a 4 run 1st inning followed by a maxed out 2nd inning of 5 runs - mercifully for the Tide who were only able to establish 1 out as the fielding resembled Swiss Cheese - the front line giving up many a grounder single. Dawgs hit the ball hard and in the right places as John homered in the first, and Manny tripled in the second - EVEN Bob L. got in on the act with 2 singles, one in each inning :-0 - and he added another one for a 3 for 5 day putting the ball in play 4 / 5 times :-) !!

Home team, Tide, took to the plate and were blanked in the 1st inning despite a Phil single and Dennis S. double to lead things off. They faired better in the 2nd as Bo homered for 3 runs after 2 runs had scored to max out the home bottom of the second.

Up 9 to 5 but the Dawgs looked tired after the bottom of the second beating and only managed 1 run in their second twinning on a Manny solo HR blast as the Tide defense finally woke up after their morning coffee break ;-) The defense continued to prevail into the next twinning holding the visitors to just 1 run for the four innings - Roger robbing John of two line drive HR shots, one to center and the other to right field that he stabbed with a one hand grab at the Automatic line for the final out of the 3rd twinning -that hadn't been seen since the 'field of dreams' (Del Webb Cul-de-Sac) catches some time ago!! Sparked by the defense the home team posted 8 runs in their 2 twinnings as Dennis added to his doubles a HR and single, Norm, Luke, Dani and Bo tripled, Bo also hit his second home run of the day. Norm attempted several HR depth balls that Manny roped in with ease and the rest of the team settled for singles.

Going into the final twinning on a beautiful morning of 8 innings of stickball with the score standing at 13 to 10 for the home Tide, the Dawg offense got moving again to score 1 in the 7th and 3 to edge ahead by one as Chuck, Bob L., Mark and Tommy singled in RBIs.. Tina tried to add to the run count with a HR shot that Roger caught up to, unfortunate for her.

Needing just 2 runs and having 2 innings left, the Tide failed in their first inning with a lone single but captured the lead on a Dennis S. single that was followed by a 3rd Bo Home Run, a walk-off 2 run shot that ended the game with the Tide sweeping the victory 15 to 14 in an exciting fall classic!! Bo being named MVP for his 3 HR, Triple, single 6 RBI contribution to the victory as the equipment was hauled up for the coming Octoberfest battle.