AT LEAST SOMEBODY'S HAVING FUN TONIGHT

Yes, there’s nothing to liven up an otherwise dreary evening at Edgeley 8 like the arrival of several hundred high school students, a few kegs of beer and a dress code that includes short shorts, sun dresses and skimpy halter tops – and that’s just the boys.

At least they had a referee. God knows what happened after the sun went down and the old men in their faded softball uniforms stopped leering at them like Aqualung. Well, actually, we probably know what happened, and we do not approve. Not one little bit.

As for the Pen & Pencil softball team, we did not approve of the proceedings on the field, either, as we lost to Bishop’s Collar 8-6 in a game that was close and well-played except for the parts that weren’t.

Here’s the math that should explain the outcome. Both teams scratched out 15 hits in the game. Both teams made 21 outs. There were no walks. We brought 35 batters to the plate.

The Collar brought 39 batters to the plate. Close followers of the sport know that means we gave the other side extra outs, in the form of a failure to catch and throw.

The Collar played mostly errorless ball. We sometimes played ball-less error. I just made that up.

Again, oh well. We did have the courtesy to get most of our problems out of the way early, and trailed 6-2 after two innings. We held BC to just two runs in their final five at-bats, but couldn’t do much on our end to solve El Colach on the mound.

We did put together a three-spot in the fifth to get back into the game, and were in position with the top of the order to slip ahead in the sixth, but the Collar had the bad habit of catching the ball, particularly a scalding line drive off the bat of Nevins that was snatched from the sky by Colach with this sort of a windmill

pass at it that somehow worked. I think if that ball went through we would have had tie run at second with one out and 5-6-7 coming up, but if we were 17 we would have been partying over by the port-a-potty, too. Ifs are for losers and Aqualung.

And, yes,  Colach got in the way of this.

In the scorebook, such as it is, George Miller was 3-for-3. Two hits each for Russ Krause, Chip Proctor (and a nice running catch in right field) and Chris Yasiejko. We just couldn’t string enough together. The top of the lineup led off in three innings and we got just three runs out of those frames, which isn’t nearly enough.

Nothing else remarkable to report, except that our game next Tuesday coincides with HOAGIEFEST! Yes, the annual league celebration of cured meats, fireworks and poor decisions will be held at Dairy 2, immediately following the BC-Tap game. We are playing conveniently at Dairy 4 vs. Catahoula and it will be a short jog (or quick drive) across the way to join the festivities.

For those who have not previously taken part, this is a great time. The whole league gets together – or at least the ones we told about it – and there’s no referee. Not that many sun dresses, either, but we’re not as young as we used to be.

At least Mookie can still bring the other team to submission. (Photos by Jon Snyder)