Week 7 Game Summary
Pundits around the Capitol League were buzzing after the Dodgeball Dropouts took on WEAG and came away with a 9-9 tie. Were the Dropouts the same dominant team they were earlier in the season? What was the significance of two ties in a row? Were the Dropouts losing their touch, or were other teams just getting better?
The Dropouts are still undefeated, at 5-0-2, and Captain Bob Bastek came forward to reassure fans that the past two games were nothing more than to-be-expected bumps on the road to playoffs glory. “We’re road tested and tough,” he said. “We’ve been in do-or-die situations and we’ve held firm.” Bastek also dismissed scurrilous rumors that linked Emily Reilly’s return from the injured reserve to the Dropouts’ slump. “Except for an unfortunate incident in center field, Emily’s been playing just fine,” he said. “In no way has her play brought the team down.”
Tom Reilly got the game off on the right foot with a two-RBI kick to right field but WEAG tied it up in the bottom half of the inning. The Dropouts came back in the second and scored one more off of savvy kicking and baserunning by Emily Reilly, Stephen Williard, Duke Hazelgrove and Keith Skiles, but WEAG answered back with one of its own, and the score stood knotted at 4-4.
In the third inning the Dropouts couldn’t get anyone around the bases, but a collaborative catch by Susan Broniak and Carolyn Law, and some body-sacrificing dives by Stephen Williard, meant that WEAG also failed to score.
The clock crept ever closer to 8:15 but the Dropouts stayed calm, knowing they had their big guns leading off the fourth – and final – inning. Jag Gadiyaram got on base, and Bob Bastek brought him home with a triple. Bob was followed at the plate by Patrick Alley and Tom Reilly, and Brian Broniak sent Bob and Patrick across home plate with a booming double.
The Dropouts had taken a three-run lead, and Mark Wikingstad bunted to load the bases for Bert Stanley.
Stanley knew what to do, and he did it. The instant he made contact with the ball, it was clear to everyone that they wouldn’t be seeing that red orb for a while. It flew clear over the hedges for a ground-rule double that brought in Tom and Brian, and it took Chris Skinner a good 15 minutes to bravely fight through the briars to retrieve it.
The Dropouts were sitting on a five-run lead, but unfortunately they made some critical mental errors that let WEAG escape with the tie. “I think some of our players started looking ahead to next week’s showdown with [division leader] Playground Posse,” said Bastek. “I gave them a stern lecture about concentrating on the task at hand, and I don’t think you’ll be seeing those kinds of slip-ups next week."