Our most recent adventures in Backyard Baseball 2003 and Backyard Soccer 2004 were a success!
Needing to break a two-game losing streak, the Humongous Melonheads Base Ball Club, as they would be called in the 1800s, beat the Florida Marlins 7-4, with Ashley Webber finding redemption after taking a hard-luck loss in her first outing. The same offense that got completely shut down against the Montreal Expos and had scored all of five runs across three games finally came to life, benefiting repeatedly off gaffes from the Marlin fielders.
Playing with the premise that Ashley would be required to throw every single pitch for us, she got off to a great start with a four-pitch top of the first and was rewarded with a two-run rally in the bottom half of the inning as Lisa Crocket singled, then went to third as Jocinda Smith reached when the Marlins made the first two of their six errors. Maria Luna roped an RBI single to right, then stole second as Smith went on to score as catcher Kenny Kawaguchi's throw sailed into the outfield.
With Ashley cruising, another defensive implosion would follow in the fifth. She'd lead off the inning at the plate and hit a weak tapper that Kawaguchi misplayed, then managed to advance to third as the Florida defense botched a fielder's choice off the bat of Reese Worthington, who moved into the leadoff spot for the day. Billy Jean Blackwood struck out looking, but Lisa Crocket ripped a double past a diving Cliff Floyd to double the lead. If that wasn't enough, she did it on a Slo-Mo pitch, and if a batter reaches safely against a power-up pitch, they earn their team an offensive power-up. In this case, it was a Screaming Line Drive, and Jocinda would use it to single in the Crocket Rocket to make it 5-0.
As if that wasn't enough, we added on two more runs in the sixth by earning another offensive power-up, a Crazy Bunt that we gained by turning a double play to end the top of the sixth. With two on and two out, Billy Jean utilized it to score Ashley and Reese, all but locking the Melonheads in to improve to 2-2. After that, the only question was if Ashley would be able to throw a Maddux (for the unenlightened, a Maddux is a complete game shutout in under 100 pitches). There would be no such feat on this day, as Davy Marian's third hit of the game went for a 474-foot solo shot to break the shutout with one out in the top of the seventh. Florida (0-4) would get three more in the ninth as Marsellus Marx barely cleared the fence for a three-run shot after Shane Smith reached on a Crocket error and Floyd singled. Maynard McElroy would bunt for a single with one out to get the tying run into the on-deck circle, but Ashley would strike out Kawaguchi and Sonja Hagen to end the game. She fell short of the Maddux but did manage to throw the complete gamer as planned, allowing six hits and four runs (three earned) while striking out 12. In two games, she's fanned 28.
WP: Ashley Webber (1-1) LP: Sonja Hagen (0-1)
As for soccer, we got off to a sluggish start and were locked in a scoreless draw with the Mighty Wombats at halftime but finally broke through after the break thanks to a pair of substitutions. Marky Dubois subbed in for Angela Delvecchio at halftime and scored our first goal, and Kimmy Eckman scored the second just moments after replacing Dmitri Petrovich.
Join us next time on Twitch for more Backyard Sports fun!
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