Concord 13 def Japan 3
With finals approaching quickly, the Comets were looking to continue their dominant winning streak this week against the 6th placed Team Japan. After a solid days’ worth of rain on Saturday, Sunday’s home game for Japan was moved from ELS Hall to the Thunderdome at Majors Bay (again). The field needed only minimal work and was again in great condition ready for Baseball.... However, not as ready as our Head of Morale, John Bottaro who made his debut as first base coach this week. Donning the freshly purchased white pants, red belt and concord training jersey, he completed the look with the classic red skull cap and the double speed dealer style glasses and despite missing the pre game gee up from head coach, Tony Solano, he was eager to prove his worth and show the team why he should permanently replace Kai at 1st base.
The boys in white started the first inning batting (a strange feeling considering they were playing on home soil) with Nick at lead off facing the seasoned Japanese pitcher and surprisingly being hit by pitch early on in the count and being awarded first base. Ryan stepped up next, putting up a strong AB as per usual before unfortunately being struckout. Alex Solano came up, having big hacks at the pitcher’s gassed up fastball, fouling them off left and right before earning a walk. With 2 runners on, Nathan ‘beany’ Hojel looked likely to put one deep into the rightfield trees however, much like Ryan, struggled to get bat on ball and went down looking at a pitch well below the kneecaps. Joel ‘granny hip’ Palmer ended the inning with a comebacker to the mound which saw the Comets take the field in the bottom of the 1st without a run on the board.
Joel, took to the pitchers rubber once again for Concord finally getting that 1st pitch strike he’s been so desperate for, before Japans leadoff slapped a grounder towards the 2nd base gap forcing Danny ‘The duffman’ Tucker to lay out making the grab and flipping it to the hustling Joel at 1st to get the out. (For not up to speed with the newsletters Danny has been labelled ‘the duffman’ for his muscular build). Joel walked the next 2 batters before a double that managed to clear Nick in leftfield drove in 2 runs for Japan, giving them the lead. Japan then went on to strikeout next at bat and hit into a 6-3 play to end the dig. Kai started the 2nd inning up at the plate after receiving a batting order promotion sadly hitting a bouncer back to the pitcher who got him out at 1st. Daniel (Groundskeeper Dan) came up next earning an expected walk on a full count before stealing 2nd base and getting driven in by Matt ‘just gotta go Oporto’ Bennett after Danny T popped up to shortstop. In his last game for the 20/21 season before heading off to Melbourne, Paul the ‘Dingo’ Nakad got a hit to shortstop seeing him on base and later cross the plate as the pitcher was called for a balk. Dylan ‘Cue ball 1’ Ryan, proved that no matter where he bats in the lineup, he can pull through with a hit, getting a double. Coach Tony made the last minute substitution to take himself out of the starting lineup to accommodate Anthony who rocked up just on game time after what was reported to be a Valentines Day lunch, which luckily paid off with Anthony scoring the Cue Ball 1 off a well hit line drive (can't even let Valentines Day interfere with Baseball). Nick finished the inning caught looking at a fastball down the middle.
After their promising start Japan started to fold under pressure with a growing number of errors handing us runs on a plate. They were occasionally managing to the find the gaps in the outfield to get runners on base, however were unable to capitalise and get themselves back into the match as Concord ran away with it in the 3rd inning. Ryan led off, reaching base on a single, before Alex got walked for the second time. Nathan ‘Cue Ball 2’ struckout a 2nd time, Joel got walked on an Kai went down swinging. With loaded bases and 2 out, the inning fell into the lap of Groundskeeper… Dan. The AB started with Dan fouling off the heater, then a called strike on a curveball outside. With the odds stacked against him, his ‘teammates’ could be heard murmuring about which pitch it would be that would strike him out. After taking 3 straight balls, the count was full…. Dan, sweating like Rolph Harris at a preschool, readied himself, watched the gassed up fastball onto the bat, sending it into shallow leftfield for a 2RBI single. Big Danny and Matt followed, both reaching base before mandingo himself whipped his 12 inch BBC knee-slapper out and crushed the ball into leftfield for a double and batting in 3 runs. Couldn’t of asked for much more from his last plate appearance. Unfortunately, on a short hit to right field from Dylan, Paul was waved home by 3rd base coach Tony which led to the dingo being thrown out at the plate by at least 4 metres. Posing the question, should Johnny be promoted to 3rd base coach, and the Don be demoted to a mere manager position?
With the game blown open, it was fitting that Paul took to the mound in what was most likely his first time on the bump in a season or two. Leaving Japan’s 9th batter standing at the plate after being rung up on a peach of a pitch. Paul gave up a lucky single before being robbed of strikeout which resulted in the next two batters reaching base. Their pitcher, flying out to nick in leftfield and Dylan making a routine play at 2nd to get the 3rd out and secure us the victory.
The final score: Japan - 3 Comets -13. A satisfactory win leading up to the last 2 rounds of regular season baseball. Well done boys.
Paul, your on-field skill and ability will be missed along with your classy banter. We wish you all the best and hope to see you return to the Comets in years to come.
