Go Fire Dogs!

Tom's squadron has three teams playing intramural softball this season--The A Team, The Fire Dept (Fire Dogs) and the C Team (they call themselves the Underdogs). Last night all three teams played--two at the same time on different fields, which was very interesting for those of us cheering for the squadron--which amounted to Tom and me.

Anyway, the A Team played first. Tom commented before the game that "you know you're in trouble when the umpire hugs someone on the other team." Well, they beat Services (I think it was Services) handily in a nicely played game. Then the Fire Dogs played the same Services team -- with the same umpire -- and the Underdogs started their game, too. Now the Underdogs are aptly named--they lost their first game of the season 32 to 2 (or something to that effect), but they are still playing, and I say that shows a lot of heart. Tom and I always like the underdog -- unless they are playing one of our teams -- so in this case, we stood at the top of the bleachers near the Underdog field and swiveled our heads back and forth between games, concentrating mostly on the Underdog team but also cheering for the Fire Dogs.

There was no way to keep good track of both teams, but as play went on we realized the Fire Dogs were making a lot of errors and essentially beating themselves. The Underdog team finished first, losing, but not nearly as badly as their first game--so we count that as improvement. Go Underdogs! Now our full attention was on the Fire Dogs, who had just had a horrendous inning, giving up more something like four runs. They played out in the field for the top half of the final inning (teams play for 55 minutes in these games) and fully expected to have the chance to bat, despite their trailing 16-8. However, the umpire called it a complete game! Naturally, all the team was upset at not having their 'at bat' for the final inning and all started out of the dugout to argue with the official. Tom sent them back (thank goodness they have enough respect for him that they listened) and let the team manager talk for the team. The ump decided to allow them their final 'at bat.' I didn't think he had a choice--I thought that was the rule in baseball/softball--if the team that should bat at the bottom of the final inning is behind, they get the opportunity to try to win. Now, granted, our guys were behind by eight runs and I am certain the official thought they couldn't possibly get nine runs in one inning. Well, guess what?! They DID! They played as a team, hitting singles and playing smart and they earned nine runs to win the game in the final inning!

What a fun game that was...