A Deluge of Aces!!
Bay City hosts Rochester Hills
Sunday, July 26th
Carroll Park, Bay City, MI
Bay City 19, Rochester Hills 11
A Deluge of Aces!
The afternoon was filled with sunshine, and Carroll Park in Bay City was teeming with cranks of every size when the scheduled time for the match to be played that day, between the Independents of Bay City and the Grangers of Rochester Hills, came to pass. This match would be a hot one for the Independents and a true test of their mettle. The Grangers had yet to lose in their current season, and had bested Bay City in Rochester Hills just a few weeks prior.
As the ballists prepared for their match they were startled to find a special guest had arrived for the aforementioned festivities a Mr. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of our United States. No doubt Mr. Lincoln was here to woo the Bay City voters who overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic Candidate, Mr. McClellan, in the previously held 1864 election. Despite the Bay City affinity for the opposition they welcomed Mr. Lincoln and allowed him the honor of tossing out the first pitch for the match.
The Grangers, after having won the coin toss to decide the order of striking, struck first in the match. A trio of aces opened the game for the Rochester Hills club, as six of their first 7 strikers would make their first safely before losing their third hand in the innings. The Bay Citys would match the Grangers tally in their first innings when “Buttons” McInerney crushed a howitzer to the long field that allowed him to make his third safely. McInerney’s blow would plate tallies in the persons of Sean “Tanner” LeRoux and Al “Kid” Garcia. McInerney himself would score when Dennis “Double D” Dinauer put another line drive into the long field for the Independents fourth safety of the innings. At the end of the first innings the match was a tight scratch at Bay City 3 and Rochester Hills 3.
The Bay Citys would skunk the Grangers in the second innings thanks to some fine pitching on the part of Ray “The Banker” Banister and some fancy fieldwork by the Independents. The Bay City portion of the innings would see one tally placed on the placard and the thanks would be due to some fine striking by Mr. Abraham Lincoln himself. Lincoln, a well known base ball advocate, was begged by the Bay Citys to take a turn at the plate for them to lead off the innings. Mr. President obliged and place a neat single through the middle of the infield to make his first. The “Great Emancipator” would then tally when Brian “Butterfly” Beceril drove a daisy-cutter into the garden for the Independents’ third safety of the innings. After two innings the ledger read Bay City 4, Rochester Hills 3.
The third innings would see no scoring as both teams traded the whitewash. It was in the fourth innings that the clouds rolled across the sky and opened up a deluge of rain upon the proceedings. The spectators scrambled, and Mr. Lincoln and his entourage made for the safety of their carriages, but he ballists played on. The grounds quickly took on the appearance of a swamp, the spheroid became as heavy as a cannon ball and as slick as a greased pig, and the Grangers took full advantage. The gents from Rochester Hills proved to be fine mudders while sending ten strikers to the line, and placing six runs across the plate. Three Granger strikers, Grace, Prasetek, and Jolin, would tally for their second time in the match during the innings. The Bay Citys would answer with only one run and after four innings the soggy scorecard would read Rochester Hills 9, Bay City 5.
The match was brought to at standstill after the fourth as Mother Nature wreaked her havoc in our humble hometown, and while the ballists waited out the weather changes were made to the Bay City defense. When the sun finally shone its face again it saw a new pitcher at the stripe for Bay City in the form of Ron “Irish” O’Laughlin. O’Laughlin’s pitching and the Independents’ fine fielding would skunk Grangers for the next four innings.
While the Bay City fieldsmen were pitching goose eggs their strikers were parading around the pillows. The Independents sent ten gents to the line in the fifth innings and scored five runs to boot!
The Bay Citys would be held without a tally in the sixth innings, but they would kick up their heels again in the seventh when eight strikers would score before nary a hand was lost. In all the Independents would send thirteen men to the plate in the seventh and tally nine runs in the innings to take a commanding lead. The seventh would also see Kid Garcia and Buttons McInerney each score their third ace of the contest. At the conclusion of the seventh innings the score now stood Bay City 19, Rochester Hills 9.
Neither club would tally in the eighth innings, nor would the Grangers two run rally in the ninth reach their needed quota. The Independents would forgo their opportunity to strike in the ninth innings and the match would come to a close with Bay City holding sway over the Grangers at 19-11. Each club would salute the umpire to end the match, and Bay City would win the game ball as a trophy for the day.
Hopefully Bay City will be able to host the fine gentlemen from Rochester Hills again this coming September when they play host to the State Championship Cup Tournament during the River of Time exhibit on Saturday the 26th.
Club
Grangers 3 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 2
Bay City 3 1 0 1 5 0 9 0 x
