A Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Bay City visits Mackinaw City
Mackinaw City Historical Society, Mackinaw City, MI
August 7, 2010
Bay City 7, Mackinaw City 0
The groundwork for the Bay City barnstorming tour of Michigan’s great north land was laid over 5 years ago when the Mackinaw City Boys began their first season of play. Bay City had to decline the offer to participate in the Boys’ first ever match, due to a previous engagement, but fortunately the cards fell as they did this year and Bay City was able to make the trek. The Independents were happy to see familiar faces in the crowd as “Honest” John Gravlin, the Bay City umpire, also made the journey and Jason “Gypsy” Kladiva, a Mackinac Island native, was also on hand to lend some showmanship to the festivities.
The match began with a bat toss that was won handily by the Mackinaws, and they chose to take the field. It proved a wise decision as whitewash was the color of the day in the first innings of play for both squads. In the second innings “Speedy” of the Mackinaws made his first on a clean daisy cutter and then he made his second on another safety by “Smooth”. This put runners on first and second for the Boys. The next striker crushed a sky ball to the left garden where the Bay City fieldsman, Britt “The Mad Scientist” Venchura coolly drifted under the ball and bottled it in style on the fly for the first out. “Speedy”, the Mackinaw runner on second, must have clearly expected Venchura to take the mammoth shot on the bound, because he tore off for third base only to see that this Bay City defender was well schooled on the proper fielding form for this game, but alas it was too late for “Speedy” as Venchura rifled the ball to second for the second hand lost in the innings. This brilliant defensive gem would be one of four twin killings on the day for the Bay City defense, and it effectively killed the scoring chances for the Mackinaw Boys in the second.
In the third innings the Bay Citys would break through the Mackinaw defense with a two hands lost rally. It began when Adam “Little-Train” Johnson made his first on a ground ball to the infield. The third sacker over threw the ball to first, which allowed “Train” to make his second. Then Fred “Twinkle-Toes” Brissette placed a daisy-cutter through the defense to move “Train” to third. The next striker in the order was Jayme “Cap” Johnson who placed the ball through the left side of the infield to make his first, and drive home the first run of the match. That would end the scoring for the inning, and as it turned out that would be all that was required for the game. After skunking the Mackinaws in the third the score would stand at 1-0 in favor of Bay City.
The Independents would start another pillow parade in the fourth innings when Tom “Cat” LeRoux crushed the onion into the long field and easily made his second. The next two strikers, Al “The Kid” Garcia and Jason “Buttons” McInerney, would each make their first safely on short field hits that found the bases loaded. It was at this time that Justin “Doc” Garcia strode to the plate and promptly took to apple mashing, driving a howitzer in between the center and right fielders. All three base runners would tally on the drive, as would Garcia for a home run and four runs in all! This would help bring the Bay City lead to 5-0.
Both clubs would splash on the whitewash until the seventh innings when Bay City would tally two more times. “Kid” Garcia began the innings with a single, and then tallied on a cannonade to the long field by Jason “Buttons” McInerney which allowed him to make his second. Buttons would then score on another safety by Justin “Doc” Garcia. This would effectively end the scoring for the contest.
The last bit of excitement, besides Dean “Sawmill” Koch’s fining for striking the umpire with a thrown ball, came in the ninth innings when Mackinaw hoped to end their scoreless streak against the Bay Citys. There was one hand lost when the Mackinaws lead striker, Brandon Clemons smote the onion into the long field making his second cleanly. The next striker hit a sky ball harmlessly to the second sacker for the second hand lost. The next striker was the third place man for the Boys and he put a daisy cutter into the long field. It appeared that the Mackinaws would score their first run as Clemons tore around third and headed home, but alas the right fielder on this play was none other then Brian “The Butterfly” Beceril who might as well be named Robin Hood, for he robbed the Mackinaws of their lone chance by gunning down the runner with a perfect throw to home where Cap Johnson completed the play, the hand lost, the match, and the shut out by applying the tag.
The Mackinaws played a fine match, and Bay City was glad to have traveled all that way to enjoy a beautiful day in a beautiful park. They hope to see the Boys again soon!
