GAME 3 - MAY 25, 2000

SILVER BULLETS 11,  500 CLUB 8

RECORD 1-1

Felt kinda of like this....

If it's not rain that get 'em, it's leftover rain from days past.  The wetlands that successfully disguised itself as an outfield held itself at bay for an hour before playing the role of spoiler in the top of the seventh.  The pain was on their faces, but not in their hearts, those damn engineers.  They had played probably their best game of their short existence, but unfortunately they were on the short end of the stick

Pitcher Jack McPhillips, after allowing three runs in the first, got off to a couple of solid innings, retiring five straight batters and not again giving up a run until the fourth inning.  The game went back and forth somewhat, each team fighting back at the appropriate time.  The 500ers were, fortunately, helped by a bit of shoddy un-Bullet-like fielding in the fourth inning, in which they scored four runs.

Their collective butts were saved in the fifth inning by an act of nature, or actually, one of natures annoying obstructions in softball's ever-impeded path.  With the bases loaded, the Bullets' lefty hitter - I have no idea what his name is - slammed a near-dinger to right-center field which even Ralph Hanson could not track down.  The ball landed in the creek, resulting in a double for the batter - and two runs saved.  The inning ended soon after, keeping the game within reach.

Unfortunately, the seventh was the undoing of a game so fine.  With the bases loaded and two outs, Jack Mac got a Silver Bullet guy to pop one foul outside the first base line.  The Vent Man gave fierce chase, but could not quite reach it.  On the 2nd pitch afterward, the lucky guy lined one into right-center beyond the reach of Frank Valentine and Hanson.  The wet outfield was no help, and there was no creek nearby to help out.  They took it for a grand slam, and the 500ers could not rebound in the bottom half.

Good hitting was found in all quarters of the lineup, particularly Ralph Hanson, Vinny Pastore, and Jack Mac.  Vinny and Jack both pitched well, and without injuring themselves.  The good fielding up the middle continues, this time with the Michelle-meister doing well at second, complementing Spike Roseman.