Hello Kitty...

A funny thing happened on the way to today's cat fight between the Lions and the St. Stephen Cougars. The first playoff game saw #3 St. Cecilia mercy rule #2 Epiphany, 17-4, ending our big rival's season! So much for any observations from the preceding post about meeting in the finals!

Perhaps sensing this change in the (gale force) wind at W. Sunset, the Lions began their own playoff run today against the team they mercy-ruled in 3 innings last week, and proceeded to spend eight tense innings trying to catch, hold off, and contain this inspired opponent, before finally persevering in the first extra inning, 3-2.

The Lions - young men secure in their "baseballinity"

In this cat vs. cat confrontation there were many contributions to the home team's less than beastly performance, starting with 14 strikeouts (10 of them not swinging!) out of 26 at bats (yes sports fans, over half the at bats). Now until the season ends, this cannot be the subject of a blistering post, so let's just leave the topic with the simple observation that a bunch of good, smart hitters don't strike out 10 times on pitches they believe are not strikes unless the strike zone itself is awarding the pitch. And let it not be said the strike zone was inconsistent, as the Cougar batters struck out 13 times (8 of them looking) themselves.

So call this a "draw." And what of other things that matter? How about walks? Well the Cougars walked 8 times to the Lions 6 - again very close. And again, there were plenty of pitches in those walks for each team that a reasonable observer would have considered strikes (i.e., the normal knees to numbers strike zone appeared to be more ankles to hips).

And how about hits? Well, here we start to see what made the difference in the game. The Cougars were held to one hit in eight innings, and no RBI's, getting both their runs through defensive mistakes. The Lions scattered 4 hits, but two of them were RBI's. Advantage Lions.

And a favorite Lion statistic - Stolen Bases. Again the larcenous Lions stole 6 to 2 for the Cougars, and each of the Lion's SB's put them in position to score on an RBI. Advantage Lions.

Mistakes? Both sides made costly mistakes, base running and with the gloves. Call it a draw.

So with the game tied 2-2 at the end of regulation, here's how it went down:
Top 8, Andrew pitching:  Their #7 hitter walks, Andrew strikes out the next (looking). Their #9 hitter is hit by a pitch; guys on 1st & 2nd with one out. Their #10 hitter lays down a nice bunt that John C charges, bare hands and fires to Ryley at third to force out the runner - huge play! And with 2 outs, Andrew gets their #11 hitter looking for the strikeout that ends their inning with 2 base runners stranded, still 2-2.
Bot 8, Cougars pitching: after an out, Stephen E rakes a hard grounder that 2nd can't handle - safe! With two outs and Andrew up, Stephen E steals 2nd, and the Cougars' Coach calls for an intentional walk of Andrew to create a force out situation. The plan is disrupted as Stephen E steals 3rd on the second intentional ball (!!) - a play almost never seen nor called for by a coach (??). The Cougs finish the intentional walk (fear the 'drew!) and now there are men on first and third. John K steps up, and while battling, Andrew advances to second. John is deep in the count and fouls off to protect the plate with two strikes. Two out tension? Yep, got your two out tension! But then John K hits a gorgeous fly ball that drops exactly between a converging shortstop, second baseman, and center fielder, allowing Stephen E to score. Game over, Johnny K!!
[Note: A tightly edited clip, with sound track and Ken Burns effects, to follow, but till then, this is a nice clip of the ending, including raucous crowd and on-field celebration]

The Lions again bent, but did not break. Stephen (5 innings, 9 strikeouts, no hits, 6 walks, 1 run) and Andrew (3 innings, 4 strikeouts, 1 hit, 2 walks, 1 run) turned in another great pitching performance. A very worthy opponent gave the Lions their all, and for the second game in a row the result was a 1 run win.

John K - post walkoff

Big congrats to the Lions for surviving to fight another day - and the last day, at that, of their season, and of any sport their 8th grade year, and of their grade school sporting careers!

Play will resume, and conclude, Wednesday evening, 25 May, at W. Sunset again. Versus the team that defeated the Lions in the Finals last year. It's funny how a rival can sneak up on you when you least expect it, isn't it?

Go Lions.