Tuesday, April 23, 2013

ONE. BAD. INNING. Bullets fall to Daily Show

It seems silly that a good softball performance keeps getting compromised by the one bad inning scenario, but that's been the Bullets' bugaboo for years now. It certainly was the case on a cold Monday night under the lights of DeWitt Clinton Park, when after leading 11-6 going into the bottom half of the 5th inning, the Bullets coughed up 10 runs in route to a 19-11 loss to The Daily Show. A whirlwind of causes can be blamed from fielders and balls from another game, to horrendous lighting, to just plain old errors, but TDS banged out plenty of legit hits during that parade as well, and the Bullets can only walk away taking the good of the rest of the game and move on to a quick turn around this Thursday.

The game certainly started off well enough, with lead-off hitter Neil Hiremath (SCF) roping his first (of 5!) hit. Super Solider Nel Yomtov (SS) followed suit, and Kevin Schwoer (CF) laced a single to cash in the first ribbie of the game. After Jay Kogan (LF) flied out, Joel Press (P), making his 2013 debut, singled in the second run and Captain Sal Cipriano (1B) doubled in Kevin. With men on 2nd and 3rd Allison Klein (2B) grounded out, and the TDS infield caught Joel in a run down to complete an inning ending double play.

TDS went quietly in the bottom half of the inning, and the Bullets doubled their tally to make it 6-0 in the second. Blake Kobashigawa (3B) doubled, and Carlos Mangual (C) singled, but hurt his thigh running to 1st.  David Pina (RF) popped up, but Neil picked him up with his second single that plated Blake. Nel loaded the bases, but Kevin popped up, leaving it up to the Hall of Famer to come through, and Kogan did just that, delivering a line drive that scored an injury-aided-slow-motion Carlos and our resident Flash, who almost over ran him! Joel flied out after a valiant effort with numerous foul balls to end the second.

TDS scored their first run on a long homer that split the outfielders in the bottom half of the inning, but the Bullets wouldn't be fazed, at least not yet. After Sal flied out to deep left, Alli and Blake singled before Carlos' grounder forced Alli at 3rd. Sal, last man out, came in to pinch run for the ailing catcher, which helped set up the Bullets' runs for the inning. David singled home the first, and Neil brought in the rest with a double that plated Sal and David. Nel lined out to end the inning.

Despite being down 9-1 going into the bottom of the third, Jon Stewart's crew would not be deterred and had their first rally of the game plating 4 in the inning. DC answered with what would be their last two runs in the 4th, with another deep fly by Sal, this time for a ribbie sac scoring Kevin, and a ribbie ground out by Alli scoring Jay. TDS added another run in the bottom half.

Playing with their smallest line-up of the short season thus far, and maybe too early to have a game like that, the Bullets began feeling the wear and tear and only Neil got on base in the 5th. And that's when all hell broke loose, and TDS went on a ten run binge, highlighted by a deep three run blast that was aided by another shot from an opposing field that hit Kevin in the leg as he went for the ball, causing him to hit the artificial surface of DeWitt Clinton.

The Daily Show plated three more in the 6th, but despite a few more scattered hits, including Neil's 5th, the Bullets just couldn't rally back, and that was that. A frustrating loss to a team that match up very well with the Bullets despite the all-time record 1-3 going the way of the fauxish news show.

The Bullets have a chance to rectify the loss when they return to the field this Thursday, at home (North Meadow #2, 5:30PM), vs. Bloomberg News, but be sure, the Bullets can't wait to take the field again vs. The Daily Show!

Bullets Box:

SCF Neil Hiremath - 5-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B
SS Nel Yomtov - 2-5, R
CF Kevin Schwoer - 3-4, 2 R, RBI
LF Jay Kogan - 2-4, R, 2 RBI
P Joel Press - 2-4, RBI
1B Sal Cipriano - 2-3, 2 RBI, 2B, SAC
2B Allison Klein - 1-4, RBI
3B Blake Kobashigawa - 3-4, 2 R, 2B
C Carlos Mangual - 1-4, 2 R
RF David Pina - 2-4, R, RBI 

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