Challengers 16, Unicorns 6

The second game was pretty much more of the same, although the game was actually quite close through the first 3 innings. Leading only 4-3 in the top of the third, coach Rob Sedin exhorted his team to put up some runs. Gordon, at least, was happy to comply: After drawing a lead-off walk, Gordon reached second on a wild pitch, took third on a balk, and then scored on another wild pitch. Unfortunately, no one else was willing to follow Rob's instructions (some people just don't know how to listen), so the lead was only 5-3 (reduced to single run in the bottom of the inning on a controversial balk call on pitcher Yusuke Azuma - let's just say that the lesson is, only the umpires are allowed to grant time, not base-runners!). In the NEXT inning however, the Challengers put the game away with a 10-run outburst, made all the more impressive by the fact that 6 of those runs were scored with 2 outs. The Challengers sent 15 men to the plate that inning, but had only 4 hits (4 errors 3 walks and two hit-batsmen greatly aided the Challenger cause). In fact, the only real drama left in the game once Zurich had batted around was whether Gordon would manage to account for TWO outs in the same inning. Fortunately, in the second pitch of the at-bat, Gordon was drilled in the left kidney by a fastball, thus avoiding bringing shame to himself and most close relatives (phew).

As mentioned above, beating the Unicorns is not exactly like routing the Braves, but the Challengers can be quite satisfied with the results. The pitching looked good, the newcomers got to show what they could do, and two wins are two wins. Now, time to drive out to Sihlquai car park...

by Alex Gordon