Challengers 4, Barracudas 3

THAT WAS A CARLOS ONE! Challengers get dominant pitching from Christen, hold on to beat Barracudas

It's been a long time since my last write-up. This is due in part to moronic scheduling (apparently some genius in the league office decided that we should have less games...brilliant), and part because I missed the games against Thun due to devastating stomach pains. Fortunately, a make-up game against the Barracudas brought about returns to both the field and the keyboard.

The Challengers got off to a quick start, putting up a run in the top of the first on an RBI-single by Carlos Nepomuceno. Yusuke Azuma had walked, took second on a passed ball and then third on a wild pitch before Carlos brought him around. In the third, the C's put up a crooked number with some help from the 'Cudas' inept defense: Azuma reached on an error by the second-baseman and Juan de la Rosa followed with a single. A walk to Renzo Falcone loaded the bases witih one out. A single by Daiki Sato scored Azuma, and kept the bases loaded for Adderly Sarmiento. That's when things got interesting: Sarmiento lifted a pop fly between second and first, and the umpire called out infield-fly. For those of you who don't know (which includes, evidently, the Barracudas coaching staff and Daiki), pursuant to this rule, the batter is out and the runners may advance at their own risk. Somehow, the ball dropped in between the first and second basemen, which allowed both Juan and Renzo to score while the fielders tried to figure out what to do. Meanwhile, Daiki walked between first and second in a sort of daze until he finally picked up on the bench yelling at him to get back to a base. By the time the dust had settled, the Challengers had scored two runs off of a pop-fly to second, and held a 4-0 lead.

The Barracudas got one back in the top of third. After Oli Christen quickly retired the first two batters (one on a sliding catch by yours truly), a hit-batsman, a steal, and an RBI single cut the lead to 4-1. The 'Cudas were poised to cut the lead further in the bottom of the fourth, as the first two batters reached on a single and an error, before the Challengers' amazing defense sprung into action: Christen induced a line-drive to Kurt Kovac at short (one out), who quickly threw to Carlos at second (two outs), who then - with a triple play hanging in the balance - flung the ball way over Nick Lehmann's head at first. I mean, it wasn't even close. Fortunately, the runner who was originally at first base had neglected to re-touch the bag before running to second and was called out once the ball was retrieved to first. A triple play!

Meanwhile, the Challengers' offense had stalled. After scoring four times in the first three innings, they were unable to push any further runners across, despite having had a runner on at least second in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. In the early going, the game had the feeling of an easy Challengers' victory. But as the game went on, the C's inability to increase their lead became a concern - particularly when the Barracudas cut the score to 4-2 with an unearned run in the bottom of the 6th.

In the top of the 7th, poor base-running cost the Challengers a chance at an important insurance run: Leading off, Juan hit a routine ground-ball to third that was thrown away for an error. Juan, who had actually decided to hustle on this occasion, made it to second and then took off for third. When the throw from first was also wild, Juan decided to try to score. Bad idea. He was out by a good 75 feet and the score remained 4-2. The Challengers still managed to put runners on first and third with two outs, but Sarmiento struck out swinging to end the threat.

Christen cruised through the 7th, seemingly gaining strength as the night went on, but his defense let him down in the 8th. After a lead-off single and a sac-bunt, the Barracudas had a runner on second with one out. Christen induced a ground ball to third from the clean-up hitter, but Juan couldn't make the play. When the next batter followed with a single Oli's night was over. Lehmann trotted in from left-field and took the ball with the bases full. The first batter he faced lofted a high fly to center, which appeared deep enough to score the runner from third. Unfortunately, the ball went in and out of the glove of center-fielder Adrian Chinea for an error, making the score 4-3 with runners on second and third and still only one out. Nick came up big though, striking out the next batter before getting a ground ball for the third out.

After the Challengers went quietly in the top of the 9th, the stage was set for a dramatic finish. Nick struck out the first batter before walking the next two. A sac-bunt by the number three hitter put runners on second and third with two outs, for the Barracudas' clean-up hitter. Coach Rob Sedin went out to the mound to gauge Nick's views on issuing an intentional walk, before ultimately instructing Lehmann to keep the ball away. Nick, however, had other ideas, and quickly got ahead 1-2. With victory one strike away, Lehmann fired in and got the batter to lift an easy pop up behind the bag at second. Kovac cleared out of the way to give Carlos room to make the easy catch. Wait, did I say easy? The ball hit off Carlos' glove and started to the ground (and certain defeat). As the rest of the team stood slack-jawed, Carlos hit the ball back up with his bare hand before finally, somehow, making the catch (I'm still not 100% sure exactly how the catch was made, since I - along with the rest of the team - was busy soiling myself at the moment). Game over, Challengers win 4-3.

In the post-game huddle, after the players took turns punching Carlos for making us so nervous, Rob congratulated his team on the victory: Great job guys, 11-0! When I asked how we could be 11-0 without having even played 10 games yet, Sedin looked down at his hands, started counting, and said Oh yeah...9. Maybe he was just being prophetic...we'd see on Sunday.

by Alex Gordon