Smile If You Love Softball

At about 2 o’clock in the afternoon on Monday, our own George Miller was not smiling and was not loving softball and definitely was not loving his dentist who, according to George “went in a little too deep” in the process of repairing a filling.
George wasn’t all that keen on playing against Franklin Institute on crunchy Edgeley 4, where the chill wind blew across the open field like a jolt of electricity into an open nerve socket. Unfortunately for George, however, he signed up and he had to show up. On another day, sometime after Rubin’s “My Thoughts About Myself” class finishes up at Penn (RUBN301, in the catalogue); after Clark recovers from his honeymoon; after Snyder’s co-workers stop calling in sick; after Craig gets his car fixed; after Donlon works through the massive pile of fake work on his desk; after, oh well, after all that happens and more, then perhaps George would have been given the night off. But not this time. Not when we had the bare minimum of 12 participants on hand and soon to lose Eddie, who pulled something in his calf to short-circuit a two-hit game.


Winning pitcher and a home run.

 No, George had to play and, with support from Mookie – who sat at his feet in left field to comfort him – play he did, going 4-for-4, including a two-run home run. He scored three runs, made every play in the field and we romped away with a 21-5 win over the Franklin Institute. I am scheduling George for the dentist every week.
George was not the only hero on Monday. Homers and three hits each for Mark Nevins, Stick Lynch and Chris Yasiejko. Three hits for Russ Krause, who also struck out batting lefthanded. Two hits for Kerry O’Connor, Tommy “The Intern” Rowan, Chris Brennan and, of course, Eddie Cascarella. Both Kathy Matheson and Ellen Kenney got a hit and we got around the bases pretty regularly, until it was too cold to keep doing so.
We started out leading 10-2 after one inning and it was 19-2 by the end of the third. That’s about where we threw out the anchor and started playing to beat sunset. Made it, too, although we were outscored 3-2 in the final three innings.
Masterful pitching for Yasiejko. Franklin brought only 32 batters to the plate in seven innings. Big inning was two-run sixth when the Force batted seven and scored twice, but that was aided by a couple of errors. Otherwise, solid play in the field. A pair of 1-2-3 innings and, yeah, it was really getting cold.
Back at them next Monday at Lake Belmont vs. the National Constitution Center. Please schedule all dental work and pedicures for another day.