Perfect Four A Rainy Night

The Pen & Pencil Club softball team finally finished the first half of the CCSL season on Tuesday night on damp and deep Edgeley 8 with a 15-4 win over the National Constitution Center.
This was a makeup game of a previous rainout and for much of the day, it looked like another rainout was on the way. But we did not have compatible dates with NCC for squeezing in the game between now and the rest of the season, and the radar maps clearly indicated there would be an end to the rain by game time, so we gave it a try.
Maybe we should play all our games on fields that need significant raking and shoveling ahead of time. We hit well, fielded well (except for the odd rundown goof) and got the game finished 10 minutes before it started raining again.
With the win, we finish the first half 7-2 against the other nine teams in the CCSL and if we can duplicate that in the second half, we’ll head into the playoffs with a good seed and a chance to do some damage.
The hitting star on the night was Ellen Kenney, who was 4-for-4, making solid contact every time, including a hard smash to third base. Ellen, and all the hitters near the bottom of the lineup, helped keep the innings going, and she had a hit and a run in the five-run sixth inning that took all doubt from the contest.
We did start slowly, scoring just one run in each of the first two innings, while NCC scored a total of three to lead 3-2 heading into the third. We added five runs in that

inning for a 7-3 lead, and the score stayed that way until the five-run sixth. We tacked on three more in the top of the seventh, allowed one in the gloaming and finished off the game with a spritely double play turned Keith Craig-unassisted-to-Chris Brennan.
At the plate, we had 27 hits and should have scored more runs perhaps, but left 13 on base, including eight in scoring position. Fortunately, we got plenty this time. Behind Ellen’s leadership, we had three hits from George Miller, Stick Lynch and Dan Rubin, and two each for Russ Krause, Mark Nevins, Kathy Matheson and Tommy Rowan.
Ed Cascarella singled sharply into left field in his only at-bat. Matheson, who was playing mad because of work, roped the ball in every at-bat and suggested that perhaps she should play mad more often. Whatever works.
We start the second half of the schedule with a M-T doubleheader next week, meeting Team Green Tambourine at Lake Belmont on Monday and then enjoying a Hoagiefest! evening with the Bishop’s Collar on Tuesday at Dairy 2. April and May were good to us. Let’s make it a June to remember as well.