December 26 , 2005 Indoor Action Dome, Bernardston, Mass.
Well, DomeBall 2005-6 is in full swing, and so far this year the hitters are ahead of the pitchers. It seems like everybody is getting good swings.
Monday night was no different, as the Win-hungry Southside Hitmen sent their Ace, Bullet Bob to the front lines. The Dome was unusually cold, but the Nightmen were hot; as speedsters Mike Mahan and Pete Miller greeted Bullet with sharp singles. Terminator patiently worked a rare Bullet walk to the load the bases, and back to back infield ground outs quickly made it 2-Zip Nightmen. Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in. Good work. Singles by Aa and Britt finished a nice 3-run inning; 3-0 Nightmen before the Southies grabbed their lumber.
2-Tee got the nod for the Chi-Nights, and Duke gave the Southies a scoring opportunity with a 1-out single. Hector smoked a 2-out single to get Hammer (who reached on an FC) into scoring position, who scored moments later on the night's first miscue. A good run for the Southies, they are on the board.
After 1, Nightmen 3, Hitmen 1.
The two teams jabbed away at each other in the 2nd and 3rd. Big Bob found his groove in the second as the Nightmen went silently. The Southies plated 2 in the bottom of the frame on some Supe hustle, an error and clutch hits by X-man and Hammer (new X bat!).
Fresh off the D.L., Fluffy made his 2005-6 Dome Debut in the top of the 3rd. Looking a little rusty, Mr Duct Tape walked Nightman on 5 pitches. The Nightmen loaded 'em up with 0 outs, but Fluf got Britt on a nice play up the middle by Supe and Joe Wrona on a K, 2-outs 1 run in. But back-to-back singles by the Brothers N(eye)gro put the Nighters back on top 6-3.
Hector ('Silent Assassin') Arroyo let the Blitzkrieg 4th inning game-changing barrage for the suddenly running-on-all-cylinders Hitmen. Supe, X-man, MediJ, John Graves and Hammer ( 2-out dagger) did some nice damage, and when the dust cleared, the score was Hitmen10, Nightmen 6 after 4. To this point Supe and X-Man had 6 plate appearances and 6 runs scored.
As anybody who has seen a few Domeball or TNB Games knows, it seriously is not over 'till the Fat Lady sings. The Nighters came out with Guns blazing in the 8th. Mike Mahan and Pete Miller, who were outstanding top of the order players for the Nightmen, singled leading off. One out later Nightman himself plated both of them with a base knock of his own. Nightman would score on an error and Joe Wrona would draw a 2-out BB. Somehow it's 12-11 Hitmen, with the Nightmen having the tying and go-ahead runners on base, with the dangerous Joltin' Joe N(eye)gro standing in the batters box.
The Duke got Joe on a come-backer, and the SouthSiders escape, for now.
Terminator, feeding off residual 7th inning frustration, went 1-2-3 with the dangerous Chapman, SuperJ, X-Man trio. X-Man being nipped, barely, at first. SouthSide hitmen head to the 9th, with a shaky 1-run lead.
Like Terminator in the 8th, The Duke has to face the
hottest part of the Nightmen lineup to nail down the W. With 1 out, Mike Mahan chops a hopper at Johnny Graves at 3rd, and is berely nipped at 1st, on a bang-bang play. Huge play. Pistol Pete Miller is retired on a '6' unassisted, and the SouthSide Hitmen salvage the Pride Game, 12-11
In another moment of levity, the bottom of the 8th inning was briefly delayed as the Terminator, having finished his warmups, was staring out to center. Artie had given the 'Play Ball'! and we were all ready to go. But wait!
Could this be? Ricky 2-Tee was making a cell phone call in center field. Rick, noticing that the game had been halted, yelled in, "Don't worry, I have my glove on!!"
That made everybody feel better, the Game commenced.
See You Monday!
