Here is where you would’ve seen a picture of Jack (www.rackballer.com) and myself standing face to face with our fists up. Unfortunately we didn’t do that. This game was OU vs. UT, Michigan vs. OSU, Rampage vs. Evans, Lakers vs. Celtics, and Yankees vs. Red Sox all rolled into one. Well maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it was for bragging rights. The Rackballers vs. the Ex-Rackballers a.k.a. the Snakefarmers.
The Rackballers came out of the gate pumped up. Their blood was pumping and the energy was high. Being the “home” team the Rackballers started out in the field first and managed to give up four runs on two errors from Harrison and Anthony. Both missed catchable fly balls in the outfield. After that inning the Rackballers settled down and gave up only six more runs the rest of the way. Three of those runs came in the last inning. This was by far the Rackballers worst defensive performance. There was two errors from Harrison, one from Anthony, one from Jason, one from Dan, one from myself, and one ridiculous base running error from Tim. More on Tim’s game later in the recap. The Rackballers locked down near the end of the game and started to perform at the level that their use to.
Offensively the Rackballers finally worked as a team and put together and impressive two out rally that widened their lead and eventually proved to be the difference. The bottom of the lineup’s bats woke up and started to get into the act. Andrew, David, Anthony, and Jason all found themselves on the bases and rounding home. Dan had another great game and ended up being a very powerful one two punch with Gene at the top of the lineup. Did I mention that Dan hit an inside the park home run? Well now I have. The offense with their timely hits and smart base running carried the Rackballers to victory this week.
The game did have its fair share of “controversy”. The Snakefarmers had three players called out for various infractions. Todd was called out for stepping in front of home plate while taking his swing. This is a little known rule, but one that’s in place so batters won’t move up closer to the pitcher. Brandon ended up being called out twice which resulted in an automatic ejection for throwing his bat after hitting the ball. This rule is in place to protect the catcher and the umpire from being hit by a flying bat. The funny part about that is that Brandon was playing catcher for the Snakefarmers so you’d figure he would be a little more respectful of the opposing catcher. Then the Rackballers had one player called out on an infraction. Apparently Tim needed to be reminded that he’s not allowed to run until the pitch has crossed the plate. The unfortunate part about that out was that it ended a rally and it caused the best hit from a Rackballer (Gene) to be null and void. Tim in general had a rough night since he forgot to bring his jersey and had two nice bloop singles taken away from him due to the fact that the Snakefarmers were playing an outfielder in short center field.
The player of the game is actually the whole Rackballers team. Each player showed up and contributed in some way. This was Gene’s last game with the Rackballers and in honor we’ll retire his jersey number for the rest of the season. The Rackballers next game is Monday June 21st at 7 PM on field 3 against the 3-0 Ballbusters.
