In an effort to appease the softball Gods, and avoid a threatened strike between the players and the owners, the Homers decided to give up all rights to Richard Chen for one game, and trade him to the opposing team. The strategy worked like a charm, and the Homers continued their devastating romp through the JPL C League with a 24-9 victory over the Asterisks (or is that the *'s?).
Homers 6 7 3 0 2 0 6 24
Asterisks 3 0 2 0 3 1 0 9
For a while it looked like the game might not even happen. The Homers had
a full team warmed up and ready to play while the *'s had only a single
player. Finally some more *'s showed up, and we agreed to give them Richard
so that they would have enough players to get the game in. Starting for the Homers were Jeff (1B/OF), Scott (OF/P/1B), Beth (3B/SS), Ron (P/SS/OF/3B), Richard S. (OF/SS), Don (OF), Laurie (2B), Tim (SS), and Amy (who played for the Homers after playing one inning as an * as penance for showing up late) (C/OF).
The Homers certainly lived up to their name offensively. No less than 7 home runs were hit by members of the Homers. Scott had a hard shot that he stretched into a 2 run homer much to the surprise of * Richard who could not make the throw home. Richard S. had another 2 run shot (although it should have been 3, but he was the unfortunate victim of both interference from the neighboring D league game and the mercy rule.) Don collected 3 homers, each with a person on base, and Ron had the big stick with a grand slam home run and another 2 run shot. Ron had a chance at Homer history by almost hitting 2 grand slams in the first inning, but there was this rather quick Asian fellow playing for the *'s who seemed to be playing the whole field and caught the second one. Who was that masked man? Other offensive highlights included a triple down (where else?) the left field line by Jeff, and a solid double by Richard S. (I know there were probably others, but they didn't get written on the score sheet. Sorry!)
The defensive play of the game was made by Richard C. On a sharp ball hit to short stop, he scooped up the ball, faked the throw to first, and then tagged out (or was that tackled?) the runner trying to advance from second base. Unfortunately, Richard was still playing for the *'s, and the runner he tagged out was Scott. Beth and Laurie also combined for an interesting force play at second base. The outfield did its usual outstanding job including Amy ending the game by catching a long fly ball from the *'s best hitter with the bases loaded.
Once again special thanks go to Richard S. who will be leaving us after only 2 games as a Homer. He is scheduled to return to Australia this week where he will have the responsibility for establishing an extension of the JPL softball league at the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex. Richard thinks it might work if he changes the name to American Rules Cricket.
The post game food fest was held at Los Tacos with Scott, Ron, Don, Jeff, Richard S., Laurie, and Richard C. (yeah, we let him rejoin the Homers) in attendance.
Next week the Homers have a big game against the dreaded Voodoo Toad Fury. This is always one of the biggest challenges for the Homers so please try to make it. The game will be on Thursday, August 18, at Pasadena High School.