Emmis the Menace: Game 3

July 14, 2011

For our kickball team, it’s a good thing we have a large team list. Each week it seems to fluctuate as to who’s in town, and who’s able to attend a game. Today, for our third kickball game, we had a few new faces: Nisha joined us for the first time, Brad was in town, and our newest hire Chris R showed up to play (this was his first week at work). Also, Chris C donned a shirt… and though he’s on the team, he’s not able to play due to his recovery from eye surgery. So he came to lend his support.

Also – Ben decided to come along, and shot a lot of photos along the way.

Pre-game warmup, which is fast becoming the tradition. Who needs Gatorade when you can do two quick shots of Jameson?

Setting up at our bench. L to R it’s Roshan, Chris, Nisha, Brian and Chris C.

Tim, our team captain, working on filling out the lineup.

Team huddle! L to R it’s Nisha, Ally, Christine, Roshan and Chris.

Ben, doing his thing and documenting the event. On the right there is Chris R. Like Ally, I think the guy ran here from work. Just thinking about it makes me tired.

I have to say though, Chris had a spectacular play late in the game. He was rounding the bases, hit third and was heading towards home. But the other team had gotten the ball in to their shortstop, and the guy was closing in quickly. Chris slowed down a bit to let the guy catch up… and then guy threw the ball at him. At this time, Chris had turned around to face the guy, then jumped up in the air, splitting his legs like a pair of scissors.

The ball bounced and totally missed him, and Chris continued to run/slide into home. It was an amazing move, and had the whole bench in an uproar.

Nisha, up to bat. Though she’s officially on the team, she was going to come along and just sit in the stands to support the team. Christine convinced her that she should join us on the field… and the two of them hit the Foot Locker store near our work. One pair of shorts later, Nisha officially participated in her first game.

Roshan, on the pitcher’s mound. In the outfield, L to R, it’s Ally, Brad and Chris.

Christine, about to kick the ball. If we were voting for MVP, my vote would absolutely go to Christine. Chris R gets super style points for his amazing moves, but Christine had two clutch plays during the later innings.

First, there was a huge pop fly that came straight to her. She let out a small shriek, but totally caught it like a champ. She seemed a little surprised at herself, but it was a great out. The ball was high up on the air, and one of those difficult ones to track… but it was a solid catch.

And again, at the very end of the game, she participated in a double-play that ended the game. As the ball came towards her, the guy on third started running for home. She caught the ball, and the guy running had to stop himself, turn around, and head back to third. There were shouts from all directions for Christine to throw the ball, and she was able to wing it over to Tim (who was covering third base). Boom – double play, end of game.

The name of the other team was Schwetty Balls, and we ended up winning 5-1. We had a lot more people on our team, and we had way more chatter this time around than we’ve ever had before. In hindsight, I feel like we were a little too chatty overall… and might have gotten a little too rowdy. But we had fun for sure, and I have to say that this game was one of our best.

I’m getting more and more comfortable in the outfield, and caught one ball and dropped none. I could still use a bit more work on the kicking, as I keep popping stuff up too much.

As a team though, we kicked some serious ass today. We felt like a well oiled machine, and our defense was the best I’ve seen so far. Lots of great plays by a lot of people.

I forgot to mention that Sammy, Ally’s dog, was in attendance. She was with us at the bleachers, and also came with us to the bar post-game.