Zeppelins met DCFS team for first time

By Eddie James (Interim Coach and Ace Reporter)

The Zeppelins faced the mighty DCFS team on Wednesday evening.  The DCFSers were the 2012 league champs.  They also went undefeated in the regular season in 2013, but lost in the championship game.  They came into Wednesday undefeated this season as well, and unfortunately for the Zeps, DCFS left that way as well.

Our Zeppelins knew they would have a battle against such a fierce opponent, but still bravely took the field undaunted by the odds.  They were, however, handicapped by the suspicious absence of their Coach Linda Regira, AND new ace starting pitcher, Rick Ward, who (allegedly) had a client in town and was unavailable to face DCFS murderer’s row of hitters.  As a result, Eddie James drug his “go-to” (and only) pitch, the knuckleball, out of storage, with decidedly mixed results. 

Things got off to a promising start, with the Zeps facing the minimum in 3-up-3-down 1^st inning.  The next inning was quite different, yielding 9 hits, and “allowing” their line-up to hit for the cycle in the inning:  5 singles, 1 double, 2 triples, and a 3-run homer.   4 additional runs in the 3^rd , 3 more  in the 4^th before another goose egg in the fifth. 

The bottom of the 6^th was one of the most exciting innings of the season on defense.  Two singles led off the inning before another scorching triple that David Carter (volunteer coach, as needed player---and boy, did we need him!) fielded on the run and rifled to Eric Burton, who then threw a perfect relay to the plate allowing the second runner to be tagged out on a real bang-bang play.  The next batter flied out for the second out, followed by a single that scored the final runner.  The next batter lined a single to the outfield, but the runner on first was erased on yet another outfield assist throw-out at third base that ended with a masterful tag by Chelsea Harris.

 

DCFS managed 28 hits, and there weren’t any cheap ones:  15 singles, 7 doubles, 5 triples, and 1 HR.  Steven Grissom volunteered to leave his normal post playing first base to play right field for last two innings.  With all the running the outfielders were doing during the middle innings, everyone found this quite strange---until it was revealed that he had missed his aerobics class twice this week.  Evidently, he  felt he would undoubtedly be able to get his target heart rate up sufficiently chasing the knuckleballs that DCFS was consistently converting into lasers. 

DCFS was almost as good on defense as they were at the plate, but the Zeppelins still managed 16 hits, led by Steven Grissom who went 3 for 3 with a double, Eric Burton who went 2 for 2 with a double and a run scored, and Russell Richardson who hit the first legitimate triple the Zeps have had in the last two seasons.  The 4 ladies led us again, going a combined 6 for 12 with Chelsea and Lauren Stuart both getting two hits.  The hitting was quite spread out, with 11 of the 12 Zeps hitting their way on base at least once.  RBI’s came from Gary Beadle, David Carter, Chelsea Harris, and Eddie James.

Once the dust settled, DCFS had managed 16 runs, with the Zeppelins plating just 4.  Making things worse was that Devin Harrison was lost to a hamstring injury and is at least temporarily on the DL.

On the brighter side, the 3 toughest teams on our schedule are now past.  Those teams were a combined 21-3 in the regular season last year, and we managed a win against one of them.  Season record is now 3-2, with three games remaining until the playoffs.

Department of Education is up next week

 

Singles:  Chelsea (2), Steven (2), Lauren (2), Eddie, Paige, Devin, Stephanie, Eric, Michael,

Doubles:  Steven, Eric, David

Triple:  Russell

RBI’s:  Chelsea, Eddie, Gary, David

Many thanks to all who STEPPED UP TO THE PLATE for LED.

PLAYERS:  Chelsea Harris (Communications & Marketing), Devin Harrison (Business Development), Eddie James (Business Development), Eric Burton (Business Incentives), Gary Beadle (IT), Michael Pernici (Lead Development), Paige Ovens, Lauren Stuart, and David Carter (Business Development), Russell Richardson (Business Development), Stephanie Reed Hartman (Small Business), Steven Grissom (Deputy Secretary).

FANS:  Sorry, but as I was on the mound, I neglected to record all the supporters we had in the stands, which was many, but sincere thanks to Alicia Ardoin for keeping us all hydrated.