“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose; sometimes it rains. (Edward Fant “Bull” Durham)

And sometimes you tie.

After nine long innings and the waning of visibility at the Burbank Soccer Complex last night, the Zeppelins and the Department of Insurance “Regulators” were still neck and neck with no end in sight.  Everyone agreed it was too dark to start inning ten, so the 5-5 tie was recorded in the books.

It was touch and go for a while when it looked like the Zeppelins would have to play without a fourth woman because of last minute field changes.  Coach Linda Regira jokingly suggested that Russell Richardson’s young son Mills would have to play catcher for LED.  Mills, the consummate ball player, decided he was going to somehow convince his parents to FINALLY let him get on the field with the team.  But just before the game started Stephanie Hartman made it out to the field, much to Mills’ dismay.  And later during the game when a ball came in to Stephanie at catcher from the outfield to stop a runner scoring from third, Mills could be heard grumbling, “Man, that coulda been me!”

At the top of the first inning the Regulators exploded with four runs on five hits and a few LED miscues.  LED was unable to put up a score in the bottom of the first, but did have hits from Eddie James and Ashley Falcon, who at that point stretched her 6^th at bat as a Zeppelin to a 6^th hit.

The Zeppelins then cracked down hard on defense, shutting the Regulators out for the remainder of regulation play.  LED tacked on one run in the second, another in the third, and two more in the seventh to end regulation tied at 4-4.  Both teams would go on to score another run each in the eighth, and no one scored in the ninth. 

There were some stellar moments on defense including a third inning double play from the trio of Eddie, Russell, and Chelsea Harris.  With runners on first and second, Eddie pitched a short-hopper from the mound to Russell at first to get the batter, and Russell sent it cross-field to Chelsea who tagged the runner heading to third.  Eric Burton played a solid shortstop, teaming up with Ashley, Russell and the outfield to put out eight Regulators.

The middle outfield manned by rotating fielders Jayson Newell, Michael Pernici, Steve Baham and Corey Dorsa teamed up to wreak havoc on the long hitters.  And not to be outdone by her male fielders, Katie Richardson made a game-saving play in overtime to put a runner out at third from left field when the bases were loaded.  The Regulators tried to argue that their runner crossed the plate before the out, but since it was a force-out the run did not count.

Eddie also did another of his “All Eddie” innings where he caught two flies and struck out a third batter to retire the side unassisted in the top of the fifth.  Eddie lead the team in put out assists with 12 from the mound, while pitching nine full innings and helping cover home plate.  That’s why they call him “Steady” Eddie.

Ashley showed her power when she caught a hard hit grounder at second and turned to toss the ball to Russell before she realized how fast the Regulator batter was running down the baseline.  She pulled her arm back into another gear and rifled him out at first.  She assisted in five additional put outs at second during the course of the game.  Chelsea also showed some arm when she threw out one of their quicker runners at first on a grounder to third.  With that play she decided her dad might consent to get her a birthday present after all.

LED had some solid production on offense as well.  Katie, Corey, Chelsea and Steve all drove in RBIs.  Michael scored once driven in by Steve, Steve scored once driven in by Chelsea, Katie scored once driven in by Corey, and Jayson scored twice, driven in both times by Katie (once in the fourth and again in the eighth)!  Corey led the hitting going 4-4 followed by Jayson and Katie who both went 3-4.  LED ran up 22 hits on the night.

LED will face the Department of Environmental Quality next Wednesday at a location to be determined based on weather, field conditions and availability (the kickballers are back at it again).  First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m.

Hits:  Chelsea (2), Eddie, Russell, Ashley, Jayson (3), Eric (2), Katie (3), Michael, Steve (2), Corey (4), Stephanie (2). 

RBIs:  Katie (2), Steve, Corey, Chelsea

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

PLAYERS:  Ashley Falcon (Civil Service), Chelsea Harris (Communications & Marketing), Corey Dorsa (SEC), Eddie James (Business Development), Eric Burton (Business Incentives), Jayson Newell (Business Development), Katie Richardson (Russell’s wife),  Michael Pernici (Lead Development), Russell Richardson (Business Development), Stephanie Hartman (Small Business Services), and Steve Baham (Business Incentives).

FANS:  Mills Richardson (Russell’s son), Crawford Pernici (Michael’s son), Leigh Ann and Sophie Burton (Eric’s wife and daughter), and Brandon (Chelsea’s boyfriend) and their two dogs.