OSI 6 - Bagelz 10

GLASTONBURY

Impressive. Team OSI came within one inning of their first win, but it slipped away in the last inning.

Still, considering that they lost their first two games by an aggregate score of 45 to 16, this was a victory. They had hits that counted; they made plays in the field; they ran the bases well; and by the time Amy "Scoop" Baldwin launched a triple over the left-fielder's head in the 4th and then scored on Jessica "Mouthguard" Hennigan's double, they started to feel it. Going into the sixth, they were up by a run, 6 - 5.

What OSI didn't know was in the sixth they were playing both Bagelz and the umpire.

The umpire had been a bit familiar all game, 'teaching' each team's catcher how to throw, 'explaining' to the Bagelz women how to run the bases (which included a game-delaying how-to by the ump), and giving all the women some rather suspect 'encouragement', such as "The view looks good from here!".

In the sixth, though, the ump seemed intent on teaching the Bagelz' hitters—the Bagelz' female hitters, that is—how not swing at pitches outside the strike zone. Unfortunately, OSI pitcher John "Hamstrings" Jeffrey then obliged them by actually pitching outside the strike zone and walking two batters. Finally, catcher Sarah “No BS” Bourn put a stop to the ump's one-sided help with a well-phrased, “Hey, quit f***ing coaching them.”

But Bagelz went on to score 5 runs in the inning and won, 10-6.

Yet the real story is that Open Solutions now knows they can, if they put it all together, play. The goal now is to keep it together for 7 innings. And they have a lucky thirteen more games to try.

Notes: OSI will get the last laugh on the umpire. One night in the future, while sitting in their living rooms, they’ll see the ump again—on Dateline: To Catch a Predator. I can see it now... Chris Hansen walking in to confront a man wearing only a jockstrap and a catcher’s mask, who, squatting in the kitchen, is calling out "Baaaaaatter up!"