KANATA– After playing the first 3 games of the 2021 season on the road, the SweatSox returned home and climbed back to .500 with a 7-5 win over the Misfits “last night” at Kinsmen.
The visiting Misfits jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, scoring both runs on a 1st inning Scott Willis double. The Misfit SS tried to leg that double into an NCBL career leading 25th triple, but he didn’t take into account the arm of SweatSox CF Kent Johnston, who can still triple crow-hop it to the cutoff man like no other. The Johnston-White-Groves-Malo relay was just enough to get Willis thrown out at 3rd, but the damage on the scoreboard was already done.
Those two runs should’ve been more enough for Misfits starter Peter Gauthier to cruise to victory, but the SweatSox displayed a rare case of resiliency and answered with 4 in the bottom of the 1st, highlighted by a 2-run Cory Bond single down the right field line.
Mark Bond got the start in our home opener, facing the Misfits for the first time in his NCBL career. Our Bus Cop was throwing well, shattering not only a few bats but also a few hands. The biggest casualty was the aforementioned Gauthier, who had to leave the game with a “reverb’d wrist” in the 3rd, with the SweatSox about to be up 6-2.
With Darkness out of the game, the Misfits looked to Dave Farquharson, who’s been a thorn in the side of many SweatSox for many years, to lock us down until they could mount their comeback. Eric White’s Ottawa Fire Baseball teammate did his job, but so did our “Roofman” Cop, who threw 6+ innings before turning the ball over to big brother Cory to 1) keep the lights on, and 2) lock down the 2-out save. SweatSox win 7-5.
With the victory, the SweatSox not only snapped our 5 game winless streak vs the Misfits, but we also ruined their very public goal of a 17-0 perfect season; or was that their goal? We later learned through leaked text messages that the Misfits realized they embarrassed themselves (and the league) when they needlessly dropped to Tier 3, and decided to do something about it…
The SweatSox were missing a few key pieces in this one, including 2016 Doug Dorion Memorial Trophy winner Chris Lidstone, who was either at home nursing a messed up arm from his 1st inning suicide dive last game, or he was visting a few local eateries in celebration of Ontario moving into Stage 3. Where he wasn’t though was on our bench for “moral support”.
As always more-times-than-not, 19-year SweatSox vet Craig Cornell did show up to the game, making the 69km trek from Findlay Creek to Kanata West (and back), only to be stuck playing left field while being left out of the batting order. A real dick (not Dow) move by SweatSox Authority Cory Bond to screw with this NCBL celebrity like that.
Finally, congratulations go out to the winners of the NCBL’s Tier 3 Week 2 Player(s) of the Week: the Brothers Bond, for their combined effort vs the Misfits in this game.
Final SweatSox vs Misfits 2.0 Notes/Thoughts:
- Josh Ramage and Craig Cornell were waiting for the damn text
- Ross Hughes is in, jured
- The lowest you can go is substandard
- Our honourable mentions got honourable mentions
- A good connection + follow through = ball straight as an arrow
- Josh Ramage correctly predicted a laser show
- Chris Lidstone is there for the beer
- Ross “Virtuous” Hughes is there for the team
- Josh Ramage loves a good chant
- Buffets are permitted in Stage 3. Let’s eat!
- Left arm or right arm? Why not both?
- The Baltimore Seat Hawk is way more hardcore than the CTC Picture Hawk
- No pants, no flip flops, no worries
- Ross Hughes asked for penis
- Cory Bond was the first EH in SweatSox history
- Craig Cornell was technically the first EH’d for in SweatSox history
- Craig Cornell should’ve shown up late and forced The Authority’s hand
- The Darkness will only swing at a hittable ball on the following pitch counts: 0-0, 0-1, 0-2, 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 2-0, 2-1, 2-2, 3-0, 3-1, and 3-2
- Eric White is right again
- Jaspreet Sanghra may have been arrested for “suspicion of something” after driving counter-clockwise around the Kanata Theatre
- The J. in Donald J. Trump stands for John
- The Darkness is an all time great pitcher and hitter, but he may be the worst 3rd base coach ever
- Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate (RICE) is now Rest, Compress, and Elevate (RCE)
- The Black Sox dropped to Tier 3 to avoid playing 8 bubble games vs the Red Sox, and who could blame them
- Why did Phil Martin sign up to bat 13th for the Misfits when he could be hitting 2nd for us?
- Jaspreet “Poppie” Sanghra may have left me a little surprise on the back of my truck
