NEPEAN– You and your baseball team were playing against the Cubans the other day…
Having seemingly found some rhythm after winning our previous 2 games, 11-days of rest proved to be too much rust for the SweatSox to overcome, losing to Team Cuba 9-8 last night at the Sportsplex, committing what is believed to be a modern day franchise record 10 errors in the loss. I’m way too old to look this shit up now.
All eyes in Tier 3 were focussed on the outcome of this game. With only the Winchester Heat locked into position in the Parkins division (1st place, 1st round bye), the other 3 seeds, and all three Tier 3 1st-round playoff matchups would be determined based on the result of our final regular season game.
If the SweatSox won the game, the final Parkins standings would be as follows (with 1st round opponent):
- Heat
- Misfits (vs Coyotes)
- SweatSox (vs Lumberjacks)
- Team Cuba (vs Rockets)
If Team Cuba won the game, the final Parkins standings would be as follows (with 1st round opponent):
- Heat
- Team Cuba (vs Coyotes)
- Misfits (vs Lumberjacks)
- SweatSox (vs Rockets)
If the SweatSox and Team Cuba tied, the final Parkins standings would be as follows (with 1st round opponent):
- Heat
- Misfits (vs Coyotes)
- Team Cuba (vs Lumberjacks)
- SweatSox (vs Rockets)
The SweatSox bracketologists were combing through every possible playoff scenario even before the sun had risen in the morning, and were even projecting the 2nd round implications depending on where we’d be positioned:
- did we want to go to Winchester
- did we want to roll the dice against the Misfits
- did we want to try for the team that is destined for greatness in Team Cuba?
SweatSox Authority Cory Bond is not a morning person, so it took him a bit longer to enter the chat, and when he did he put an immediate stop to all this nonsense.
Cory made it abundantly clear that we were going to go all out and win this game, win our quarter-final series, win our semi-final series, and then win the whole, fucking thing, and it didn’t matter who we played and when.
And that was the end of that.
**His actual rant was so vulgar, it can’t even be posted here. He’d probably be kicked out of the league.
John Groves got the start for the SweatSox, in what could very well be his final ever NCBL appearance. V-OMG is heading to Central America in a couple of weeks for the foreseeable future, his exact whereabouts classified for security purposes, but we hope he’ll scout the local baseball talent and send a couple prospects our way.
The “Maker of Sheds” kept the Cubans off the board in the first, but just like an RKO, a SweatSox Defence Inning can come at you out of nowhere, and the 2nd inning saw 3 Sox errors lead to 3 Cuba runs. If that was the SDI, we got through it just fine, still holding a 4-3 lead. It turns out that wasn’t the SweatSox Defence Inning, that came in the 4th; 5 SweatSox errors led to 6 more Cuban runs, and the rout was on.
We’d score 4 runs over the next 2 innings, and even got the tying run on base in the 7th, but Ross Hughes is no Eric White, and the Merchandise bunted his way into the 3rd out of the inning, and the final out of our regular season. Cuba wins 9-8. SweatSox finish DFL.
Eric White once again led the SweatSox offense, going 3-4 with a double, two runs scored, and four stolen bases, capping a remarkable regular season that started with him not knowing if he’d even be able to swing a bat. Honourable mention to Cory Bond, who had himself a 2-hit 1-double game against his 2020 bubble teammates, and to Josh Ramage, who pitched 3-innings of near perfect relief, facing just 1 batter above the minimum.
We’d also like to acknowledge SweatSox Rookie Jack “Rabbit” McLaughlin, who showed up in the bottom of the 1st finally ready to make his NCBL debut. Nobody was more relieved than Chris Lidstone, who had to play LF in the first inning while we all waited for Jack “Off” to arrive. Jack “B. Nimble” committed just 2 errors during his stint in LF, caught 1 of the fly balls hit his way, and “almost” successfully laid out for one in foul territory. A pretty standard SweatSox debut overall.
Apres baseball, Kent Johnston ordered some pizza: two pies, double gluten, hold the veggies. It was yummy. Thanks KJ.
Next up for the SweatSox is the Tier 3 playoffs. We’ve got ourselves a date with the Rockets, in a rematch of the 2019 semi-finals that ended with a SweatSox sweep. This head-to-head playoff match-up was inevitable, although we would’ve preferred it happen for the championship. Playoff schedule TBD.
Final SweatSox vs Team Cuba 3.0 Notes/Thoughts:
- You can title iPhone alarms
- Kent Johnston’s clean clothes sit in a pile
- Except for 2 preliminary rounds in Tier 4, all playoffs will start after Labour Day.
- Josh Ramage is not happy Craig Cornell is always ‘out’
- A tie is always the worst scenario
- Cory Bond is still drunk from 2 weeks ago
- A > Z
- Eric White is offline. He either shot the moon, or the TableSaw got it too
- Ross Hughes tried to bail when he realized that once again, he’d be our only catcher
- If Ross Hughes got hurt during the game, Josh Ramage was next in line for position #2
- It takes Chris Lidstone all 18 holes to shoot a 77, but I, Shaun Keay, can do it in 12
