Tonight at 6:30pm, the SweatSox return to the Brewers tournament for the first time since the first time back in 2008. After an offseason vote within our team about whether to make the jump up to Tier 1 was defeated, the logical compromise seemed to be to enter the annual Brewers tournament to see then how we’d fare against the city’s best. Now, after losing 11 games in a row and sitting dead last in Tier 2, it seems like entering April’s Heritage Classic hosted by the Tier 3 Old Sox would’ve been a better idea. Nevertheless, we are entered in the tournament, and there’s no turning back now.
Our 2014 schedule is much more favourable than 2008 when we had a 9:00pm Friday night start, then an 8:00am game the following morning, with an extended Hyjinx involving the Ottawa Police in-between.
This time around, we play:
Friday, July 11 – 6:30pm vs Ottawa Panthers
Saturday, July 12 – 12:20pm vs Kingston Ponies
Saturday, July 12 – 6:30pm vs Rose City Thorns
Fortunately, we don’t have any scheduled round robin games on Sunday, since the weather forecast doesn’t look ideal. The playoffs are also scheduled for Sunday afternoon/evening, but the basement dwelling Tier 2 SweatSox probably don’t have to worry about that.
Winning #brewtourn15 isn’t a realistic goal for the 2014 SweatSox, but we do have a checklist of objectives more suited to our current level of play. In no particular order:
-No season ending injuries
-No perfect games thrown against us
-No no-hitters thrown against us
-Score at least 1 run in a game
-Score at least 2 runs in a game
-Score at least 3 runs in a game
-Don’t give up 20 runs in a game
-Don’t give up 30 runs in a game
-Don’t give up 40 runs in a game
A big topic of conversation around the league has been about our tournament roster. The big question of course being: Did we pick anybody up? The answer is no. We’re not using any lubrication to make this easier, we’re not using any toys to make this more pleasurable, and we’re not wearing a rubber to minimize the risk. We’re putting it in, doing our thing, then pulling out & praying nobody gets pregnant. Our official #brewtourn15 roster (alphabetical):
Cory Bond
Mark Bond
Craig Cornell
Mark Dorrington
Andrew Elias
John Groves
Ross Hughes
Denver Hunt
Kent Johnston
Shaun Keay (me)
Marc Lett
Chris Lidstone
Armando Navarro
Josh Ramage
Mindy Ruffo
Mark Stinson
Martin Trepanier
Eric White
Historically, both as a team and individually, the SweatSox haven’t fared to well in this tournament. The 2008 SweatSox went 0-3, but that wasn’t the only time active members of the SweatSox played in this tourney. In 2007, the Jean Lazure led Ottawa Deuces featured 5 members of the SweatSox (CBond, Cornell, Delorey, Freeman, Johnston) and went 0-3. In 2010, Denver and Cory played with the Burlington Bulls and went 2-1, but that’s probably because their roles were minimal. Last year, Cory and Eric played with the New Lowell Knights, each started a game on the mound, and the team went 0-3. Will 2014 be the year we turn that trend around?
Good luck to all teams this weekend. Bye.
#L12-L13-L14?