Grey Blitz

In the first semifinal game against the Red Diehards, Purple Haze came to bat in the open inning ninth down 10-6. Manager Dave Hunt told his team, “everyone hits.” Having only scored one run on the previous six innings, it was mostly wish. But this is senior softball.

After opening walks to Rob and Dave, the next eight hitters got hits, most solid, some error aided. Purple had batted around and score seven runs to take the lead! But they were not done. The next seven batters all got hits their second time up in the ninth to make it 16 on base in a row. Purple had scored seven more and was now up by ten runs, 20-10. Red managed a couple runs in their half of the ninth but the final score was 20-12.

In the 2nd semifinal game it was Royal Blue vs X-Men. It was a close game for the first half but then Royal Blue kept scoring while the X-Men stopped hitting. Final score was 22-11 and for the second season in a row the top two season finishers did not win a playoff game.

The championship game thus pitted Royal Blue vs Purple Haze. A coin flip determined home team which was won by Purple.

It was a close, but low scoring game throughout, 5-2 Purple after two, 5-3 after four, and 7-5 Purple after six. Purple added two more in the 7th and then the Dodgers put across three in the 8th. Purple then scored three of their own to take a 12-8 lead into the ninth. And that would be the final score.

Congratulations to playoff champions Purple Haze!

40 Dana players and their families came out to share fun, food, and most of all softball for two games on Memorial Day.

In the 9:30 game, manager Rich Tapia stacked his team with both his son and Norm Young’s three sons. They easily dispatched Pat Canney’s team, despite the solid center field defense from Brian Lamb’s daughter Teagan. Dave Hunt and Dax Young each had two home runs for the winning team.

In the second game, a more methodical choice of teams resulted in a close game with Dave Tessmer’s team down only two runs in the final innings. Rich Tapia, who snuck into the second game, was the last batter and he came through, driving in the winning run to send Randy Gage’s team to a one run defeat. For the most part, the women in these two games, Angela Tessmer-Wagner, Megan Church, Krista Rask, and Jillian Robinson, out-played the men.

Subsequently, Rules Commissioner Norm Young was besieged with requests to lower the legal age for women wanting to play at Dana to 19. We all eagerly await his answer.

Photos of many of the family members who played with us today are on the web site under Photos – MemorialDay2016.

The league will consider having another set of family games on Monday July 4.