Score: 18-19
Location: PARADIS3 Field (Fall City, WA)
As part of our raucous weekend of old college roommates getting together to enjoy some male bonding we made sure to dedicate a morning to a friendly game of wiffle. The house we were staying at had a lot of acreage in the back, though with some grading challenges, but we were able to scout out a big patch and come up with an orientation that ended up making for some nice confines.
Once we were able to rouse Verlan from his deep slumber in his pitch-black guestroom, and he had appropriately layered himself, we made our way out to the maiden field to get things started. We were a little late on start time but nobody was more than 15 minutes late so no lap-running punishments were enforced.
After hitting for teams Paul took to the mound to start off the contest. He gave up a couple walks and a couple singles, plus a 2-run double which went over Verlan's head by quite a ways in the vast outfield which gave us all a chance to witness his interesting running form which I would describe as being very rigid and earnest, with short lunges, involving well-defined elbow thrusts (made all the more interesting by the swishing sounds of his plastic-y overcoat). In the end of that half inning we put up 3 runs.
Then when it was our turn to take the field Chris took the mound to test out his pitching form. Having not pitched in over 10 years, and dealing with fresh balls that hadn't yet been scuffed by time and bat contact, he struggled with his command, giving up 11 runs on only 3 hits (including one grand salami by Paul).
In the 2nd Chris and I put up just 1 or 2 more runs as we couldn't find much of a rhythm at the plate. Paul and Verlan also put up just a couple runs as Chris settled a bit on the mound and as their plate disciple waned a bit.
In the 3rd Chris and I finally broke out for a 10-run inning with a steady string of solid hits all over the field, including a deep blast to the right-center, down-sloping homerun territory that sent Verlan running for an extra 50 feet or so in his pursuit of the ball down the wet grass and soil. I took the mound in the bottom of the 3rd with a 15-13 lead and threw their hitting off with my rapid-fire delivery and some different arm angles.
Paul countered in the following inning with some erratic pitching that lulled us into taking some bad hacks for some easy outs. Then they put up a run or two in their half of the frame which took us to the 5th and final inning with a score of 18-16, our lead.
With time running short we switched to a 2-out inning for that final inning. Chris and I got the bases loaded but hit a couple grounders into the high grass that cut short our rally without tacking on any insurance runs.
In the bottom of the 5th I gave up a quick double to Paul, then got a strikeout on Verlan, then had Paul down in an 0-2 count, one strike away from victory. I threw a good fast one in on his hands that he was able to inside-out for an opposite field single. Then Verlan came up with 2 men on and heroically cranked an overhand curve up into the tree above the imaginary homerun line for a walk-off 3-run badonkadonk, earning himself MVP honors for the day.
Game Highlights
- Verlan successfully chased down a deep popup and caught it around his shins while still staying on his feet.
- Paul unsuccessfully chased down a short foul popup, diving into the wet grass with some interesting arm contortions. This left him a bit rattled when he came back to the mound.
- Paul set a record by multitasking during a wiffle game, coordinating funeral details on the phone with various church bigwigs back in Arlington.
- For postgame grub we went to McD's for breakfast. Paul declared (sacrilegiously, in my opinion) that he wouldn't mind if the McMuffin or the McGriddle ceased to exist.
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| Church guy |
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