Start of Season Blitz 2009 ALSAA Dublin

Once again it was time to pack our kit bags, hit the road and head to ALSAA for the Start of Season Blitz.
We found out late on Friday evening that the organizers had kindly thought we would all appreciate an extra hour in bed before starting the drive, and so gave us a bye in the first round. The 15 travelling Brawlers happily received this news, and plans were quickly adjusted to leave an hour later…With blue skies as far as we could see, and a good softball atmosphere in the air, it was time to play some ball…

Game 1 Brawlers vs. Suspects

After just a little time for a stretch and a warm up, it was finally time for the Brawlers to take to the field for the first time this season…we had no scorebook with us, and details are sketchy of the score that the Suspects managed to get against us.
All there is room for here is to say that our initial battings were over too quickly for our liking, and it wasn’t until the third that David managed to get home and at least ensure that we didn’t suffer a whitewash in our first game.
Coach T had neglected to tell our newbie Tom that although he wouldn’t be on the field during the first game, he would have the chance to be a designated hitter – with his first pitch he hit the ball and made it to first – a good way to start of his Brawler career. David’s run was our only score, but nonetheless, an enjoyable game to get us started.

Game 2 Brawlers vs. Packers

After our first game, we were all warmed up and ready to take on the Packers – with Carrie not there, the same degree of sibling rivalry wasn’t in the air, but we were determined to put on a good show and aim for our first win of the day.
Our first at bat didn’t get a score on the board, and we then spent a long time in the field trying to minimize the number of runs the Packers scored – they managed to put 7 by us before we finally got to shut them down. Unfortunately, our next two at bats were over as swiftly as the first, but with Brandi playing great on the pitchers mound, and the rest of the tem doing a much better job defending, the Packers only scored a further three runs in the next two innings. We rallied ourselves to try and at least get a score on the board, and at last we succeeded with Terry getting home off a hit by Nick. The Packers found their form again and put 8 more runs on the board.
With time running out, our final chance came to get some scores on the board – taking our bats, every one was on fire, with Nicky bringing home Chris, and then Brandi getting a hit that saw Etain and Nicky crossing the plate. Terry hit a home run, which also brought Conor home and saw Brandi scoring her first run as a Brawler. Karen, who was batted home by Tom, swiftly followed Nick home. Chris’s batting saw Tom (for his first run as a Brawler) and Suzanne cross the plate to bring our total runs scored to 10.
Mightily impressive – we had finally woken up, but now it was time for lunch – we could only hope when the next game started we would be able to keep batting so well.

Game 3 Marlay B vs. Brawlers

During the lunch break we brought the beer from the car and put in a little practice before picking up our bats to try and keep going the way we had finished the last innings…Sadly this was not to be the case, but we did manage to get 2 runs on the board before finding our mitts and heading to the field. Some impressive batting by the Marlay team saw them putting 4 runs past us – they clearly knew about the valley in the outfield. Our next two at bats were over as soon as they had started pretty much, but the same can be said for the Marlay – our swift defending ensured they only scored one run per inning. The final time we got to bat in this game saw David score the only run – probably one of the most confusing runs we Brawlers have seen with no-one 100% sure if initially he had got a walk or had struck out, and they when coming into home base, the catcher was blocking the plate whilst going to catch the ball coming in from the outfield – he succeeded, but there was a collision, both players hit the floor and the ball was no longer under control – a score for the Brawlers!

Game 4 Marlay A vs. Brawlers

After playing the B team, it was time to rally and stand to face the ‘A’ team from the Marlay Club. After some entertaining confusion when it cam to deciding who would take to the field first (Coach T trying to invent a new version of Rock-Paper- Scissors!), the Brawlers stepped up to the plate and a reasonable start was made with Chris, Nick, Heather and Terry all coming home safe.
Taking to the field it was time to defend our rather good start – the Marlay A’s were all superb hitters and managed to get 6 runs in before we finally shut them down. Our next two occasions at bat were negligible, for as soon as we’d come off the field, we pretty much had to go straight back out again. The Marlay’s continued on form, and put a further 10 runs past us. The last innings saw Heather making the only run (carrying an injury to her ankle had and so had to ‘hobble’ rather than run past home base). An enjoyable game, despite the result, and luck was wished to the Marlay A’s for the rest of the day – they eventually made it through to the final, so losing to them wasn’t too bad really!

Game 5 Blazzers vs. Brawlers

It took a little while to figure out that, yes, we would have one final game – a chance at last to get one win under our belts. Batting first, we got off to a fantastic start with Chris, Suzanne, Nick, Kelsey and Terry all making runs…time to take the field and keep the Blazzers runs to a minimum…they scored only two, and for the first time all day we were actually winning a game (early days given it was only one innings played).
The batting in the second equalled that in the first, and we got another five runs on the scoreboard – David, Nicky, Chris, Suzanne and Terry. The Blazzers picked up their game, and in the second inning took advantage of the ‘valley’ running through the middle of the outfield…the outfielders got the ball back into the diamond, and the necessary outs were made, but the Blazzers were starting to come back at us. The score stood at 6 – 10 in our favour going into the top of the 3rd. Malachy managed our only run, and rather swiftly it was time to take the field again. The Blazzers only got 2, so at least we were still winning! T-Bomb was the only Brawler to pass through home base in what turned out to be the last inning, and some good team work in the infield ensured that only one run was gained by the Blazzers. Result - our first win of the day, a rather impressive 9 - 12.

Go Brawlers! So that was that – we ended the day on a high with a win, and hopefully this winning form will stay with us for the ’09 Season!

Thanks to all the Brawlers (old and new) for making the trip - once again we were the happiest team there!