Charlottesville, VA Short-handed We Kicked That Ball (WKTB) fell short Sunday afternoon against visiting Homey Don't Kick That (HDKT).
WKTB started out sluggish and confused following interim Captain Trung Tran's 45 minute speech on the importance of nutrition and fundamentals. In contrast, HDKT came out guns blazing scoring a quick seven runs in the first two inning.
Home team WKTB, however, did not go down so easily. Offensive specialist/catcher/right fielder Cassie Sharpe led a mid-game charge as the team whittled their deficit to 10-12. "The team just needed to get into their kicking groove", Sharpe said during the game. Pitcher Thomas Chen held HDKT defensively through the middle innings as WKTB rallied. Chen even stirred a few awes from the Umpire with his unyielding fastball.
Late into the newly extended game, WKTB's shorthanded lineup caught up to them defensively. Homey Don't Kick That surged again in the final innings. Depleted, WKTB could not rally and fell 14-24.
Earlier in the week, Cville Social controversially extended league games from seven to nine innings. Many think this had to do with WKTB's quick routs early in the season. "The league knew we would be missing players. They won't be able to stop us once we're healthy", All Star left-fielder Nate Vogt said after the game.
WKTB were in good spirits after the loss. Right fielder/catcher/pitcher Kayla Leavesley was quoted after the game, "It sucks, but we're a tough group. We'll get 'em next time". Golden glove winner and second baseman Emily Parker agreed: "It's still early in the season and we're missing a bunch of players. We're not worried."
We Kicked That Ball was down numerous players with injuries ranging from Hot Dog Fingers to acute Count Choculitis. One of the biggest blows to the team was veteran, pitcher/third baseman, and undefeated team Captain Derek Brameyer. Brameyer, recovering from missing leg syndrome, controversially appointed second year third baseman Trung Tran as interim captain.
In the press conference following the game, player of the week and first baseman Jesse Prehodick was quoted saying, "I blame poor time management and incompetence by our temporary captain". Prehodick was later released from the team. Interim captain Tran was optimistic: "I'm happy with the way everyone played. We played as hard as we could with what we had. Except for maybe our first baseman. Is he even on our team? Anyway we're all still getting used to this crazy game. Heck, I don't think I've even read the rules!".
We Kicked That Ball falls to 2-1 on the season and travels to Where My Pitches At next week in a 12 o'clock showdown in the Cherry Dome. WKTB will be at full strength with Captain Brameyer returning.