Wednesday, May 18, 2016: A day that will live in infamy for all who live and breathe with the rise and (more frequently of late) fall of the Honey Badger fortunes. Which is to say, a day that will likely be forgotten by all by a very special few. But a day that is worthy of reflecting upon nonetheless, as it marks the awarding of the inaugural Honey Force trophy. And no, it wasn't awarded to us.
Several things went wrong in this one. First, we didn't get a hit until the fourth inning. It is very difficult to score without hits, and exceedingly difficult to win without scoring. Then, for the second game in a row, we gave up five runs in the first inning, and followed it up by allowing three more in the second. Together, this combination of not hitting while allowing lots of runs is a poor recipe for success in a game where the object is to score more than the other team.
...That is what we in the business call "analysis."
On the surface of things, we were a bit unlucky. On defense, the infield was hard and uneven, leading to bad hops on some routine grounders and ultimately to runs for the Institute. On offense, we hit into inning-ending double plays in both the 5th and 6th innings with multiple runners on base. Instead of potential big rallies, we were limited to a combined three runs in those innings as we tried to claw our way back into the game.
But the adage that "you make your own luck" is also undeniably true here. The Force played solid defense and didn't make any egregious errors. They hit a large percentage of grounders, which proved a successful strategy given the field conditions, while the Badgers lofted far too many lazy fly balls for outs and even gave away an out on a called third strike (we are too Polite And Understanding to Let any names slip here). Though we endured some bad hops that few if any CCSLers would have turned into outs, we also had unforced errors and throwaways that extended innings and led directly to more runs for TFI.
And that's all we're going to say about it. Congratulations to Buddy & crew on winning the first ever Honey Force game. PLEASE don't blow up the trophy until we have a chance to replace it with something more permanent and less explosive. Any claim that the pyrotechnics were "for science" will not be accepted without a rigorous and peer-reviewed journal article to back it up.
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| Ladies and Gentlemen, your (temporary) Honey Force trophy! |
FINAL SCORE: TFI 13, Honey Badgers 4
BRIGHT SPOTS
AJ was on base twice and scored two of our four runs. T-Barr had two solid hits and RBIs in the game. Relatively new aquisition Erisa came out to play on her birthday and also collected two hits, including breaking up the no-hitter (hooray!) in the fourth.
Key 2015 Honey Badger Sean was on leave from Afghanistan and came to cheer us on. Unfortunately he didn't play - we could have used him! Sorry we couldn't get you a win, but we were glad to you could make it.
Also, food! Barbeque games bring out the best in everyone. We had an abundance of frothy adult beverages, lots of food, and excellent company for our first post-game grill of the season. Even slightly chilly temperatures and a light rain couldn't dampen the enthusiasm. Good times!
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| Top: Honey - Bottom: Force |
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