banana special on a tuesday

Just in case you missed the news, the Savannah Bananas advanced to the Playoffs for the second year in a row!
Not only that, but we were the #2 Seed, so the Playoff was held right here!

No one informed the weather,
so raindrops kept falling
on the field as well as
on my head.
(Love that song by BJ Thomas!)
Start time was delayed about thirty minutes.
Not bad!

What's the matter?
You've never seen
Penguins in the rain?
They're not singing,
nor are they Penguins
in the night,
exchanging glances...
they're just guiding cars
into the special lot.
(See my car on the far left?)

Okay, time to peel back the tarp.
Who better to do so than the Bananas?
(Get it? 'Peel' the tarp?)

Oh, my!
The field looks great!
No extra sand needed,
nothing like that.
Even the lines are clear!
Let's go!

First things first, folks.
First banana hurled?
Yes, by Willie's friend, Corey.
T-ball home run completed?
Yes, by 6-year-old Cody
(though it took him 3 tries).
Grim Reaper announced the visitors?
Yes, yes he did, with a grin.

Then, let's go, go, go!
Time was 7:31 when
Mark "the Shark" Ediss,
our announcer in the box,
swam to the ground and
sang the anthem.
Let's not keep the Hi-Toms
waiting for their loss!

But meanwhile, what a tense game we had.
Erin Baldwin, the Hi-Toms starter,
slammed a fast ball into the helmet
of our fourth batter, Matt Pita,
driving the helmet off and sending our man
reeling to the ground.
BAD PITCHER!
BAD PITCHER!
We had to replace Matt with
Jake Howard when play resumed.

Thanks to continued bad pitching,
the bases became
filled with Bananas...
but to no avail.
A double play
ended the 1st inning
and nullified the run.
Onward, my boys!

Second inning came with a crazy lesson for me.
That's Utah Jones on second, but here's the crazy part.
He had tried to steal the base -
and would have been out -
had not the excited Hi-Toms player blocked his path.
That was interference because that man didn't have
possession of the ball.
I had never seen that call before...
and Willie had seen it rarely.

Meanwhile, Brandon Purcell was on third and took advantage of the distraction to steal home.
Woohoo! The first run of the game was ours!
That was the only run for four innings.
What a lovely day, though!
With Darius Johnson doing his dance
and my man Christian Hollie in the game,
all was well in my world!

Then, in the fifth inning, the field came alive.
That's when pitchers begin tiring, ya know.
Our boys got some hits in the 5th,
with Brandon Purcell bringing in
Logan Mattix for our second run.
Top of the sixth is when the Hi-Toms
lit up the scoreboard with three runs
as Bryan Cruse, our starter, began to sag.

I missed the sixth inning events.
My former student, Brooke, had spotted me
and spent about twenty minutes with me!
She thanked me for being such a great teacher, giving her a solid understanding of problem analysis.
How very nice of her!
Then she made her request: that I come to the graduation in December of her and Anna.
Of course I will be there!

At the seventh inning stretch, she left -
and our bats got hot!
And why should that have happened?
The Hi-Toms changed pitchers, that's why.
That's Utah Jones crossing home plate,
thanks to the catcher's error.
(That was another rare play.)

That error had Willie
shaking his head at the antics of
"these college boys."
That sentiment was echoed by
the couple sitting beside him,
as well as the hottie in glasses
sitting right in front of them.
(Yes, I kept catching his eye all night!)

Utah's tying run was the first of
five runs scored in that inning.
Because I was distracted and
busy making passes
at the guy in glasses,
I missed Hollie crossing home and
scoring run 4,
putting us in the lead.

But I was paying attention when John Cassala
ran in for lucky run 7.
He had been stranded on base in two earlier innings,
so I was actively rooting for him.
In this inning, he had driven in
both LJ Talley and Jacob Howard.
How sweet to finish the seventh with our
first baseman on home plate!

In the eighth inning, my boys of summer scored twice more, with Hollie and Fischer besting two new pitchers.
The Hi-Toms only had their three runs from early on.
Final score: Bananas, victorious, with 9 runs!
They'll go on now to play the Grizzlies for
the West CPL championship.
That best-of-three match begins Thursday,
in Gastonia, with our boys of summer
returning here on Friday!

Sadly, Willie's dearest helper, Rosalind, will not be here for the game.
The university life is beckoning and she must go.
i thank God she has been here to share so much with us...
and with Willie.
For several games, she has driven him home, when I could not be there.
I do hope she will stay in touch with him and Gloria.