at bananas but not in my seat

By the time I entered the stadium, the national
anthem was already in full voice.
That meant no sitting around Mister Willie.
That was okay, though; he wasn't there tonight.
As for me, I spent the evening trying to find a
place that felt right for me.
Over in the right corner of the stands for Gabe
Howell's run in the first inning wasn't it.

For the bottom of the second inning, I was standing behind the box seats, to the right side.
In other words, close to my seat from 2016.
That's Rafi Vazquez at bat and I was hoping to see him hit a home run.
The Redwolves had scored four runs against Austin Temple and the Bananas just had the one run.
Gabe Howell finally got Ethan Baucom across home plate for a second run.

That left the home team still trailing the visitors by
two runs.
That's where the score stayed, too, for the next four innings, with neither team seemingly able to budge it.
I was roaming around, settling down briefly at a picnic table past third base.
The perspective was too alien for me, so I went back into the stands.

The nightly "Salute to the Troops" found me in the stadium's left side, behind the visitor's dugout.
That's when I found out the young man to my left was
in the Marines!
We had a nice chat after, too.
I really enjoyed that his little boy was cheering every
bit as enthusiastically as I did.
Definitely the right seat for me!
(smile!)

Even with our cheering, it wasn't until the seventh inning that the tide began to turn for our team.
Here's Mike Williams at bat, with two Bananas walked onto bases.
Then, thanks to some mighty fast footwork, Justin McConnell was able to streak to home as Williams grounded out!
Well done, y'all!

No score changes for either team in the eighth inning.
It looked like the ninth inning was going to be the
"make or break" time!
A pinch runner, Kyler Marquis, was put into play...
and successfully, too!
When a thrown ball became a wild pitch, he crossed home to tie up the score!
Hooray!

That play called for a new set of fresh legs to pinch run, this time on Austin Thompson, from the vantage point
of third base.
Mere seconds later, he scored the walk-off run on McConnell's single!
How very sweet to have the win at last!
Woohoo!!!

And then we had fireworks!
I always so enjoy the displays of color and light ant sound over the baseball diamond...
but they're just that little bit more dazzling after a winning game!
Maybe Mister Willie will be cleared to come with me next Wednesday and we'll be at his seat.
I sure hope so.