bacon bests bananas for south division title

Tonight's post-season game began in much the usual way.
This was taken at 5:36 PM, just a few minutes after the gates had opened.
Willie and I are there at least by that time, so he can get to his seat before some illiterate person tries to take it.
The rain had delayed our arrival, so three poachers had tried to settle in.
No worries, I ran them right off!

The stands were otherwise rather empty, except for us regulars, the Banana staff, and the Pep Band.
Nicole took this one of Steve Gerard, Willie, and me.
I'm wearing the new Minion-enhanced chemical symbol-adorned t-shirt that Tony and Laura gave me about a week ago.
New colors for a new Divisional Play-off game!
Thanks, y'all!
It's so.... ME!!!

Folks were pretty slow coming in tonight, mostly because of the rain.
Yes, that same rain that had made us late was still falling, turning the field into Lake Grayson.
Here, we're being treated to a game of "Split Says", featuring Banana Santa, Split himself, Nicole, and Luke, the unripe boy.
At the very least they had those of us there moving and engaged, so that was good.

I was kept pretty busy saving seats for that youngest brother of mine and that giving new sister-in-law.
Willie is no help in such things, he gets too nervous about it.
When I finally went down for some pre-game food around 7:30, I came back to two seats, not three!
But we obviously made it work just fine, squeezing our loving selves a little closer together!

Not that we had to stay that close for long.
By the time that Ethan Baucom clocked the ball over the wall at the left field line, quite a few folks had left, including the trio with the little boy at the end of our row.
It may have only been the 4th inning, but 9:32 PM read the time.
Little ones had to be in bed then!

It was just as well that those folks left when they did.
The very next inning, Macon's Sean McQuillan hit a solid single that brought in two runs, putting the Bacon on top.
Gene Perrone came by for one last visit to Willie in the stands.
Tony and Laura were glad to be distracted from the errors being wrought by Bananas on the field.
I'm sure Willie and Steve felt the same way.

They all felt it in the air, as did I:
the home team was done.
Tony and Laura left after the seventh-inning stretch, as the time was then after 11 o'clock and they had very early mornings.
Macon had not relinquished its grip on the top spot and had even scored another run.
Most of the seats were now empty and the waitstaff and band members sat in the box seats.
The Macon Bacon team were on
their feet, always, cheering and

playing for keeps...
and that's exactly what they got!
The biggest error made that night was the Bananas placing Jack Gowen - ERA 9.64 - on the mound in that last inning.
Perhaps the Savannah coach was ready for a break to have played him ever again.
Macon jumped on that opportunity, as they had been doing all night, and added three more runs to clinch the lead, 7 to 3.

Congratulations to the Macon Bacon on becoming the South Division Champions!
On Tuesday, they'll face off against the Forest City Owls, who won the West Division Championship in a tight, back-and-forth game against the Gastonia Grizzlies.
The Regional Semi-final will be played in Macon and I almost wish I could be there...
almost.
If only it wasn't to be played on a "Tina Tuesday"...
but it is and I will be with Kevin for our dinner-and-a-movie time.
Hooray!
(smile!)
Thanks for all the baseball, my boys of summer!
I hope to see some of you again next year!