Archive - 1998
So, another season, another go to get back to division one. Our first game was against the promoted Loan Homers. However, we anticipated this as being one of our toughest games, and so it proved. An excellent game of softball with some very good defence resulted in a 9-6 victory for us. A lot of new faces were present this season, and what better way to show them 'our credentials' than to play a good game and indulge in some serious drinking in the pub. An ultimately comfortable victory over the big-hitting, but compartively brainless Kegs followed.
An easy victory over bottom team, The Fuzzy Ducks, followed, and things seemed to be going very well for us. Which of course was a sign that we were about to make an arse of ourselves, which we duly did against 13-3. A mess-up to trump all mess-ups in terms of the organisation followed, so that we ended up having to play 5:5. A not particularly inspired preformance left us hanging onto the game, and it eventually went pear-shaped.
As has happened in the past, a disappointing loss precipitated a change in general procedures and approach. In this case it was the introduction of a system to reward commitment in terms of training and matches.
A fabulous game against the Hookers was next, where despite a few errors, both teams produced top-drawer hitting. This left us in second place at the halfway stage, and looking forward to re-matches agains the Kegs and the Loan Homers, although, ironically enough, the only team to beat us, 13-3, failed to make it into the top section.
Our first game in the promotion section was against old opponents, The Axemen. Disappointingly we had to field a 5:5 team, despite having 3 girls to spare, and struggled more than we would have otherwise. Next up were The Kegs, who played a far more intelligent game than first time round. Old Blazzers habits of falling asleep during games cost us dear here, and despite all sorts of tactics, such as walking batters, we were always chasing the game after a big 1st innings from the Kegs. To be fair, the hitting of their girls gives them options throughout the batting order not available to many teams. An easy win against a very poor Troops team couldn't mask an appalling standard of play, with about the only positive point being the massive turnout. We did manage to step up the standard of play the following week against a Jammy Dodgers side who proved far more capable than we had anticipated. We hoped this would stand us in good stead for the last game of the season against old foes the Loan Homers. The new league format, and our earlier loss against the Kegs meant that a loss here dropped us out of the automatic promotion places.
Well......if there is ever a way to lose a game then this was it. A fantastic game of softball clinched by a great hit under pressure at the bottom of the last gave the points to the Homers. This left us facing the promotion/relegation playoffs, where we were expecting to meet the Reindeer Bucks. Surprisingly, as it turned out we played the FatCats. A good performance by us, with some great hitting by Susanne and disciplined fielding saw us shade it and sneak into the 1st division by the back door.
In other competitions we managed to reach the knock-out stages of the 5:5 pennant, where a dreadful performance saw us lose heavily to the FatCats.
We managed to get to the last 16 of the cup, with easy wins against the Axekids and Oracle being the prelude to a harsh lesson in quality softball from the Batpak.
We participated in a 4-way tournament in Longford involving the National Squad, The Batpak and the local team; The Triads, which we won, while managing a great day out also.
On an off the pitch note, a special thanks is due to Deirdre for all the work she put into running the race night, with her team of helpers, which was a fantastic success.
Galway was also reputedly a great success, with time constraints being the reason for elimination rather than playing standards. Good times were also had off the pitch, it is told.
An easy victory over bottom team, The Fuzzy Ducks, followed, and things seemed to be going very well for us. Which of course was a sign that we were about to make an arse of ourselves, which we duly did against 13-3. A mess-up to trump all mess-ups in terms of the organisation followed, so that we ended up having to play 5:5. A not particularly inspired preformance left us hanging onto the game, and it eventually went pear-shaped.
As has happened in the past, a disappointing loss precipitated a change in general procedures and approach. In this case it was the introduction of a system to reward commitment in terms of training and matches.
A fabulous game against the Hookers was next, where despite a few errors, both teams produced top-drawer hitting. This left us in second place at the halfway stage, and looking forward to re-matches agains the Kegs and the Loan Homers, although, ironically enough, the only team to beat us, 13-3, failed to make it into the top section.
Our first game in the promotion section was against old opponents, The Axemen. Disappointingly we had to field a 5:5 team, despite having 3 girls to spare, and struggled more than we would have otherwise. Next up were The Kegs, who played a far more intelligent game than first time round. Old Blazzers habits of falling asleep during games cost us dear here, and despite all sorts of tactics, such as walking batters, we were always chasing the game after a big 1st innings from the Kegs. To be fair, the hitting of their girls gives them options throughout the batting order not available to many teams. An easy win against a very poor Troops team couldn't mask an appalling standard of play, with about the only positive point being the massive turnout. We did manage to step up the standard of play the following week against a Jammy Dodgers side who proved far more capable than we had anticipated. We hoped this would stand us in good stead for the last game of the season against old foes the Loan Homers. The new league format, and our earlier loss against the Kegs meant that a loss here dropped us out of the automatic promotion places.
Well......if there is ever a way to lose a game then this was it. A fantastic game of softball clinched by a great hit under pressure at the bottom of the last gave the points to the Homers. This left us facing the promotion/relegation playoffs, where we were expecting to meet the Reindeer Bucks. Surprisingly, as it turned out we played the FatCats. A good performance by us, with some great hitting by Susanne and disciplined fielding saw us shade it and sneak into the 1st division by the back door.
In other competitions we managed to reach the knock-out stages of the 5:5 pennant, where a dreadful performance saw us lose heavily to the FatCats.
We managed to get to the last 16 of the cup, with easy wins against the Axekids and Oracle being the prelude to a harsh lesson in quality softball from the Batpak.
We participated in a 4-way tournament in Longford involving the National Squad, The Batpak and the local team; The Triads, which we won, while managing a great day out also.
On an off the pitch note, a special thanks is due to Deirdre for all the work she put into running the race night, with her team of helpers, which was a fantastic success.
Galway was also reputedly a great success, with time constraints being the reason for elimination rather than playing standards. Good times were also had off the pitch, it is told.