Section 8 manager Chayce Sutton received quite a scare this past weekend. With the team struggling and speculation about his job security being widely discussed, especially (actually only) by Scott, Sutton got a startling phone call in the wee hours of Sunday morning. The call came at about 3:30 am EST on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and according to the skipper, he thought for sure it was Omar Minaya calling to tell him that he was getting the axe. As it turns out the call was merely a drunk dial from Shak who was still awake and rowdy out on the deck of the Sutton residence. Chayce then remembered that Scott wasn't even in town and that Omar Minaya has no jurisdiction in bar league softball, so he had no real reason to fear getting "Randolphed" in the middle of the night. __________________________________________________ But, Section 8 really has been having a bit of a rough go of it lately. They've lost their last 2 games by 13 and 12 runs respectively. They limped in to this week's game missing a few key components, including leadoff man Scott Van Lith who was on vacation, as well as Peter, their 2nd leading RBI man, who was still on the shelf after injuring his shoulder last week. And if that wasn't enough, The 8 was taking on its long standing rivals, and fellow 3-4 squad, It Ain't Heaven. It was a big game for the boys, and this is how it went down. __________________________________________________ Things started off slowly for The 8. They led off (naturally, it was the It Ain't Heaven game) and only managed to get a walk in the top of the 1st. It Ain't Heaven got 3 in their half of the 1st, that included a controversial, but correct, call on a ball that nearly left the yard but hit the top of the fence. (It didn't end up mattering as the runner eventually scored). In the top of the 2nd, The 8 finally got a hit from Nick, the 8th man to bat in the game, but again failed to score. It Ain't Heaven scored 2 more in their half of the 2nd on a 2-run, no doubter homer to left field. Things were looking pretty bleak, but The 8 got a little spark in the 4th. Philly B led off with a hit, the first of a string of 4 straight hits that was capped off by a 3-run inside the park homer by Lucas. That made the game 5-4 and The 8 suddenly had life again. The good guys kept it rolling on defense, holding It Ain't Heaven off the board in the bottom of the 3rd; an inning that included a fairly well executed rundown after Chayce threw behind a runner that took too big of a turn around 3rd base. It went 8-6-5-2 on the putout if you're scoring along with us at home. Section 8 took the momentum back to the plate with them in the 4th, plating 3 more runs with Chayce delivering the big blow with a 2-out triple to right, his first extra base hit of the season. Now leading 7-5, Nicky J and the 8 defense set 'em down 1-2-3 in the 4th, and put up another bagel in the 5th. But, if you know anything about this series, you know that It Ain't Heaven always seems to be able to pull the game out of the fire against The 8 (3 straight walk-off wins before last fall), so some insurance runs were going to be needed to make this one stick. The Gold got one more run in the 6th, but left the bases loaded in the top of the 7th. So, they went to the bottom of the 7th clinging to an 8-5 lead. In the bottom of the 7th, It Ain't Heaven pulled out all the stops to try and rattle Nick and steal another win from Section 8. But Nicky J was having none of it. He worked around 3 walks in the inning, and got out of it unscathed with 2 K's and a come-backer to the mound. Section 8 emerges victorious in a nail biter, 8-5. __________________________________________________ All around, this was one of the best games Section 8 has played all year. Seven different players had multiple hits, and the pitching and defense were as solid as they've been all year. This week the Offensive Star Other Than Lucas (The OSOTL) was definitely Chayce. The skip finally hit some balls hard that weren't right at someone. He went 3-3 with a walk, a triple, 2 runs scored, and 3 RBIs. The Offensive Star that actually IS Lucas (The OSTAIL) was....Lucas! The Wild Bittner was 2-4, with the big homerun that got The 8 off the deck, 4 RBIs and a run scored. That homerun gives Lucas 5 on the year, only 1 away from tying the team record for homers in a season, set by Eric Herzberg back in the summer of 2005. Special props go out to Jamie Curtin who filled in nicely in the leadoff spot, despite not even having his shoes on as the ump was calling for the first batter. He went 2-5 with 2 runs and an RBI. He narrowly missed having a few more RBIs when his 7th inning liner, ticketed for centerfield, was snared by the pitcher. Also, much love goes out to Jamie Cimpl-Wiemer, Section 8's answer to Hernan Irabarren (converted infielder that's constantly being called up and sent back down) and Roger Dorn (always un- retiring and putting on impressive displays of stretching) who notched his first Section 8 hit since October 9th, 2006 (in a game he was later kicked out of). He also scored himself an outfield assist when a 6th inning fly ball to right was, shall we say, mishandled, but Jamie recovered in time and threw a "strike" to 2nd base in time to still get the force out. __________________________________________________ On the bump, The Horsecock was masterful. It was, without a doubt, Nicky's best outing of the season. I needed a cigarette after being part of it. He threw strikes with great regularity, and aside from the 2 big blasts from the It Ain't Heaven shortstop/3 hitter didn't really give up anything. Only 3 of the 5 runs were earned, he allowed only 11 hits and 6 walks, while retiring 7 via the K. The 7 Ks were a season high for Nick, he only had 16 in 5 games coming into the week. It should also be noted that Nick issued 3 of his walks in the bottom of the 7th amidst plenty of chatter from the It Ain't Heaven dugout. They may have rattled him for a second, but not for long. Nice work Nicky J. __________________________________________________ In the drinking department The 8 got a visit from the Ghost of Coach House Past as our ole boy Kyle made a surprise appearance. So, the few of us that still remained at that point sat around with Kyle and shot the sh!t about the glory days of Section 8 Softball. It was pretty sweet to see that dude. He extends an invitation to all The 8 to stop out at Magoo's and do things up Dirty 'Stallis style one of these nights. In total we took down 10 pitchers and 7 bombs as a group. The 8 is now in 2nd place in drinking on Monday's, 23 pitchers behind. And with the next 4 games being 9:15 games, it's hard to see them being able to close that gap. __________________________________________________ Next week, we begin the string of 9:15 games with one against The Brewers, no not those Brewers. These Brewers are not beginning their charge to take the NL Central. These Brewers are currently 1-7 in the Coach House Monday Night League. That all goes down at 9:15 next Monday, so that gives everyone plenty of time to shake off any after effects of the Stewart/Andershak nuptials. A full report from those happenings and more in next week's...... Section 8 Update. __________________________________________________ Stats, schedule, standings and NEW pictures (up by the end of the night), at www.section8softball.zoomshare.com