Bruisers: KarenC, Rob, Nancy, Jesse, Ron, Jes, EricG, PaulH, Ann, ScottE, Anders, and DaveR. Big thanks to EricG's friend Rose who let us plant her out in right field for the first inning until Ann arrived.

Bruiser fans: Rose, Wendy and Taz

Bruiser diners at Crown City: Anders, KarenC, Wendy, PaulH, Ron, Nancy, and Jes.

Bruiser bruises: KarenC's hand, and the poor Goat kid who had the misfortune to come between EricG's throws and his target fielder TWICE in the same inning.

Box Score:

Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total
Goat Scouts	7	1	3	8	1	0	20
Bruisers	2	0	2	4	10	0	18

Good news and bad news. Good news: We almost had them! We came back from double mercy give the Goats a good scare in the fifth inning. While we weren't able to prevail in the end, it was nice to be on the happy side of such a huge meltdown for once. Bad news... for the first time in, oh, "ever", WE were the ones who held up the start of a game from lack of players at 5:30. Shame on us! Let's be careful to not make this a habit, or we'll become one of "those" teams we always complain about. All you folks who think we don't need you to come out, yes we do, so please come out.

So, with that, on to the game. Offensively, we had our moments, even with our goofs dealing with several Goat full-swing bunts. We won't count EricG's beaning of the Goat kid among them (he'll be living that down forever). KarenC(2B) was a busy girl in the first inning getting a grounder to EricG(SS) for the first out and then making a two-handed catch up a little pop fly for the second, then EricG got a ball over to Ron(1B) for the third out. The second inning outs were all pop catches by Rob(3B), EricG(SS), and Nancy(P). In the third inning, Jesse(3B) made a nice tag at third base, then Paul(CF) (who made a nice running, pirouette catch for style points) and EricG(SS) made catches for outs. In the fourth inning we hit mercy, then Jesse(3B) threw to Ron for an out, and EricG(SS) made a good running catch toward the outfield. The fifth inning outs didn't get recorded, but we only needed to make one as we had hit double mercy. After coming most of the way back in the ! bottom of the fifth, two of the outs went Jes(2B)-Ron(1B) and Rocket(EricG)(SS)-Ron, and... does anyone remember the third out?

Defensively, the sun was our friend, as we were able to take advantage of outfielders with the sun in their eyes, esp. in the fifth inning. Anders had our only home run of the game, and RBIs were earned by Karen, Rob, Nancy (2), Jesse, Ron (3), Jes (2), EricG (2), PaulH (2), Ann, and Anders, with two mystery RBIs in the fifth. Everyone got at least one hit, and in the fifth inning we sent 15 Bruisers to the plate, batting around plus 3. Rob gets a Twinkle Toes award for beating the throw to second base in the third inning. He was later tagged out at third on Nancy's hit, but distracted all fielders with his outstretched backflop onto the base so KarenC could score.

Our next game is Monday July 9 (yes, the first day after what would be a holiday week for some of us). Please make sure your calendars are marked, as I may not be able to send a reminder while I'm out of town. We'll be the visiting team against the Eclectic Eccentrics on field HN (dirt). I believe we'll be missing Jessica, Douglas, Nugget and EarlM. Everyone else should be sure to tell me you're coming or not.

Have a great weekend!

Karen