Bruisers: KarenC, Ron, EricG, Ann, EricB, Pat, Emmanuell, Linda, Jes, Nancy, Jesse, KarenT, PaulH, Ellie, BobG, ScottE, and DaveR.

Bruiser fans: Tom (Linda's), Monica (EricG's), Matt (Jes'), ScottM, BobT, Emily, Amy, Terrac, Nickole, Simon, and Cassie.

Post-Season Partiers: KarenC, ScottM, Pat, BobT, BobG, KarenT, Ann, JohnD, Jesse, Simon, EricG, Monica, EricB, Nancy, Ron, Emmanuell, ScottE, Emily, Amy, Jes, Matt, PaulH, Wendy, Tom, and Linda; later joined by DaveR, Cassie & Ellie (I hope I didn't miss anyone!) Thanks to those who contributed to the food tables, and especially to those of you who stayed to help clean up and put things away!

Heard around the dirt:
"You can't use that bat" "Duhhh... why?" "It's illegal in this league" "Duhhh... what does that mean?" "It means you have to use a different bat" "Duhhh... huh?" (sigh. nice try, dude)
"The lead's not big enough" one of the Paper Tigers
"I'm completely within the coaching box; I don't have to get out of the way" PT 3B coach

Bruiser bruises: EricB's knee (and pants) & Jes' thumb

Box score:

Inning	1	2	3	4	5	Total
Bruisers	1	0	2	2	1	6
Paper Tigers	4	5	1	9	x	19

We had hoped for a fun opponent for the last game of the season, but got the Paper Tigers. Ever serious (not for C League, that's for sure!), ever overzealous (we caught them with two illegal bats and took them out of the game), and ever humorless (until they were winning by 10+ runs), they took full advantage of our fourth inning meltdown to mercy us, but then were unable to tip over the fence into double mercy. On the bright side, we shouldn't feel too bad about losing to them because the Paper Tigers also beat the Homers this year.

Defensively, we had some really good moments. The first inning was all EricB(3B) as he caught two balls, and field one and threw to Jes(2B) for an out. In the second inning, BobG(SS) made two nice catches for the first and third out, and EricG (SF or 2B) fed to Ellie (2B or SF) to force the second out [note: the sheet has both of them at 2B, but nobody at SF, oops!]. In the third inning, EricG(3B) made a nice high twisty dancing catch around the PT third base coach who refused to get out of the way. Next, EricG fielded a grounder and tossed it to Jes(2B) for the force, and then KarenC(P) calmly fielded a grounder up the middle and fired it to Ron(1B) for the third out. The fourth inning was, well, not one of our best, with at least two Keystone Cops-like convergences which resulted in runners on base or coming home. BobG(SS) and DaveR(RF) made great catches for the the two outs, Jesse(RF) made a great stop that prevented more runs, and EricB(3B) gets the "Self Sacrific! e" award for his desperate shovel/slide to get a loose ball to PaulH(C). It didn't quite work, but it was a really good effort.

Hitwise, we were probably more focused on the after-game party (with good reason!), with no home runs and one triple by EricG. RBIs were scored by EricG, Ann, EricB, Jesse, BobG, and ScottE. Switch hitter KarenT made the most of a full swing bunt to beat a throw to first base. Linda, back from a lengthy softball layoff, went two for two.

Our next game is.... sometime next April! In seven months we'll start all over again with signups and batting practices. Have a good off-season!

Karen :)