Sandlot Baseball Logs – 04.2024 – Part I
Pseudo-doubleheader this past Saturday.
G1 – 4.13.2024 – East Austin Ramblers vs. South Austin Lovejoys @ Govalle – 11am
G2 – 4.13.2024 – Austin Drag vs. Austin Drag (not a typo) @ Govalle – 3pm
What a day?
We had rain earlier in the week (more on that later), but this day provided clear skies, 80-degree temps, anniversaries, birthdays, and baseball.
Game 1
Instagram post.
I arrived with my string trimmer and began knocking down the weeds on the left-side of the infield from shin-height to ankle-height. Fortunately, Austin Parks + Rec arrived just before game time to give the infield a proper mowing and throw some chalk down the foul lines.
After weed-whacking the fence line, I got word that I’d be on the bump to open the game.
I cleated up, stretched, and took the hill. The Lovejoys can put the bat on the ball. Their lefty leadoff hitter, Grady Fishplate, opened with an opposite-field bloop down the leftfield line. He managed to work his way around the bases for the LJs’ lone 1st inning run. The Ramblers answered with two of their own in the bottom half.
The top of the second provided a few balls that found some holes and a big mistake by the pitcher (ahem, this author)– with two outs, runners on 2nd and 3rd, and a full count on the hitter, I offered a changeup. Their hitter was a little in front of it, but he put a decent charge into a two-hopper to our shortstop’s right. The well-hit ball made its way into left center and plated two runs.
My arm felt a little tight and my injured knee still isn’t able to do much of anything that requires athleticism. Pitching pushes it, but baseball is better than not baseball– and I’m friggin’ dying not being able to legitimately play the field and run the bases (plus my swing feels like dogshit).
Sometimes even I forget that “There’s no crying in baseball.”
Moving on.
Once my pitching is done for the day, there’s a fair chance that tops will be popped.
Since I rarely start games on the hill, I got goin on the oat sodas a lil earlier than usual. Hope relieved me and she pitched really well. The Ramblers defense did make some pretty good plays, we turned three (THREE!) sharp-looking doubleplays, but also had some untimely errors that fueled the LJ rallies.
Ramblers rallied for runs and rallied for beers, but couldn’t overcome the deficit.
The final tally ended up being≈
Ramblers – one dozen ‘Ra-Ra’s
Lovejoys – two dozen champagne toasts
Game 2
To reprise my fictitious, scripted schtick– the following is how I imagine Drag Captain Keith coordinating with the Temple Freighthoppers:
Temple Freighthoppers Captain:
Hiya Keith, I’ve got some bad news.
Drag Captain Keith:
What’s that?
Freighthoppers:
Well Sir, we got some rain. A lot of rain. Gonna have to cancel Saturday’s game.
Keith:
Bummer. Well, we didn’t get near as much rain as yall did. We also happen to have some field space reserved for Saturday. Any chance you Freighthoppers might be able to ride them rails down south and play some ball?
Freighthoppers:
Oh yeah? In Austin you say? Where exactly might that be?
Keith:
Whether by rail, automobile, or as the crow flies, Austin’s Govalle Park is a mere 70 miles south of Temple’s Baker Field.
Freighthoppers:
Huh? Well, how about that? You don’t say. But, ummmm, the thing with that there is, that, uhhh, we have another issue…
Keith:
Shoot. I’m all ears.
Freighthoppers:
Well, you see, I’m just not sure we can make that happen.
Keith:
Playing baseball? The thing both teams already have scheduled to do at that time on that day?
Freighthoppers:
Yeppers. You see, I am not entirely sure my team feels like playing baseball on an 80-degree, blue-skied, beautiful Central Texas day.
Keith:
You lost me.
Freighthoppers:
I mean, I’m down. I simply can’t get enough baseball. You say the word and I’m there. I am friggin there man…
Keith:
Cool. C’mon out. Bring some friends. If yall can’t, as a group, make the game happen, we’ll go ahead and try to get the most out of the weather and field space. Please join us. Bring some friends and teammates. We’ll have ourselves a time.
Freighthoppers:
Yeah, well, the issue there is– no. I just kinda, sorta, just uhh, don’t really feel like doing it, ya know?
Keith:
Huh? Well, how about that?
Welp, seeya later.
Freighthoppers:
For sure. Hit us up next time. We’ll be down.
Keith:
Absolutely.
For sure.
Without hesitation or rumination.
Freighthoppers?
I’ll put down the snark.
I’m sure there was a perfectly good explanation for why they were geared up to play up at Temple, but couldn’t find a way to make a game happen in Austin.
Even if an explanation wasn’t thrown our way, we still had a helluva time celebrating one of the founders of this organization’s 40th birthday.
All 18 Dragsters + pals split into three squads of six (two teams responsible for fielding, one group of six got to hit). To keep the birthday scrimmage moving, every AB started with a 1-1 count. Depending on the scenario, some walks reset the count (others didn’t).
Hotdogs was grilled. Birthday gifts were gifted. Drinks were shared. It couldn’t have been a better day as we all got to enjoy this game, this team, all while giving Braden his much-deserved day.
Final Score
Drag (Keith’s team) – no.
Drag (Braden’s team)- body.
Drag (Jeff’s team)- cares.
Sidenote: Braden Williams invited me out to Sandlot in 2018. I am forever grateful that he reached out and built this group. Happy birthday bud! It’s been an incredible six years.