Tag: SJSL

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Kickball Season 2 Week 3

This was our first and hopefully only bad game of the season. Though we played an overall clean game in the field, our opponent Kick Tease was just too much for us to handle on this night. They had several players who could kick the ball a great deal further than any of our previous opponents had yet in this season.

The deep kicks gave us the most trouble. There were a number of homeruns and if not for one guy tripping up on the bases rounding first, another certain homerun would have been had at all. Not only were they kicking deep, but they were also mixing up their kicks making it a challenge to adjust our defense to them at time.

Our kicking on the other hand was pretty much off as a team. While we did get a few good at bats, we just weren’t able to string any of them together to knock in more than one run. The injuries to two of our better kickers was evident, but they were troopers and did their best to play.

Despite the beating, we did have some excellent plays in the field. John K.’s throw across the diamond to John B. at first was amazing. It’s hard to make that throw and get a runner out, but he made it look almost routine. Lauren nearly turned a double play herself, and Meghan and Irena made some great catches as well around second base.

Continuing his excellent play, Kevin made some fine catches in center too. Whether we had Megan or Steph at third they both did an excellent job of not letting any kicks get by them and holding runners to no more than a single.

While this was our first tough loss, I do think that it won’t be too much of a setback. We do play solid defense and know each other very well, which will keep us in and win many games as the season goes on. We just need to get a little more consistant with out kicking and I’ve got to tweak the lineup a bit further until we find a combination that works best for us.

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Kickball Season 2 Week 2

Week 2 had the Honey Badgers squaring off against the Average Joe’s. Being a completely new roster to the fine SJSL, I didn’t know what to expect from them. I just knew that if we could continue playing our solid team defense and timely kicking that we would have a good shot at winning.

The weather was great, much warmer and a great way to welcome 3 players to the team who were unable to participate in week 1. Returning superstar Irena, dodgeball MVP Meghan, and pre-game soccer star Megan were welcome additions to would go one to make big plays as the game played out.

The first few innings saw some solid defense in the field, with both sides feeling each other out. We were the first to score eventually knocking in 3 big runs. The following inning the Average Joe’s broke through with 2 runs as well.

Unfortunately last weeks’ Honey Badger of the Week recipient Dustin hurt his quad early in the game. When I looked to see him not walking out the field, but instead laying on the ground I knew we’d have to play the rest of the game without him. We made our adjustments in the field and marched on.

I must admit that I completely forgot that I was playing 1st base at one point and forgot to cover the bag negating an amazing throw from center from Kevin (sorry about that Kevin). Luckily it didn’t come back to cost us any runs.

The lengthier field dimensions setup more plays at the bags. There were some amazing plays by Irena, Caitlin, and Lauren around the 2nd base side. Meghan also made a pretty great shoestring catch while charging a ball from short, and John K. showed why it’s so valuable to back up a teammate making an jaw dropping catch off of a ball the bounced out of the hands of a teammate.

This back and forth defensive game eventually found us with 5 runs a-piece. Later in the game we just had a hard time stringing together kicks. There were a lot of pop-ups and runners thrown out moving on the base paths.

We moved to extra innings (a first for the Honey Badgers in kickball) where it was a strict defensive battle on both sides. Eventually the game was called a tie as time had more than expired.

John B. who also suffered a quad injury himself (seeing a pattern to our injuries?) gutted through the game and we’re really hoping he’s not going to be having too many lingering effects. As a result Sean was moved around a bit in the field and really stepped up for us. He even earned Honey Badger of the Week honors for his team efforts.

Another great game, with some impressive team play. While a win would’ve been nice, considering the injuries we had suffered a tie wasn’t too bad either.

 

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Kickball Season 2 Week 1

KickballWow, we couldn’t of asked for a better start to the season. The Honey Badgers displayed a level of efficiency throughout the entire contest that comes with a team that knows each player very well and has clearly played kickball in the past.

I spent a good amount of time trying to come up a a lineup and fielding positions for all of the players where they would feel comfortable as well as give us our best shot at victory. Reflecting on the stats of the game (yes, Sean did a fine job recording them), everything played out exactly as I had hoped for when penciling everyone in. It was freakishly weird how well it all played out.

Dustin went 6-6 and really set us up to drive in many runs. John B. also perfect at 5-5 would be the guy who knocked many of our runs in. With a big key 2 out kick that really put the game away. Everyone contributed to offense, with some intelligent small ball that should go a long way this season.

Our fielding was very solid and systematic. John K. made some amazing plays all game, he at times seemed to somehow be everywhere. He’s really going to prove to be a fine addition to the team. Steph also made a very solid play at third base, not allowing a hard hit line drive to get by her, and promptly got the ball in the pitcher limiting that well struck ball to only be a single. That would later save us a run.

Our outfielders of Kevin, Dustin and rookie John B. were solid as well when the opportunity came to make a play. A kickball can float a bit on descent, making it harder to judge than one would think but these guys made it all seem like routine plays.

All in all a great start to the season.

 

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Dodgeball Season 2 Playoffs

Our playoff opponent was a very familiar one, the Lightning Donkeys. This season we were 2-0 against them, yet when we met in last season’s playoffs they were the team that sent us home. So we were hoping to continue with our season 2 trend to continue against them.

Unfortunately we would be without the services of Brian and Katie. We did attempt to recruit one time replacement player Laura (who did an amazing job), but sadly she couldn’t play that night. So we would be down to a squad of 4 girls for the night.

As game time approached, it was looking a bit on the bad side for us. We only had 3 guys with just minutes before the game began. However, just moments in time the remaining 3 did show up and we would have a solid squad of 6 to work with on the night.

In the opening matches we played pretty poorly. I don’t know if we were too tense, not warmed up enough of being short a girl was the detriment. All I know is that we were not playing nearly as well as I’ve seen us play this season. The guys seemed a bit dejected with our poor start, which worried me. It was very early in the match still, and we could easily come back at this point.

Luckily are girls did settle in and began to win matches for us. Steph had an amazing game, the best I’d ever seen her play. The other girls all stepped up their game as well and fought valiantly as 4 against 5.

Down 8-4 and now facing elimination, our guys had finally awoken. I don’t know what took us so long. We were finally not only playing well, but playing extremely well as a team. Some of those late matches were perhaps the finest team dodgeball we had ever played.

Jared was making big catches, bringing back players for our side. Shawn, Jonathan, and myself were all throwing great. It was probably the best I had overall been throwing all season. I was able to let it rip with little inflammation in the shoulder for a rare night. Kevin as stepped it up and was playing brilliantly with us all as well too.

However, despite our late gutsy rally, the hole we found ourselves in was too deep on this night. Down 1 girl against Meghan, she made an amazing catch on a fantastic throw by Meghan to end our season.

I was really disappointed that we weren’t able to win and play next week, but was very proud of how hard everyone fought even when the odds greatly against us. I was truly honored to of played along this group. It was so much fun.

Later on I did head out with many of the Honey Badgers to the after activities at the Windjammer. What a fun buch we’ve got. I really enjoyed hanging out with everyone and coming up with ideas of future activities.

Can’t wait for kickball season.

 

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Honey Badgers 2/28/12

This week we faced the unbeaten over 2 seasons Ghostbusters. They’re very good, hence the whole never losing a game thing.

Before the game Dustin approached me to let me know that he was still feeling sore and would like to take it easy tonight. I was personally hoping to do the same for the same reasons he had, so I guess my plan of rest was kinda out the window. Hard throwing Jonathan also was very sore from the previous week and we shut him down after the first match. So, not only were we playing the best team, but we would be facing them not at our finest.

While our guys were in an overall weakened state that night, our girls with free agent signing for the week Laura were the opposite. They played great, handing the Ghostbuster girls numerous defeats throughout the night.

It was great to see them play together so well. You’d of thought Laura played with us all season, she was a great teammate for the night. I’m still amazed at Caitlin’s energy she brings every game, she just doesn’t stop. Steph also made a couple of big catches for us too.

Our guys on the other hand were clearly outclassed and dominated all night. They completely destroyed us 8-0. Many of the matches lasted mere seconds it was so bad at times.

However, one match I found myself down 5 against 1. Granted the average life expectancy of 1 against 5 Ghostbusters is probably under 5 seconds, I would someone go on to put on a dodging clinic that would’ve made the great Kevin proud.

Facing a constant barrage of heat, I just ran, ducked, leaped, and plain old got lucky for several minutes. I knew that the odds of me winning were pretty slim, however I hoped that if I could survive long enough it might tire their hard throwing arms out.

Though I got them down to 4 with a decent peg myself, they did eventually get me. It was hilarious that I got so much congratulations for losing a match, but it really summed the uphill struggle our guys were facing that night.

Next week is the playoffs against the Lightning Donkeys. We’re 2-0 against them in the regular season and hopefully we can continue that winning trend against them. If we’re back to being healthy next week, I do like our chances.

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Honey Badgers 2/21/12

Last night’s game against Vicious and Delicious was anther fun battle. We had played them back in week won and narrowly loss to them, and sadly had the same fate this time around too. Despite wearing pink, they have a very aggressive style of play and it favored them in the end.

First off, their girls are very solid. The majority of them have legit cannons for arms, especially former Honey Badger Jen. It was fun to watch them play. They really dominated our usually steady girls last night, winning practically all of their matches. Our girls did keep several matches close, and even was able to take some at the end of the night.

Our guys, down to five last night played in all the games and played in them very well. Despite losing our first match (my throw that was caught near the end really turned the momentum), we would go on to win the majority of the matches that night.

Jonathan was bringing some serious heat last night. I did my best to feed him as often as I could so he could continue to launch lasers towards the other side of the court. Dustin had several noble stands as well. All in all I was very proud of how our guys played all night.

It was nice to play against former Honey Badger Mike too. He’s a good sport and always fun to taunt. I’m still not sure how he was able to play with the amount of swelling he had on a finger  on his throwing hand. That thing was most blue and swollen.

Most other nights we’d of walked away with a win, but the Vicious and Delicious girls were just simply dominant last night. Another fun game, and looking forward to the playoffs in 2 weeks.