Unnaturals Pull Win out from Under Coyotes in the Final Inning

Had any fans been watching the Unnaturals first game back home, they would have been biting their nails. The Unnaturals took on the Coyotes and the game was much closer this time around against the wily canines. Despite the Coyotes having an automatic out in their tenth spot, the Coyotes and Unnaturals were neck and neck the entire game. The Unnaturals were down 6 – 5 going into the bottom of the 6th . Speedy outfielders, Greg and James both got hits to get on base, and then Dhruv, fresh off of a great catch in right-field hit a line drive single to left field to drive in the tying and go-ahead run making the score 7 – 6 Unnaturals. The lead would be short-lived as the Coyotes got an out and a double play to end the inning, then answered back in the top of the seventh with two runs of their own. Dave led off in the final Unnaturals at bat and hit a long ball to the fence. He was held up at third putting the Unnatural’s 60 feet away from tying up the game. The Coyotes called the first time out in Amherst Leisure Services Softball history and rearranged their fielding positions to optimize their chances of outing Dave at home. Joe came up to bat next and hit a popup just behind 3rd base that seemed a sure out for the Coyotes and a chance for the Coyotes to hold Dave at third, but perhaps it was the spin Joe applied to the ball when he hit it, or the sun’s rays thwarting one last play before tucking behind the trees, but the Coyotes dropped the ball and Dave sprinted for home in time to beat the throw and tie up the game. Fleet-of-foot Megan was up next and singled to first. Ted came up to bat and surveyed the field. Spotting a gap in right center he launched a strategically placed bullet that was destined to be the game-ending ball until a Coyote with uncanny speed intercepted it before it could find the ground. The Coyotes got another out and Greg came up to bat with two outs and the winning run on 2^nd. He hit a sharply hit ground ball which whizzed through the infield and far enough into the outfield to allow Joe to come around and cross the plate delivering the Unnatural win, 9-8. The MVP went to Dave whose clutch triple and strategic base running enabled the Unnaturals to tie up the game.
The Unnaturals continue their homestand next Tuesday when they play the new team, Team Awesome--the only team in the Amherst league that may rival the Unnaturals in the contest of 'most flamboyant team color scheme'.

BenGay Can't Ease the Pain of Damage Dealt by the Orange Crush

The Unnatural Selection finished their roadtrip on Tuesday with a win over the BenGay Balmers. The Unnaturals wasted no time Tuesday as James ripped a triple to start of the game. It would be his first of two triples on the evening, and along with his 3 RBI and always reliable outfield it earned him the game MVP and 1.75 PBRs. The other PBRE (PBRs Earned) stats for the evening were Greg:05, Tim:0.5, Anna:0.75, Ted: 0.25, Amanda: 0.5, Dave: 0 (ouch!), Lindsy: 0.5, Megan: 0.75, Robert: 0.75, Laura: 0.25, and Dhruv: 0.75. Unfortunately, there were only 5 PBRs to go around. The game ended early when a couple of the Balmers succumbed to the Valley heat wave. Officially the Unnaturals were victorious over the Balmers 14-3, but the game continued for a couple extra off-the-record innings in which the Balmers totally destroyed the Unnaturals. After a long roadtrip, The Selection is excited about returning back home. The HMS Beagle bus will pull into Fort River #1 tomorrow to face the Coyotes for the second time this season. The Coyotes can be a strong team and although The Selection was victorious in their first match up with the Coyotes, a much closer game is expected on Thursday night.

Final Verdict: Unnaturals Beat Justice in Closing Arguments

The Unnatural Selection won what proved to be a high-intensity game against Amherst League newcomers, The Justice League, on Thursday night. Starting with a 3rd inning play in which a Justice Leaguer pulled an A-Rod-esque play when he yelled in the face of the Unnatural's 2nd basewoman attempting to make a routine catch, tension between the two teams rose. The game was close throughout with the Justice League up 6-5 after four innings. Both teams would go scoreless in the 5th and then the Unnaturals opened it up in the top of the 6th starting with a hard lead-off single by Leah in her Unnatural Selection debut. The first four Darwinites in that inning would score to give the Unnaturals a 9-6 lead. The Justice Leaguers answered back with 2 in the bottom of the 6th to make it 9-8 going into the final inning. James got on base with a single in the top of the 7th and was driven in by Amanda who attempted to stretch a triple into a homerun, but Justice was handed down in the form of a supremely executed play at the plate by the J-Leaguers. The tension was high going into the bottom of the seventh. The Unnaturals got one out against the J.L's, but then Justice Leaguer Brett (of Unnatural summer softball fame) hit a long ball to left field and was safe at third in a close play. The next out was made off a line drive with Brett still held at third. The fourth Justice Leaguer up hit a hard line drive to center field, and Megan, who had already played a superb right-center field for the Unnaturals confidently made the game-ending catch to seal the Unnatural victory 10-8, and claim the game MVP (as if her topping the 4th inning team pyriamid would not have been enough to take that title!). The Unnaturals have the last game of what has been a long road trip next Tuesday at Groff Field at 6:15 when they take on the Ben Gay Balmers, a ball club as old as their name suggests that can be a formidable team depending on who makes it out. On another note: Anna and Henry, current standouts in the Unnatural Selection's farm league system made it to part of the game. The latest scouting reports suggest these two could be seen in the Unnatural line-up as early as next season....

Spare Parts Go Home with Broken Hearts

The Unnaturals took on Spare Parts last Thursday night at Fort River 2. Robert opened up the game on the mound and gave up a home run to The Parts on the second pitch of the evening. He would settle down after that and, backed by a strong defense, hold The Parts to only one run through the next three innings. Ted came in to pitch in the fourth and allowed The Parts only one more run on the night. Offensively, the night was another batting average boost for The Unnaturals who scored 30 runs through the game. Early in the game, one of the Spare Parters tried to take out one of the Unnatural's stronger hitters, Anna, with a thrown bat to the stomach. Anna would recover from the attack and still manage to go 6 for 7 on the night with a double and three RBI. The bat-thrower would strike again later in the game, but James, making his catching debut was prepared and deftly avoided a blow to the head.

The score was 20-2 in the top of the 6th when Tim decided to put some icing on the cake with his first grandslam of the season. Dave also logged two more homeruns to bring his homerun total to 4 for the season. Although the team neglected to hand out an MVP award that night, Thursday night's MVP would have to go to Anna for literally taking one (in the gut) for the team. Tonight the Unnaturals play The Dragons, an ancient Amherst league ball team who has acquired a lot of young talent this year. The game is under the lights at Fort River #1 at 7:45.

Undercover Charlie's No Match for The Selection

Green chairs and a dog on
sale at Danco Modern

The Unnatural Selection took on the new 'Danco Modern' team last night at Fort River 3. Turns out the new 'Danco Modern' is the old 'Charlie's' team, the team that is responsible for thwarting the Unnatural's playoff runs in a at least two of the last four seasons. Danco Modern came out strong going up 5-2 after two innings. But then the Unnaturals shut it all down with a virtually flawless defense through the next 5 innings, consistent hitting, and intelligent base running. Some game highlights included the perfect execution of a pickle-out on Danco Modern's red-stockinged shortstop (an event that was clairvoyantly forecasted by Ted before the game), Laura and Tim's graceful headfirst dives after reaching the first base 'pillow', Jeff's looong hit ground rule double, and Amy's catch of that scorching line-drive. Despite, all these other remarkable plays, Amanda was awarded the MVP for wearing her glasses which resulted in one of her better defensive games (only 2 errors!). The final score was 10-5 and unlike previous matches with the players-formerly-known-as-Charlies no one left in an ambulance. The Unnatural Selection continue their roadtrip on Thursday night when they play Spare Parts at 6:15 on Fort River 2.

Unnaturals Make Coyotes Howl, PETA Cries Foul

Unnaturals wait out sand storm
at Fort River Field

Animal welfare activists are up in arms over the relentless brutality shown by the Unnatural Selection towards the Coyotes last Thursday night. "They were up by over ten runs in the fourth inning, but those Unnaturals just kept swinging their bats at those poor Coyotes" Said one PETA spokeswoman. "Especially that Mary Alice" The woman added "She went 6 for 6, and those were hard hit balls!" The Coyotes were not as defenseless as PETA made them out to be, inflicting 16 runs worth of damage over the 6 inning game. But every Unnatural player rounded the bases at least twice and had multiple hits giving them a total of 33 runs. "Did we win?" asked the Unnaturals catcher, Anna, who showed up drunk to the game.

Yes, the Unnaturals did indeed win, claiming their first victory of the season. If the Unnaturals can continue their hitting streak they should be a team to contend with this season. Tonight the Unnaturals play Danco Modern at the bumpy Fort River 3 field. Apparently, it is a rough year for selling couches and Danco Modern has decided to try their hands at softball.

Unnaturals Drown in the Ooze on Opening Day

In what has developed over the last few years into a tradition, Opening Day for the Amherst Leisure Services Adult Coed Un-umpired Softball season began with the Unnatural Selection facing the Primordial Ooze at Kiwanis Field. The freak late afternoon dust and lightning storms scared some of the Primordial players away from the fields, but by 6:30 enough had oozed out of the woods to field a full team and the 2010 summer softball season was underway. The game was close through 3 innings. The Primordial Ooze scored 1 in the first inning and the Unnaturals answered back in the second when Dave, who reached base off of a two foot dribbler, advanced to second off a single by James and was driven in by a strategically-placed sacrifice fly by the writer of this blog entry. The Ooze Punch must have been weak on Tuesday because the Oozers stayed strong through seven innings, scoring 6 more runs and shutting down the Unnatural offense. In typical Unnatural Selection fashion the Orange began a late-game rally with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, when the bottom of the line-up produced 3 runs with Laura batting in one run and Tim knocking in two. Unfortunately, the rally was quenched before The Selection could catch up with the Ooze, who took the first game 7-4. It was the first Unnatural loss to the Ooze since the Summer of 2008. The Ooze, ever the gallant winners offered up their Ooze Punch to share.

Tonight at 7:45 at Fort River 1 the Unnaturals face the Coyotes, a young and rising team in the Amherst League. The Unnaturals eked out a win over the Coyotes in a preseason scrimmage last weekend, but Darwin's Finest should take care as the Coyotes have been reported to be out for blood...Coyotes in Amherst.