The grey sky threatened rain most of the day, and perhaps trusting the evidence at their fingertips, most of the Popular Science squad elected to remain ensconced indoors. As a consequence, Thursday afternoon’s softball game became more of an intramural effort, with three members of Popular Science joined by a whopping six Bullets and one good Samaritan who happened to be present at the field. The Bullets still fielded a full ten-person squad.
Despite both teams’ line-ups being from the DC roster, the Popular Science team continued a trend of early inning offensive onslaughts against the Bullets’ pitching. The Bullets’ own Adam Staffaroni highlighted Popular Science’s first inning with a two-RBI triple. One of the Science’s own players slammed a two-run homer in the second, and the Bullets quickly found themselves in an eight-run hole after two innings, trailing 8-0.
In the third inning, however, Popular Science’s fill-in starting pitcher, one Dan DiDio, began to tire. Perhaps it was the jetlag from his trip to Bristol. Perhaps it was those achy old limbs. Whatever the cause, the Bullets surged back with a three-run home run from Joel Press and two-run jack from Adam Schlagman. DiDio helped his cause, getting back one run for Popular Science when he notched an RBI single in the fifth after the Bullets’ third baseman (who may have been the author of this post, but he did go 3-3 with 2 runs at the plate, so there!) threw a possible inning-ending groundball into right field to extend the frame.
Going to the bottom of the fifth, with time of the Bullets’ field permit dwindling, the Bullets trailed 9-8. The bottom of the fifth opened with back-to-back-to-back singles, loading the bases with no outs and bringing up the top of the Bullets’ order. Lead-off hitter Schlagman’s fly ball to deep left field allowed runners to tag up from both second and third bases, tying the game and leaving the winning run only feet away. Left fielder Vince Letterio decided that Schlagman’s strategy worked once, and so he followed with a fly to deep left field. The throw home was late, and the Bullets rallied for their first win of 2009.
Final score: DC Bullets 10, Popular Science 9. DC Bullets record 1-1 (0-0 in league play).
May 17th, 2009 at 6:48 am
Wait… So Didio doesn’t play for DC’s team?? I don’t get it. Then again, this just might be proof for the theory, floated by someone in the latest “20 spins, 1 question” column, that Didio is actually a mole hired by Marvel to destory DC in any way possible.
And, yes, I know this comment will not acually get posted.
May 17th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Perhaps I wasn’t clear: “As a consequence [of possible rainstorms], Thursday afternoon’s softball game became more of an intramural effort, with three members of Popular Science joined by a whopping six Bullets.”
Put another way, Dan was one of the six DC players (along with Adam Staffaroni, Sal Cipriano, Lauren Fries, Nel Yomtov and Jerry Cerza) who were gracious enough to join Popular Science (who had only three players of their own brave enough to face the threat of a little precipitation) for the afternoon so we could all enjoy the game. Lending players to the other team when they’re short-handed happens quite a bit in friendly softball games.