This morning I awoke in a cold, clammy sweat after having a horrible dream: Viper-ball had ended for another year and our season was washing down a mucky river, flowing away in a shallow groove carved from two days of cleats pounding out a channel along the third baseline. As I sat up in bed, I felt a tear fall down my cheek. But, as I regained a grasp on the reality of where I was, I realized that it wasn’t a tear. It was water dripping from my forehead. I didn’t wake in a cold sweat; I was still soaked to the bone after being at a rain-drenched ballpark for two days with my Viper-crew. And I smiled.

Though I haven’t yet posted the stories that came out of the Vipers’ double-header last Tuesday, I can tell you that both games were two of the best-played of the year and capped off a truly memorable, record-breaking season. Vipers finished the ’08 season with their best record in franchise history: 13-4-1, and finished third in the standings overall as one of only three teams to finish above .500. With five new players joining the team this year, it would have been all and good to expect a season of re-building and adjustment; instead the new regime melded as if they’d been playing together for years.

Ending the season on a four-game win-streak had the team stoked and geared-up for what was expected to be a very challenging playoff weekend. At 7:45am on Saturday morning, when they should have been sleeping off the previous night’s beers and daliances, the Vipers instead were at the park puttin’ on their cleats, stretching and tossing around the ball with purpose and a determined gameface, even in the wet chill of the morning. There were six sets of scoresheets remaining in Sher’s ’08 scorebook, exactly enough needed for the six games that the Vipers’ hoped they would play on Playoff weekend. Sher sat in her fold-away chair, dubbed the throne, with a brand-new Viper-orange pencil in hand as the game and tournament got underway. The Vipers played the entire weekend with an awesome spirit and fought hard in the rain and mud right up until the end.

It wasn’t until the final minutes of the 5th game that they found out those final set of sheets would remain blank. Vipers, as in ’06, fell victim to an equation, not another team, and were shut out of the Championship Final to one team that had lost more games than them this weekend, and another that they had beaten in the round robin. It’s a crazy system, but one that’s been in place almost as long as the WEMSL’s 30-year history and is unlikely to change. While the Viper-veterans didn’t like it, they understood it; for the Viper-newbies, it was a lot harder to take. I’d try to explain it out for you here, but unfortunately freemyteam.com doesn’t have enough bandwidth. (I will, however, be contacting Charlie Epps to develop a better and more realistic, equitable equation for next year.) At the end of the day though, the Vipers stood proud knowing that they did everything they had to do to get to the Championship final on Sunday, but had to rely on one thing: that another team did their job too. Whenever that scenario plays out, when you aren’t in control of your own fate, the results rarely work in your favour.

So, while the ultimate prize of being first in line at the buffet wasn’t won, we’ll “win the banquet” like we do each year, the last team standing at the end of the night, singing karaoke across the street, and waking up the neighbourhood with our final cheer of the year. And we won’t be mourning; we’ll be celebrating the fantastic season that was, the new teammates we played with and friendships that were made, and of course, the open bar and full buffet…..

”BONSAI, Vipers!!” And thanks for another great season.

Game #1 – Moosers 7, Vipers 20

• Team Batting Avgerage- .542, Fly-out Percentage – 20.0%
• Clifton, 3-for-3 with 5 RBIs and a sac fly
• Mikey, 3-for-4, with 2RBIs
• Chris and Jess, 3 RBIs each
• Held Moosers scoreless in 5 straight innings
• Turned 2 double plays and committed just 3 errors

• TBA- .488, FOP – 23.2%
• Jaclyn and Clifton both bat 1.000 and combine for 3 RBIs
• Ronan, 3-for-4, including a “playoff double”
• John had the only home run of the game
• Viper-D turned a perfect 8-6-2 relay and robbed a Rampage hitter of a homerun in the 5th inning
• Held Rampage scoreless in 5 innings and never allowed more than two runs in an inning, while committing only four errors

• TBA- .429, FOP – 22.2%
• Joey bats a solid 4-for-4, with 2 doubles
• Adam drove in more than half of the team’s runs this game, batting .500 with 5 RBIs
• Held Shooters scoreless in 3 innings and committed only three errors
• Viper-D got out of the 3rd and 6th innings, leaving the Shooters’ bases loaded and only one run scored

• TBA- .581, FOP – 25.9%
• TWO Grand Slams in the game, both in the 5th inning! Jon Bez at the top of the column for Crews and Clifton got ‘em back back in the bottom for the Vipers.
• Jaclyn, Jess, Chris, Adam and Cliff all bat .750
• Joe (3), Rob (3) and Cliff (6) are responsible for 12 of the team’s RBIs
• Rob became only the second Viper in history to put it over the fence at Max Ward
• Held Crews Control scoreless in 2 innings and committed six errors

• TBA- .543, FOP – 20.7%
• Joe turns it on and goes 4-for-4, with a triple and 1 RBI
• John also bats 1.000, going 3-for-3 with a double and 5 RBIs
• Played the entire game under a steady downpour
• Vipers were the only team to beat 1st place Grizzlies in the 5-game playoff round robin
• Held Grizzlies scoreless in 3 innings and committed just four errors

So, that’s the end of it for another year. Stayed tuned for the final stat report and ‘08 milestones summary.

Although I wasn’t there to witness the apparent batting spree that took place, thanks to the co-operative effort of the team (and some basic instructions that I included on the scoresheet), I have a good idea of what took place when the Vipers took on league newcomers, the Fireballers , for the second time this season. There’s usually one game when the stats aren’t taken, and everyone gets a “free ride” on the stat sheet…. but, I gotta say, everyone who contributed did a great job!

Vipers jumped to an early lead by putting up seven runs in the first on some solid hitting and were close to cycling thru the entire lineup before the inning’s mercy rule kicked in. The Fireballers seemed to get something going in the bottom of the column, but were stalled by back-to-back strike-outs to end the inning and left two baserunners stranded. That kind of help is never turned down, but tough on a new team in the league that has struggled with every opponent that they met this year.

Vipers kept it going in the second, posting another four runs and then added to the onslaught in the third when they again put up another seven-run mercy inning, fueled by the first of two out-of-the-park home runs by Clifton. Fireballers failed to score in either of these two innings and were now behind 18-0 after three innings were complete.

Now back at the top of their lineup in the fourth, Fireballers were finally able to string together some hits and got on the board with three runs to answer back to the three that the Vipers had already added in the top of this inning. Vipers did so again in the next before they had their only scoreless inning in the 6th with a quick 3-up,3-down. Tack on another three Viper runs in the 7th and it was too much for the Fireballers to close in on before the game’s mercy rule kicked in with the score sitting at 27-6 after seven were complete.

It’s hard to ascertain how well the Viper-D worked tonight, with the scoring on that side of the sheet less detailed, but some notations in the final inning show some heads-up plays were made to get the lead baserunner on a couple fielder’s choice plays. Vipers were able to keep the Fireballers from scoring in 4 of the 7 innings played, including 3-up, 3-down in the second.

Amy had a wicked night at the plate, going 5-for-5 with three singles, two doubles and 3 RBIs in the contest. Also perfect on the night was Conan, with what appeared to be five singles and a couple RBIs, which boosted him in the stats and put him in contention for top batting honours this year. Bullit and Prime time kept their stat-battle going, hitting .800 and .750 respectively.

With tonight’s win tying the Vipers’ record for wins in a season with 11, they have a chance to top that when they play their final two games on the 2nd in a double-header at South Common. Even though their playoff position is locked in, these games are important to keep the momentum going before the playoff weekend begins on Sept 6th, when the Vipers defend their ’07 Championship.

After beginning the ’08 season with their strongest record in team history, the Vipers seem to have lost their bite and the hunger that was driving them through the first half of the season. Their 2-3 record since the All Star break has hurt them in the standings and their chance for a division title. Back-to-back losses against the #1 and #3 teams have dropped them to third in the standings and too far back to be in control of their own destiny.

Tuesday’s game between the Vipers and the Grizzlies was the final match of the series, which the Vipers were leading 2 -0, outscoring their opponent 35-22 in these previous two games. With a few key players out of the lineup, Vipers called up former-Viper, Dave “Circle” Ferkul for his first sub-in of the season, as well as Mikey’s pal, Bobby. Both players did a great job filling the holes in the field left by Joe, Chris and Andy, and had an okay night at the plate, considering it was their first time swinging the bat for quite some time.

Grizzlies got on the scoresheet early, posting 4 runs in the first and third, and continued to add to that tally in all but three innings. Vipers didn’t answer back until the bottom of the third, where they finally got two runs across the plate, and were able to add eight more in the fourth and fifth column. By the end of the 7th inning, the Vipers had reached within two runs of Grizzlies, but in the open 8th and 9th, they did not score. Grizzlies added another four in both of the final two innings, ending the game with the 21-11 win.

After being away from the diamond for the last three weeks, the Viper-D was a little shaky, and they racked up 11 fielding errors in the contest, which accounted for 10 runs. In the midst of all the fobbles, their most in a single game, Vipers still managed to pull off a rousing double play in the 6th inning and got out of the 5th with only one run scoring and the bases left loaded. Missing three regular Vipers definitely contributed to this less-than-perfect performance, as the other players didn’t get a consistent hold on any one spot, having to shift positions inning-to-inning to accommodate.

In addition to the lack-lustre Viper defense, a key factor to the winning Grizzlies’ lineup this night was the willingness of the girls to use the bunt, something that their team has always had as a strongpoint. Review of the scoresheet shows that they were able to set up their team for 7 runs in the contest. In comparison, Viper-Chicks lack of bunting in key situations resulted in two double-plays and a slew of pop-ups. Hopefully, they’ll stop brushing off the signal and lay a few down before the all-important playoff weekend. As for the guys, well, they contributed heavily to the 29.8% fly-out percentage, swinging at the first pitch far too often and just being a bit too anxious at the plate.

Okay, so it wasn’t all bad…. Conan batted 1.000 and drove in 4 runs, and, as usual, had one stellar fielding play that we’ve come to expect from him every game. Mikey went 3-for-4 and Cliffy 2-for-3, including an over-the-fence homer. Steph was 2-for-2 with a sac fly and an RBI. Finally, not having Papa Turk and big brother Joe looking over his shoulder seemed to propel Baby Turk Adam to have his best game of the year, as he batted 1.000 and had a solid, error-free game at rover. Unbelievably, we haven’t had any player hit the cycle yet this year; if its going to happen, it will likely be in the next two games taking place at the open Centennial field.

Game #16 takes place at Centennial, 6pm on Monday night vs the Bulldogs, a team the Vipers haven’t seen since the first game of the year back in May. Even though Sher’s dream of a division title and home-field advantage in the playoffs is all but out of reach, (even if the Vipers win all of their final four games), the team is still on pace to finish with their best record in team history, and that’s nothing to throw your glove at.