Seven innings just weren't enough to contain all the fun at the season opener for the Pen & Pencil. No, it took an extra frame -- inning to those of you not "hip" to the lingo -- to clean the cages of the Philadelphia Zoo, 11-10.
Hero of the day was catcher Ellen Kenney with three hits in four trips to the plate, but none bigger than the eighth-inning infield single that scored Kathy Matheson with the winning run in the deep gloaming of the Belmont Plateau. Matheson, two-for-four with a pair of runs scored on the day, led off the final rally with a base hit of her own.
It was an improbable comeback effort for the P&P, which trailed 10-4 with one on and two out in the bottom of the sixth. The team had been distracted to this point by the strafing gunfire emanating from a dogfight between a Fokker aircraft and a small helicopter in shallow right field.
Down to its final four outs, the Red Menace got six straight hits in the sixth to narrow the score to 10-9, then tied the game in the bottom of the seventh when Brian "I Am Running" Donlen tripled with one out and scored -- at least in our opinion -- on a sacrifice fly by B.J. Clark. Donlen barely beat the throw and, this being the Center City Softball League, was allowed to call himself safe.
The Zoo went up and down again in the top of the eighth behind the stellar relief pitching of Chris Yasiejko, who recorded the first win of the season, retiring the last seven batters he faced and allowing just four runs in five innings pitched. If it weren't for some of our typical goofy stuff in the field, they wouldn't have scored that many.
From the scorebook, kept perfectly by Knees Emeritus Ron Goldwyn, it says that Donlen, Kenney, Mike Galan and Bob Ford had three hits each, George Miller, Tom Hickey, Chris Brennan (2-for-2!) and Matheson had two hits each.
A hearty Pen & Pencil welcome to newcomers Hickey and Ryan Donnell. It would be a slightly heartier welcome if Hickey had not told management that he could play anywhere, later to inform management after a switch to the outfield that he couldn't "see the ball until it gets there," having forgotten, apparently, that he now wears glasses. Donnell won the Patty-Pat Koslowski Award for quickest injury of the season, yanking a hamstring following a sharp single in his first plate appearance. Two more exceptional additions to the roster by the general manager, who continues to recruit only in the club after 1 a.m.
Get your running in. Nevins won't be back next week, either, something about a "bitter" election, so we've got a shot at a winning streak.
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