PRIMARILY, A WIN

Well, we were all a little worried by the thinning of the roster ranks due to election-related duties of our Very Important Players. We knew that BJ would be able to make it, since his work didn't really begin until Tuesday night when he would answer questions from Guv like, "Dammit, are we blue or red? I can never remember?" But there were a few other notable defections and, well, we were playing the National Constitution Center, which seemed a little too coincidental. Fortunately, however, truth, justice and the Pen & Pencil softball team were still able to prevail Monday evening on scenic Edgeley 4.

Prevail might be a bit of an understatement for the 26-5 final score, which the NCC bunch took with fairly good humor, even insisting we play the seventh inning despite encroaching darkness and an 18-run deficit. It should be noted that despite the Election Eve situation, we were able to put a very representative team on the field, including the General Manager who skipped an open bar at a reception for national journalists that was -- get this -- sponsored by our very own club, of which he is, at last look, the president. "It's OK, Ron's there," he said. Oh, well, in that case.

Details, more than a few, but not too few to mention. We had Tom DiNardo stopping by between trips to Tuscany to turn in a 5-for-5 night, with four runs scored. That wasn't bad. We had John Hall, coming back from injury and car crash to go 4-for-5 with a home run, four runs scored, and the out he made was probably the best ball he hit, a smoking deep liner that would have killed the fielder if his glove hadn't gotten in the way. We had George Miller going 4-for-5 with, I think, six runs batted in (scorebook's a little fuzzy in spots). We had Tom Hickey leading a parade with three hits. Hickey had two home runs before leaving for the airport. Three hits also for winning pitcher Mike Galan, Kathy Matheson and DH Ed Cascarella.

Brian Donlen was a spectacular 2-for-2 with a pair of triples, but was tripped up by the nasty necessity of actually having to run the bases after hitting the ball. He yanked a hammie on the first trot and aggravated it on the second, requiring Clark to step into the shortstop role, which was interesting, and best left undetailed. In summation, it was 26 runs, 35-for-55 batting, pretty good fielding and a great win for the forces of good.

The forces of good are now 2-0 and heading into the meat of the schedule -- with a lovely side of creamed broccoli -- and looking forward to welcoming back all our process-mad public servants, who probably missed us, too.