Report 1
The “young” Huff n Puffers finally got going here in the sunny south where no one really talks about the weather................today is the same as yesterday as will be the same tomorrow. Sunny, blue skies, no wind and warm.
The boys from the Hat drew a weird schedule for round robin play. 2 night games Wednesday night then the final pool game right after breakfast on Thursday. First game was against a very hard hitting team from the metro Toronto area. The boys from southern Alberta haven’t played under the lights for quite sometime. Although they jumped out to an early 4 zero lead the Ontario boys were having nothing to do with that and put up a 5 spot early to go ahead. After some hard fought inning the Puffers bowed out to Toronto 17-12.
The second half of the double header started over an hour late and didn’t finish until after 11pm (Thus the late report). The Med Hat boys led most of the game, but the All-star team from Montana tied it up in the bottom of the 7th. Overtime! Not what our cheerleading girls were hoping for 😊 Anyway, the top of the eighth proved fruitful for the boys that normally play at Lorne Holden field. They scored 14 runs, yes 14 runs to go up 31-17 going into the bottom of the extra frame. BUT, the Montana gang are not quitters. They clawed back hard only to fall short 31-26. Winner: HuffnPuffs.
Thursday morning pitted the boys in red against a squad from Burnaby BC. The Huffers came out swinging. Although it was pretty close most of the game the Huffers came out on top 17-12. So finishing the round robin at 2-1 was not disappointing.
Playoff pools start tonight with the Huff n Puffers from Medicine Hat playing their first game Thursday night at 6. Now that the chips are on the line it’s time to keep the bats hot and the beer cold. Stay tuned from a super great group of guys and their “Supportive Better Halves”. Andy Stroh, Kevin Lane, Royce Hopkins, Keith Lutz, Randy Kambeitz, Kerry Buss, Jeff Hall, Trevor Fauth, Chad Stahl, Garth Stark, Leon Moch, Don Hallberg, & Gerard Hittel will be fighting to bring back some hardware after a successful week by our elders the “Huff n Puffs 60’s and Huff n Puffs 65.
Report By Gerard Hittel
Final Report:
To say the playoff round was a grind is the understatement of the world. Nothing comes easy here in the desert and the last 3 games for the Huff n Puffs proved it.
The bracket started out with a close 16-14 victory over the Alberta Grizzlies. A very well played game that ended in the “Hat Boys” favour. That put them in the “A” side semi against another Grizzlies team. After 7 innings of a see saw battle the Grizzlies prevailed 17-16. A tough loss that sent the boys wearing the red clown uniforms down to the “B” side. The next game pitted them against the hard hitting boys from Oregon...................do or die time. The Puffers controlled most of the game with some timely hitting and stellar defense but the Oregon squad weren’t quitters. They managed to tie it then with them batting in the bottom of 7 the very unlikely happened. The Huffer’s were all but dead with the States boys having a runner on third with none out. As we all know a simple fly ball to the out field and the game is over with the runner tagging up. Instead the boys in red intentionally walked the last 2 hitters in the line up to load the bases and try set up a miracle on “Ball Street”. With their top lead off hitter up the fans were already heading for the exits. Instead a hard shot to the pitcher and an out at home followed by a miraculous stab at third on a hard liner and then a fly ball to centre ended the inning. Believe it or not we were off to extra innings! Unfortunately, the extra frame didn’t have a storybook ending. The Oregon gang prevailed 19-18. After 6 games, a .500 record, 175 aches & pains, a case and a half of beer 😉 and endless memories with the best bunch of players and cheerleaders that could be assembled the dream was over.
Thanks to our “beautiful cheerleaders” and everyone for making memories that will be with us forever. Until next year..................keep those bats warm and the beer cold.