SLB: 13; Balls Deep: 21

Things could have been a lot worse for your Sirs of Baltimore tonight, after a couple of lousy innings in the field.

The game started brightly enough, when SLB allowed only one run in the first inning and scored three of their own. But in a long second inning, Balls Deep managed to send six batters across the plate on a handful of routine groundballs and untimely walks. It didn't seem the Lords could buy an out.

In the bottom of the second, SLB scored none.

In the third inning, things worsened for the Sirs. Put simply, they were slaughtered due to even more mishandled plays. At 3B, James J lost a ball in his glove and never made his throw. At SS, Adam R failed to snag grounder and missed setting up a double play opportunity. At pitcher, Joan S gloved a couple balls but wasn't able to connect with Emery P at first. And throughout all of this, Balls Deep knocked several powerful line drives into the short right field fence of Riverside Park.

"They were hitters," Adam R said after the game.

"They were walkers, too," Joan S noted, referencing the high number of BD batters who laid off her pitches.

Going into the fourth inning, the shaggy umpire notified SLB that they were down 19-3, and if they didn't score at least two runs they would be mercy-ruled out of the game. Adam C stepped up to the plate and knocked his second home run of the night. His first, it was noted, went farther than perhaps any ball he'd hit before.

After Adam C's homer, the Sirs plated two more runs, keeping them in the game. In the inning that followed, they held Balls Deep to only two runs. At 3B, Nick made two of the outs, reeling in an infield fly and then a hard struck liner.

In their last at bat, Sir Lord Baltimore finally got their rally going. Adam R led off with a triple then scored on an overthrow, then Jay, who homered in the first inning, followed with a triple. Joan S walked. SS Kevin D sent a ball to deep center, back to the warning track, and got to third base himself. Adam C homered for a third time. All in all, the Sirs scored seven runs in the inning and went through the order, until Adam R struck out to end the game.

Kevin D pointed out afterward that the game should have continued, as SLB was within eight runs of winning. Apparently, the time rule was invoked.

It was a night of much despair for the home team, but as Joan S said, "At least we're hitting better."