The Final Games

so it all came down to this, our last games of the season, games that HAD to be won, games against a team that had swept us at our place earlier in the year. it couldnt have been written any better.

With 2 wins over Hamburg and 1 Berlin Sluggers loss against Paderborn at any point in their 4 game set, the Wild Farmers would be movin' on up to the big leagues. but before we could worry about Berlin and Paderborn, we first had to take care of our own business. Henrik had told us earlier in the week that he was planning on coming and throwing a game for us over the weekend so that took a big pressure off our pitching staff which had been recently depleted due to injury and arm-overuse. Since Thies was our horse all year, winning 7 or our total of 14, we had no choice but to ride him one last time in the first game...its tough to sweep if you dont win the 1st one.

When we showed up at the field for batting practice, there was already a feeling throughout the team that this was going to be a good day. we'd had great practices in the week and we were prepared to kick some ass. and by the looks of thier hitters in BP, they didnt have the same confidence. there was no talking, no cheering for good hits, no friendly banter amongst teammates; they were on their heels already and we could smell it.

we had beers and Korn chilling the fridge in the dugout, thats how positive we were that we were going to win. we had bought champaign before the game and had it on ice, thats how confident we were. and it showed when we took infield, we were clean, crisp, and most of all, we were loud; cheering for good throws from the outfield, rooting on infielders as they made easy plays on balls hit softly to them as though they were game saving dives in the holes. We had come to play.

Thies threw a 2 hitter in the first game, allowing 2 unearned runs to touch home with a handfull of Ks. We had brought our bats with us, on the other hand, and we were ahead from the start and never looked back. it was a great start to the day, and if they weren't scared before, they definitely were now. they had been swept by the Sluggers the weekend before and were starring another one in the face this time around.

everyone knew what was at stake and despite it being the last game of the season, no one complained that i put the same lineup back out there for the 2nd game...never change a winning team...and this lineup was poised for one last big win. Henrik was on the bump in the night cap and began just as he had left off last weekend against Braunschwieg. he was pumping strikes and getting ground balls, we had a bit more trouble fielding them than i would have liked but the 4 double plays we turned helped get us out of jams. the momentum began to shift in the 3rd when they put up 3 runs, but as i said before, there was a different aura about this team than there had been in the middle of the season. before, we might have lost fight, might have packed it in, but not now, not in the most important game of our season. we responded in the top of the 4th with 5 runs of our own, and the threat had been squashed like the proverbial bug.

We were in the driver's seat and it stayed this way until the bottom of the 7th. Runners had reached base on a walk and an error with a steal in between. that gave them runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 down and down by 4. I had been patrolling right field all day. I had badly misjudged a ball over my head in the first game...thanks a little to the sun...only to turn and make a good relay throw to get the guy at the plate. early in the 2nd game i had fired a ball to third trying to get the tagging runner from 2nd but it was just a bit off line and he was safe by just a bit. So with 1 down in the bottom of the 7th and runners on 1st and 3rd, i wasnt expecting the runner, the same one i'd almost hosed at 3rd, to try to test me again. there was no way that he would even think about it, his run means nothing in the grand scheme of things and they'd still have a scoring opportunity with 2 down if i caught it and he didnt go. But as the ball was settling into my mit (for the 2nd out of the inning) i glanced at 3rd and saw him pumping for home...I couldnt believe it, and to be honest i was a bit offended, i know i've lost a bit on the ol wing since i last played in the outfield in highschool, but i still had plenty left in the tank and the best arm i'd seen in the German 2nd league. what an idiot! I came up firing a laser beam that flew just over Johst's head and was a perfect one hopper to Tony at home...its the kind of play you dream of making, the perfect scenario, the perfect read on the ball, the perfect line for the throw, the deafening noise of the 200 fans in attendence, the collective hold of the breath as the dust settles awaiting the call that could end the game or prolong it for one more out...and it was the perfect ending to an unforgetable season.

even though we got 2nd in the league, that pile at the end, the rush toward the middle of the field was one of champions. the pyramid had never been more fun...or more stable for that matter, and maybe thats because we were first leaguers now. and the champaign dousing that ensued was well deserved, we had run the gauntlet of 5 games in 7 days, we had won 8 of our last 10 (9 actually, but we had to forfeit one on account of a bonehead coaching move) and we deserved to celebrate...though some on the Stealers side of the fence seemed to think we were being "classless idiots." but we werent going to let them rain on our parade.

after a few beers on the field, we showered and loaded up the cars headed back to Dohren. That might have been the most fun car ride ever. we drank beers and sang songs like "Finger in the butt, Mexico"...or at least thats how they tell me it translates. By the time we had reached Dohren, the whole town had heard that we were going to the first league, a lot of that had to do with us putting our heads out the windows and screaming it from the mountain tops. that night was something called Kultnacht, or Cult Night, here in Dohren, but we used it as a platform to tell those who didnt know already and bask even more in the glory of our conquest.

the 2nd man's games on Sunday didnt go quite as well, actually they didnt go well at all. we lost the 1st game on a walk off 3-run jack in the bottom of the 7th...thats not exactly how i saw my last pitch of the day going, but thats how it ended. and the 2nd game was just a train wreck. But that is not how i will remember this weekend. I will always remember that throw, and that pile, and the joy on all the faces because i had been a part of the Farmer's team that was the first to make it to the 1st Bundesliga.

DOHREN IST DABEI!!!

A-Ron