WCHD 12, Scared Hitless 22: End of the line

It started with a bang and ended with a whimper.

In Team We Can’t Hit Deadlines’ quarterfinal playoff matchup Wednesday, the bottom of the first inning saw a parade of power: a triple by Fouad Egbaria, followed by three straight home runs from Chris Pullam, Joe Coughlin and Derek Wolff. The burst of hitting gave the WCHDers an early 4-3 lead.

Unfortunately for the fourth-seeded WCHDers, it would be their last lead of the game. Scared Hitless would follow up the inning with four, four, seven and three runs in the remaining four innings, dropping the WCHDers 22-12 and ending what had been a surprisingly successful season.

Wolff, the first-year manager, looked back on the season positively, calling this squad a “competitive” one.

“We had some mental lapses and we should have played better defense,” Wolff said. “Overall everyone competed, no one ever gave up.”

Despite going into the final frame needing 15 runs to win, Wolff praised his team for continuing to fight. While it ultimately was not enough, they scored four in the bottom of the fifth.

“I’m proud of everyone’s compete level this season,” Wolff added.

The WCHDers showed resilience all year, coming back to win games and hanging on to win close ones. But sloppy defense plagued them all season long — tonight wasn’t much different. Scared Hitless was certainly a misnomer, as they were neither scared nor hitless at the plate on a muggy evening in the city.

Compounding WCHD’s defensive struggles, the Scared Hitless hitters managed to beat defensive shifts, blooping shots just over the heads of outfielders playing shallow. Then, they bombed shots toward Irving Park Road, well over WCHD outfielders’ heads.

Time after time this season, defense failed the WCHDers, although the offense was rarely ever potent. WCHD usually found success when it was able limit its opponent’s offense and win lower-scoring games. But when opponents scored 10-plus runs, WCHD was 1-3 this season.

With the No. 1 seed losing last week, the WCHDers were optimistic about a potentially long playoff run. But summer league softball is an unforgiving game, one in which one’s best is often not nearly enough and hubris leads to defeat in a tidy 60 minutes.

In any case, after a winless 2015 season, the WCHDers catapulted into contention in the span of one offseason, going 3-3 in the regular season and capturing a No. 4 seed for the playoffs. There’s something to be said for improvement.

Looking to 2016, Wolff identified what will likely be the focal point of spring training.

“We just have to get better defensively,” he said. “Have to get better defensively. … Too often this year we found ourselves down too many runs and that just starts with the defense. That’s everywhere, that’s 1-10, every single position.”

Several 2015 players returned to have strong 2016 seasons — but other players, some new and some not, made major contributions, Wolff said. He lauded Matt Yan and Megan Maginity’s hitting, and Tahira Merchant’s game-clinching catch earlier this season, among others. Chris Pullam added a power bat and solid outfielder, while Kirsten Keller added strong fielding and hitting (despite some bad luck on hard-hit balls).

There were highs, there were lows. In the end, only one team can end its season with a win. This season, it wasn’t WCHD.

Next season? Who knows.

That’s why they play the games.

WCHD 7, Backdoor Sliders 15: Inconsistent

 

Sometimes you’re on, sometimes you’re off — for Team We Can’t Hit Deadlines, they were a little bit of both on Wednesday.

In a rematch of the July 14 matchup against Backdoor Sliders (suspended because of lightning), the WCHDers hoped to continue to pad their win total. Before the game was suspended last month, they trailed just 11-8 in the fifth, with a reasonable chance at a win.

This time by the fifth inning, the chance was more long shot than reasonable.

Two-thirds of the Sliders’ 15 runs came in two innings (six in the first, four in the fourth). It was more than enough for the Sliders, however, as WCHD (3-3) mustered just seven runs total, with three innings of goose eggs, en route to a 15-7 loss.

“Overall it was pretty inconsistent today,” first-year skipper Derek Wolff said. “Especially defensively, it wasn’t the way we’ve played so far this season.”

Wolff placed much of the blame on himself for the defensive woes, but he wasn’t the only one to commit errors. WCHD shot itself in the foot on numerous occasions, missing cutoffs, allowing grounders to leak through the infield and not preventing the Sliders from stealing extra bases cheaply.

The squad’s collective head perhaps remained stuck in the office, given the early 6 p.m. start. The Sliders, on the other hand, were anything but slow starters, jumping ahead right away. After holding WCHD to the first of three zero-run frames, the Sliders plated six in the bottom half of the first.

WCHD could never recover from the early onslaught and failed to claim a lead at any point in the game for just the second time this season.

Down 10-1 going into the fourth, the WCHDers were nearing slaughter rule territory. The bats finally came alive after a sluggish start, though, with five crossing for the visitors to make it a game.

But just like that, WCHD’s ballooning confidence was quickly deflated when the Sliders added four more runs in the bottom half.

Down eight runs late, the WCHDers looked to complete the comeback that their opponent last week could not (when the WCHDers led 20-12 in the final inning).

Unfortunately for the visitors, the bats once again went quiet down the home stretch. In innings five through seven, WCHD tallied zero, one and zero runs.

Wolff and the squad hope to put this game behind them as they gear up for the postseason.

“We just come back next week with a fresh mindset,” Wolff said. “We’re probably going to get a [four or five] seed so we’ll probably play a team that’s a lot like us this season, pretty middle-of-the-road.”

But Wolff argued that when they’re at their best, they’re capable of more than mediocrity.

“I think when we play our best, we’re probably a top two or three team,” Wolff said.

The team will have a chance to prove that argument in the weeks to come.

Line Drives

• Power of Tower. Matt Yan went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate.
• Don’t call it a comeback. Kirsten Keller returned to the lineup after missing the last two games, moonlighting at catcher.
• Speed Merchant. Catcher/OF Tahira Merchant recorded an infield single that turned into a double by virtue of a Sliders throwing error.
• Chris? Pull ‘im. After boasting of his 17-for-18 mark at the plate this season before the game, OF Chris Pullam recorded an out in his first at-bat.
• Hard news. OF Joe Coughlin was momentarily shaken up after diving for a fly ball in center field, but remained in the game.

 

WCHD 20, WGN Bozos 17: Bringing the thunder

Earlier in the day, elder statesman Eric DeGrechie bemoaned his tough luck at the dish this season — naturally, he went out and served up a hot plate of redemption Wednesday night.

The righty hurler finished just a triple short of the cycle, contributing to Team We Can’t Hit Deadlines’ (3-2) 20-run output en route to a more-comfortable-than-it-sounds 20-17 win against the WGN Bozos (1-4).

“I’ve been hitting it hard all season,” DeGrechie said. “Last year the ball seemed to get into the holes and gaps and stuff and this year it just hasn’t.

“I was happy to finally help myself help the cause on the mound.”

The WCHDers were powered by a pair of sevens — scoring seven in the second and fifth innings — including a home run by DeGrechie in the second.

Grabbing a 7-3 lead after two, the WCHDers were faced with a new challenge: playing from ahead. To the Bozos’ credit, there was nothing clownish about their effort. After WCHD’s big second inning, the Bozos crossed three in the bottom half of the second, third and fourth innings, after which WCHD clung to a 13-12 lead.

Although the early forecast of rain proved unfounded, Team WCHD made sure the outfield grass did not want for precipitation. Even after notching two outs, the WCHDers rained outfield shot after outfield shot, tallying their second seven-run spot of the game to extend the lead to 20-12 heading into the bottom half of the fifth.

“We did the things that we needed to do,” first-year skipper Derek Wolff said. “We executed really well with two outs.”

With the game pushing up against the one-hour limit, the Bozos would have one more chance at the plate. Team WCHD, meanwhile, looked simply to get three outs — memories of last season’s late-game collapse in the season finale lingered.

Despite an eight-run cushion, DeGrechie said he was a little nervous heading into the final frame. Those nerves surely weren’t allayed after a series of defensive miscues allowed the Bozos to send five across, cutting the WCHD lead to just three.

Outfielder Tahira Merchant had a chance to record the final out for the second week in a row, but couldn’t quite get to the ball in short right field. However, first baseman Megan Maginity picked her up shortly thereafter, snagging an infield pop-up to cap WCHD’s third win of the season (and third in franchise history).

With an eight-run lead to protect, the WCHDers might have lost this game last season. But DeGrechie cited the roster continuity as a major factor in the squad’s leap from winless to contender.

“I don’t know if I expected this, but I thought we would compete hard,” DeGrechie said of the squad’s season to date. “We’ve got good leadership. I think the good thing is a lot of players came back from last season. We learned the ins and outs of the league. I think we built upon that and came in with an advantage this year.”

Line Drives

• Perfect dish. Outfielder Chris Pullam went 4-for-4 at the plate.
• New heights. The WCHDers’ 20-run effort marked a season-high, besting the previous high of 17.
• Getting it done. For the first time this season, WCHD recorded a win without Merchant catching a fly ball.
• Part Two. WCHD takes on Backdoor Sliders next week at 6 p.m. The WCHDers’ July 14 meeting with the Sliders was suspended because of lightning in the fifth inning with the Sliders leading 11-8.
• Sneak preview. Outfielders Derek Wolff and Chris Pullam participated in the night cap contest for the short-handed Ex-Yellowbookers, who took on the Backdoor Sliders.

WCHD 7, Ex-Yellowbookers 5: Deja vu

Tahira Merchant (right) laughs after Team We Can’t Hit Deadlines’ 7-5 win Wednesday night, which was capped by a caught fly ball by Merchant. 

“Honestly … honestly, I seriously didn’t think I was going to catch it.”

Outfielder Tahira Merchant said that, minutes after she did catch it, a fly ball to short right field. She’d made a nice play in the field like that before this season (during the June 30 win against Misericordia) — but this one wasn’t just any fly ball.

This time, her play won a game. Merchant recorded the final out in Team We Can’t Hit Deadlines’ 7-5 win Wednesday night against Ex-Yellowbookers, marking the squad’s second win of the season and moving them to .500 (excluding last week’s postponed game).

Up 7-5 in the top of the sixth with two outs and a runner on second, the WCHDers looked to close the door. Elder statesman Eric DeGrechie tossed a pitch home to a lefty Ex-Yellowbooker, who popped one out to right field toward Merchant.

“I told myself ‘Use both your hands, bring it to you,'” said Merchant, still beaming after receiving a parade of high-fives from teammates. “So it kind of just all happened and it happened with a good result.”

The WCHDers, the home team, jumped out to their customary early lead, crossing two runs in the first on a two-run homer by center fielder Joe Coughlin. But a familiar story unfolded: the WCHD bats caught a cold. Meanwhile, the Ex-Yellowbookers crossed two in the second, then added three more in the third and fourth to take a 5-2 lead.

On an oppressively hot day, the WCHD bats started to heat up when it counted. The home team crossed one in the fourth to cut the deficit to two. The defense held strong in the top half of the fifth, then went to work offensively, crossing four to take a 7-5 lead, which proved to be the final result.

First-year manager Derek Wolff praised DeGrechie and the defense — which was missing standout infielder Kirsten Keller — as a whole for battening down the hatches after the Ex-Yellowbookers’ early success at the plate.

“Heck of a job out there,” Wolff said. “I thought everyone played their roles well tonight. Everyone, you look at the whole order one through 11, it seemed like everyone did their job.”

Wolff also dished out praise to Merchant and Courtney Jacquin for their patience at the plate in drawing walks, and to Coughlin and Chris Pullam for their aggressiveness on the base paths.

“Everyone did their part today,” Wolff said.

One part will likely be remembered more than the others.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a position like that before, so I’m so overjoyed right now,” Merchant said of her game-ending play. “It’s an amazing feeling.”

Line Drives

• The WCHDers next face WGN Bozos on July 27 at 6:30 p.m. The Bozos are 1-3 on the season, excluding their matchup tonight (result not in as of press time). However, their lone victory came via forfeit July 6 against the Ex-Yellowbookers.
• Wolff said there will be two, maybe three more regular season games. After speaking with the umpire, he shared that there is a possibility of starting last week’s postponed game over at a later date, which would represent a stroke of good luck for the WCHDers, who trailed 11-8 against Backdoor Sliders before the game was called because of lightning.
• Wolff recorded three straight outs in left field in the same inning on nearly identical fly ball trajectories.
• Despite recording an out shortly after mentioning his batting average, Matt Yan continues to mash at the plate (6-for-9 on the season).
• WCHD is 2-0 in contests including a caught fly ball by Merchant this season (source: Elias Sports Bureau).

WCHD 8, Backdoor Sliders 11 (postponed): When it rains, it pours

Softball is a game of cold, hard numbers: ERA, OBP, OPS, WHIP, FIP, and so many other acronyms distilling the game down to tantalizing predictability.

Mother Nature, on the other hand, operates on whims. And this season, her whims have seemed to find Wednesdays particularly opportune times to strike.

This time, she thundered and lit up the sky, cutting short Team We Can’t Hit Deadlines’s matchup against Backdoor Sliders, with WCHD trailing 11-8 in the bottom of the fifth. The game is expected to be continued at a later date, but that decision has yet to come down from the league office.

“I’m just beyond vexed at this point,” manager Derek Wolff said. “I don’t know what to say about Mother Nature, [she’s] just not doing us any favors.”

The WCHDers spent the week taunting the softball gods, declaring victory a certainty — after all, Backdoor Sliders had lost to Misericordia, a team WCHD previously beat handily.

But things didn’t work out that way. As usual, WCHD jumped out to a minimal early lead, crossing one in the first inning. But Backdoor Sliders answered with six straight runs in the first two innings.

Wolff didn’t hide his displeasure with the stop-and-start season to date. The WCHDers have already had a bye and their second game canceled, on top of tonight’s weather delay.

“The mistakes we made in the first inning — we game them five runs [and] I don’t think a single one of those was earned,” Wolff said. “All it is is rust. We have people who have played three times in a six- or seven-week period.”

With the game cut short, the WCHDers are left pondering what could have been.

“You get a game like tonight where we have a really bad start [but] we come right back at it,” Wolff said. “Tie it up in the [third], at 6-6, and we’re right in there with them. we got our 2-3-4 hitters coming up, the heart of the order … you expect the 2-6, maybe even the 2-8 hitters to get you anywhere between 2-5 runs, which is huge in a game when you’re losing 11-8 and likely to get out of that inning. ”

To WCHD’s credit, they bounced back in the third, scoring five to tie the game, 6-6. But a base running mistake could have proved to be a crucial moment (had the game been completed). After advancing to third on a triple, shortstop Fouad Egbaria got caught in a rundown to home when the following batter, center fielder Joe Coughlin, hit a ground ball to the shortstop. The shortstop looked off Egbaria, then appeared to be ready to throw to first, but held the ball, eventually tagging Egbaria halfway between third and home.

From there, however, the Sliders outpaced WCHD en route to an 11-8 lead before lightning struck in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Sliders had two outs, though, and WCHD was set to bring up the heart of its order, a fact Wolff once again emphasized.

“Heart of our order coming back up [in the sixth inning],” Wolff said. “I’ll take that every day. That’s where you want to be, in a competitive spot to give yourself a chance to go out there and win a ballgame in the sixth inning.”

Team WCHD is scheduled to play the Ex-Yellowbookers at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 20, at Revere Park’s Field 4. The Ex-Yellowbookers (1-3) were on bye this week.

—

Between the Bylines is a sports website dedicated to the art of the story and the documentation of what a great man once called The Will To Win (#TWTW). That doesn’t happen without help from you, the dedicated reader. Got a news tip? Email inbetweenthebylines@gmail.com.

Captain’s Log: Now or Never

This is a special post by Manager Derek Wolff. 

---

“For to whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.”-Luke 12:48

In a season marred by inconsistent weather with storms that seemingly only assault Wednesday nights, it’s been difficult for Team We Can’t Hit Deadlines to develop any consistency. We’ve had a rotunda of roster moves to deal with including absences from some reliable veterans, negating team chemistry.

From this point forward however, there can be no more excuses. WCHD plays some of the worst teams in the league over the next three weeks and we will look to catapult ourselves into contention with a high playoff seed.

There is true talent on this team and it’s taken some time for us to realize that. We’ve gotten our brains beaten in twice now and it doesn’t feel good, so surely we’ll use that as motivation moving forward. Every game from this point out, by needs, has to feel like a late September one — despite the unrelenting heat of the sweltering July sun — for us to be successful. We need to play with a sense of urgency that we’ve yet to show on the field.

I interviewed a pitcher on the Missouri Tigers last week, who said that last year in the depths of his despair due to being redshirted, the coaching staff asked each player to come up with one word to define why they played the game.

To a person, I encourage everyone on WCHD to ask themselves that very question tonight and for all softball nights to come. Like all the great promise makers before me—Mark Messier, Michael Jordan, Jon Snow—I promise that if we work out an answer to that question, we will not lose tonight.

It’s feast or famine, do or die, now or never.

WCHD 2, Wet Bandits 12: Nobody home

The performance by Team We Can’t Hit Deadlines in the second game of the season on June 30 was defined by three letters in succession: W-I-N.

Its Game 3 performance, however, was defined by another three-letter arrangement: D-N-P.

With veterans Eric DeGrechie and Joe Coughlin out of the lineup for the week, WCHD (1-2) struggled offensively, bringing just two runners home in a 12-2 defeat against Wet Bandits (3-0) on Wednesday, July 6, in Chicago.

“Our team today, obviously we didn’t hit very well,” first-year skipper Derek Wolff said. “One through 10 today, I don’t think we had as many quality at-bats as we probably should have.”

The Wet Bandits scored two in the bottom of the first, an inning that could have been far worse for WCHD.

Early on, the WCHDers were hard on their luck, hitting the Wet Bandits pitcher hard, but right to opposing fielders.

Despite the lack of fireworks, WCHD managed to hang around thanks to some capable fielding. Second baseman Matt Yan executed a nifty flip to shortstop Fouad Egbaria for a force out at second. Later, third baseman Kirsten Keller would record two of three outs in an inning, snagging an infield pop-up and corralling a ground ball for a force out. Outfielder Chris Pullam also got in on the defensive party, tossing a nice ball from deep center field to the cutoff man, Egbaria, who fired home to pitcher Matt Bernard, catching the Wet Bandits runner red-handed at home.

“All around I think everyone did their job,” Wolff said. “I think the other team just did their jobs a little better than us tonight.”

After three innings, Team WCHD trailed just 4-1. But missed opportunities at the plate and on the bases prevented them from chipping away any further, even though the Bandits never put together the monster inning that has plagued the WCHD defense in the past.

Nonetheless, five more runs in the fourth and fifth innings put the Bandits up, 9-1.

Egbaria crossed home in the sixth for WCHD’s second and final run of the night before the Bandits shut the door in the bottom half with three more runs, invoking the slaughter rule.

Despite the defeat, several WCHDers had performances worth praising. Yan continued a strong start at the plate, Keller continued to show strong fielding skills and Courtney Jacquin was able to draw a pair of walks (despite the opposing pitcher’s insistence that batters should swing at bad pitches because it’s “more fun”).

“I feel comfortable,” Yan said. “We’re not practicing this year so I feel like that really helps me as a player. I’m just winging it every time I go out there and trying to make contact.”

WCHD next hits the field against Backdoor Sliders on July 13. Backdoor Sliders had a bye this week, and will enter the matchup next week with a 1-1-1 record, including a 16-15 loss to Misericordia in Week 1 (whom WCHD defeated last week).

Line Drives

• Second baseman Matt Yan is 3-for-5 at the plate in two games this season.
• Infielder Fouad Egbaria sustained a thumb injury in the third inning but remained in the game. He is probable for next week’s game.
• For the first time this season, Team WCHD never held a lead in a game.

—

Between the Bylines is a sports website dedicated to the art of the story and the documentation of what a great man once called The Will To Win (#TWTW). That doesn’t happen without help from you, the dedicated reader. Got a news tip? Email inbetweenthebylines@gmail.com.

WCHD 17, Misericordia 7: Shock

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

CHICAGO-When the game ended, Team We Can’t Hit Deadlines stood in shock.

The umpire called the game, with the score at 17-7.

This time, unlike the eight games prior (dating back to the listless, winless 2015 campaign), WCHD stood on the winning side of the ledger.

WCHD defeated Team Misericordia, 17-7, on Wednesday, June 29, at Revere Park in Chicago. In addition to providing a momentum boost after a crushing 30-11 Game 1 defeat at the hands of Team Tools, WCHD rallied to land its first win of the young season.

And its first win in franchise history.

“I think we were kind of shocked,” starting pitcher Eric DeGrechie said. “I wasn’t sure what we were supposed to do.”

Veteran center fielder Joe Coughlin expressed similar confusion at the concept of winning. So, what did go through his head when the game ended?

“Joy, a thin form of ecstasy,” he said. “Just a lot of jubilation. Lot of hard work we put in … kind of. We practiced once, for like almost an hour.

“We really put the blood, sweat and tears on the field.”

The elder statesman DeGrechie took the mound for his first start as a WCHDer. As a spot reliever in 2015, he said he struggled with control — not so much this time. DeGrechie tallied key punchouts all game, including two apiece in the second and fifth innings.

“Getting the hang of lobbing those in there and [sometimes] I’ll [pitch] too low, so it felt like as the game progressed I kind of got it down in terms of the arc and whatnot,” said the crafty right-hander, who threw an impressive side session before the game.

But the win didn’t occur without a brief spurt of adversity.

After jumping out to an early lead, WCHD allowed five runs in the fourth. Misericordia pulled ahead to a 7-3 edge — a repeat of Game 1 seemed in the offing, in which WCHD staked a claim to a tenuous 2-1 lead early before getting hammered by the Tools, despite scoring 11 runs.

DeGrechie admitted he was worried after Misericordia’s big fourth inning, but the team remained positive. This time, instead of folding like they’d done several times before, WCHD rallied.

“Everybody was into it, nobody was down,” DeGrechie said. “Everybody was excited. It was a good team win.”

Chris Pullam knocked a leadoff double in the fourth and eventually crossed home to cut the deficit to three. In the fifth, WCHD exploded for a whopping eight runs, despite an untimely foul out by shortstop Fouad Egbaria with the bases loaded.

The eight-run fifth was too much for Misericordia to overcome. WCHD turned a sixth-inning double play en route to its fourth shutout inning of the game before shutting the door in the bottom half.

Matt Yan kicked off the bottom half of the sixth with a single, and WCHD kept plugging away at the plate, adding three more runs to end the game by the mercy rule.

The win was a team effort, from top to bottom. Short center fielder Tahira Merchant contributed one of several key WCHD defensive stops in the game, moving to snag a fly ball to short center field in the top half of the fifth. The nifty grab helped keep Misericordia at bay before WCHD ‘s eight-run onslaught in the bottom half.

“I was analyzing the speed at which [the ball] was coming,” Merchant said. “I told myself ‘Well, this definitely seems manageable — if  I can’t catch this, this is very sad.’ I said ‘I’m gonna catch this frickin’ ball.'”

She used her non-glove hand to help corral the ball, and was then swarmed by congratulatory teammates.

“I remember being in shock,” she said. “And then everyone else was in shock. So it was just this amazing moment.”

But the winning effort started before the first pitch was tossed.

First-year skipper Derek Wolff’s gamble to start DeGrechie, an experienced player but untested starting pitcher, paid off.

“I thought Eric did a great job tonight controlling the strike zone, especially down the order,” Wolff said.

Wolff also praised his team’s approach at the plate the second and third time through the lineup. Wolff and Co. hope that pop at the plate and pep in the team’s collective step carries over through the rest of the season.

“We’ve got a great policy in place of never practicing,” he said. “I think that’s key.”

Unleashing a deluge of cliches, Wolff added that if the team executes and plays its A-game, the results will take care of themselves.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about us.”

WCHD next hits the field next at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 6, against Wet Bandits. Wet Bandits were off this week, but sit atop the league standings after a 21-9 win in Week 1 against Scared Hitless and a 13-12 victory against WGN Bozos in Week 2.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that team WCHD’s Week 1 loss was against the WGN Bozos. It was in fact against Team Tools. The story has been corrected to reflect this fact.

—

Between the Bylines is a sports website dedicated to the art of the story and the documentation of what a great man once called The Will To Win (#TWTW). That doesn’t happen without help from you, the dedicated reader. Got a news tip? Email inbetweenthebylines@gmail.com.

Starting anew: Game 1

Things can go only up for Team We Can’t Hit Deadlines.

Well, in theory.

WCHD kicks off its second campaign tonight at Revere Park in Chicago. The squad, which features a few new faces, hopes for a bounceback season after a tumultuous 2015 that saw the squad go winless and the departure of manager Alex Mayster. To add insult to injury, the squad blew a sizable lead late in the 2015 season finale, blowing its best chance at a win.

Under new skipper Derek Wolff, the squad hopes to fly the W flag at least once this season.

Here’s your lineup for today’s game against Team Tools:

22ers start slow, comeback effort falls short

First-year skipper Alex Mayster takes a pitch during the first at-bat of the 22ers season on Opening Day, Wednesday, May 27, in Chicago. Between the Bylines

Slow starts equal fast ends.

Such was the case for the 22ers on Opening Day against Team Bozze. After falling behind 9-1 early, the 22ers rallied, cutting the deficit to three, 9-6, in the fifth inning, with a chance to further cut into the deficit heading into the final two frames.

But the slow start proved too much to overcome, as the 22ers (0-1) fell at Chicago’s Revere Park, 13-6.

“It just happened so quickly and we were wondering what went wrong,” third baseman/elder statesman Eric DeGrechie said of the slow start.

While the squad took a loss in its home opener, there were positives, especially after first-year skipper Alex Mayster predicted a 17-3 defeat earlier in the day. The defense was stout, with all three outfielders from left to right field — Erin Berger, Joe Coughlin and Matt Bernard — all turning in strong play. Mayster also turned a nifty pair of plays from the mound, including one play in which he skittered the ball to first base like a Patrick Kane saucer pass. Pretty? No. Effective? Yes.

Second baseman Riley Simpson also snagged a hard liner, and DeGrechie also made a play at third.

“I think we made every play we were supposed to make,” Mayster said. “We even made some of the tougher ones. There’s definitely areas we can improve, but for a starting point I couldn’t be more impressed.”

At the plate, however, was a different story.

Team Bozze’s crafty hurler held the 22ers scoreless through three innings. In the fourth, down 9-0, the offense showed signs of life, when Mayster kickstarted the offense with a leadoff triple. After chugging his way to third, Coughlin drove him home two batters later, tallying the first RBI of the season.

In the fifth, the 22ers tagged Team Bozze for five runs, with first baseman Megan Maginity leading off the inning at her No. 5 spot. Despite the ultimate result, the fifth inning was proof that the lineup is capable of producing from top to bottom, even on an evening when cleanup hitter Fouad Egbaria went a putrid 0-for-3 at the plate.

“That was a time to find ourselves and figure out who we were,” said Mayster, the pre-eminent existentialist thinker of our time. “I thought we really came through. We didn’t give up.”

Despite an overall strong showing, Coughlin beat himself up for hitting into a force-out in the sixth inning after Berger had knocked a single to start the inning, with the 22ers down 9-6.

Overall, though, it was a strong start to the veteran’s swan song season.

“Two hits and a [RBI], I’ll take that to the bank and add it to the total,” Coughlin said.

He’ll hope hope to add more to that bank account, as will others, like newcomer Riley Simpson, who pitched in a pair of hits. On the first, however, a single, he dashed to second and was out by a country mile.

“I think I proved with my two hits that I belong at this level,” Simpson said.

But he added that his “over-eagerness” on the basepath was a rookie moment for him. The bright side? On his next hit, he pulled up safely at first.

Baby steps.

Maginity (1-for-3) said she had some nerves to start the game, which might have been true of the team as whole, given the sluggish start to the contest.

But as Rafiki once said, it’s in the past. Now, the focus is on Game No. 2, next Wednesday, June 3.

“We really need to come out strong and start the game out like we ended the game [today],” she said.

Three Stars 

1- Joe Coughlin. The veteran center fielder went 2-for-3 from the plate and contributed steady play in the outfield.

2- Alex Mayster. The first-year skipper and pitcher knocked a stand-up triple, in addition to a strong bounceback from the first few innings, in which Team Bozze went ahead 9-0. Mayster also executed two highlight reel plays, defensively.

3- Eric DeGrechie. The veteran third baseman went 2-for-3 from the plate and made plays defensively when called upon.

Honorable Mention: Erin Berger. The left fielder knocked a single in the sixth inning, and turned in strong defensive play.

LINE DRIVES

• Second baseman Matt Yan, who arrived to the park after the first pitch in a tank top and flip-flops, said getting used to the flow of the game was like a “fish learning to walk on land.”
• Center fielder Joe Coughlin called the acquisition of a second T-shirt — good for his second on the year — a “nice haul.”
• Super-sub Riley Simpson said it was a “surprise” to find himself in the starting lineup, but that it was nice to get the “vote of confidence” from Mayster.
• Third baseman Eric DeGrechie said he took a lot away from Opening Day, and felt “optimistic” going into the next game, despite the season-opening loss.