This is the 18th Anniversary Season for the Goat Scouts. The Goats are ready to have fun and win lots of games. The Goat record in 2004 was 13 wins, 4 losses and 1 forfeit.

• Monday, April 18, 2005, H7 vs Dawgs (Tie 24-24)
• Wednesday, April 27, 2005, H9 vs Wild Turkeys (Win 26-16)
• Tuesday, May 3, 2005, H7 vs Titans (Win 14-13)
• Thursday, May 12, 2005, H9 vs Los Angeles Equis of Pasadena (Win 13-6)
• Wednesday, May 18, 2005, H7 vs Eclectic Eccentrics (Win 28-13)
• Tuesday, May 24, 2005, H7 vs Homers (Win 30-21)
• Tuesday, May 31, 2005, H9 vs Crawdads (Win 23-11)
• Thursday, June 9, 2005, H9 vs Bruisers (Win 18-8)
• Wednesday, June 15, 2005, H7 vs Acquisition Allstars (Win 15-8)
• Week of June 20, 2005 - bye
• Tuesday, June 28, 2005, H7 vs Paper Tigers (Win 35-24)
• Week of July 4, 2005 - bye
• Thursday, July 14, 2005, H7 vs L.A. Radars (Win 11-10)
• Monday, July 18, 2005, H7 vs Gravity Fielders (Win 25-14)
• Thursday, July 28, 2005, H7 vs Fringes (Win 22-11)
• Wednesday, August 3, 2005, H9 vs Voodoo TOAD Fury (Loss 11-22)
• Tuesday, August 9, 2005, H7 vs Dawgs (Tie 14-14)
• Thursday, August 18, 2005, H9 vs Homers (Loss 18-27)
• Tuesday, August 23, 2005, H9 vs Eclectic Eccentrics (Win 18-13)
• Thursday, September 2, 2005, H9 vs Gravity Fielders (Win 26-24)

2005 Season Record - 14 wins, 2 losses, 2 ties

2005 Game Summaries

To quote the "C" League commissioner "You can tell it's the beginning of softball season by this crappy weather" We started the season off with another cold and dreary day after a great week hovering in the mid 70's. Although it was a cold day, the Goats got off to a great start with one run away from mercy. It didn't stay that way for long. The DAWG's came back with a vengeance, they cut our lead to a 9 run deficit. We worked our way back to a one run down by the bottom of the sixth. With the sun setting quickly the DAWG's requested to end the game then, but we couldn't walk away being so close to a win. We got up to bat and were able to tie with the winning run on second and two down. Unfortunately it wasn't in the cards, we ended the game with a tie 24-24.

Highlights of the game include home runs by Dave H. and Bryan B. 3 & 2 respectively. Toni had a great hit that got past center field for a triple. Bryan, in the shortstop position played the second base runner like a trout on opening day. Bryan snagged the ball and pretended to throw it to first which gave the aggressive runner the confidence to advance to third. Boy was he surprised when Bryan pulled the ball out of his glove and tagged him as he stepped off of second base.

Don't let the sun go down on me
Although I search myself, it's always someone else I see
I'd just allow a fragment of your life to wander free
But losing everything is like the sun going down on me

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Game 2, April 27, 2005, vs Wild Turkeys

Brrrr, another cold April game. Although the Goats started out head to head with the Wild Turkeys, they were able to leap into the "Mercy Zone". This feat was accomplished by the heroic talents of "Last 3 Women Standing". Even though this is the beginning of the season, we fell short in numbers with players of the female persuasion. We were able to drum up the minimum and what we lacked in quantity, we made up for in quality. Even the women on the other team were smacking it past 3rd base.

Highlights of the game include the great defensive plays by Cindy and Miki and the awesome offense of Beth who went 4 for 4. Oh yeah, there were also a couple of homeruns by Bryan, Chris, Doug and Tom (who brought his own cheering section).

I am, I am
I am 32 flavors and then some
I'm taking my chances as they come...

-Ani DiFranco

Game 3, May 3, 2005, vs Titans

Today proved to be a tough day getting all the Goats out on the field. This could be a bad sign, seein' that it is so early in the season. We did manage to wrangle up enough people to take the field and a few stragglers to replace the early departures. This week's team was a challenge and our all star females had fizzled out. The "boys" kept us alive with some good defense and by chalking up the score one run at a time. Our opponents were totally committed to getting the job done. The team was comprised of ITT employees contracted by JPL to support DSN. Talk about Deep Space Networking, these guys have to drive in from Monrovia for each game and for most players, it means back tracking in order to get home.

Highlights of the game include the couple of bullets that Dean caught at third base, a home run by Chris and the magic of Lloyd who brought in our winning run on top of his multiple home runs.

The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
I said
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town

-Thin Lizzy

Game 4, May 12, 2005, vs Los Angeles Equis of Pasadena

It was a sunny warm day at the park, perfect weather for the debut of our new T-shirts. Yada, yada, yada.

Highlights of the game include homeruns by Keizo a.k.a. Queso a.k.a. "The Cheese" a.k.a. Mild Cheddar and Shuichi, as well as a couple by Chris.

The sun was out but still a little nippy in the shade. FINALLY, we were not the home team, so we got to bat first and not worry about the equipment.

It proved to be a good first inning as we "singled" our way around the bases and the score was tallying up one run at a time; ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching. BUT, when we took the field; was it a preview of things to come OR were we just getting our errors out of the way. We had a couple of fancy dance moves out in left field and I will leave it at that. They scored a couple of home runs but then our defense kicked in and held them for a while. We got into mercy, they came back; we got into double mercy, they came back. It went on like that and the sun was setting fast. The Eccentrics decided to pull the plug in the 6th inning so we chalked up another win for the Goats.

Highlights of the game include the usual homeruns by Chris and a couple by newcomer Dan Moyers. Dave and Lloyd also contributed to the HR club. The in-field showed their worthiness with nice throws to first base and a double play by Bryan.

For the boys in left field...

What a game... We started out the first few innings "mano a mano" (hand to hand). By the time we got to the fourth, the winds of change had shifted. They hit us with 8 runs; the bullets were flying everywhere. Time to polish off the pistols and align our sights. The next few innings belonged to us, we countered with a 6,7, & 8 respectively as well as holding them down with some good defensive maneuvering (hint to the other team; never try to get past our women...), we did an excellent job shagging their bullets and keeping the score down. The butter was getting' hard and the jello was jigglin', time to close that refrigerator door...

We were graced with the presence of some Goat alumnae. Good to see Don and Donna out there and were are waiting for Keith to get back into uniform.

Highlights of the game include homers by Dan and Lloyd and all those singles by everyone else that really win the game. Also, a couple of mean defensive plays by Miki and Lisa (who by the way, brought the "ringer" down).

A Tuesday game after a holiday weekend, what a drag. We had a tough time getting a full team on the field so we had to call in the backup to round out the team. Many thanks to Justin and Jamie Bell who came in to help save the day. The other team must have had the same problem; we got off to a late start but finally got the game going. After the controversial play at first (gotta call those fair or foul ASAP), our opponents had us chasing balls in the out field. But... after slipping in the lean, mean, Dean machine in the pitching position, it was another story altogether. He was able to retire the first 7 batters and kept their score to the bare minimum. We hit them with some good offense and mercied in the 5th and double mercied in the 6th and 7th.

Highlights of the game were a well-deserved homerun by Toni as well as Bryan and Justin Bell. Kudos to the action on the pitchers mound by Dean Miller (yet another reason for Keizo to like pitching).

Another home game (equipment responsibility yet again!). The fields at the Rose Bowl can be described as less than perfect, so we try to adjust for this. If there is a big hole and we can avoid potential injury, we will shift the field over a little to adapt. This didn't go over too well with the other team. They requested that the field be moved to stay within the rental agreement, which technically would make any ball hit to right field out of play. The field was moved, however it was not "square". So it was moved again, this time with a super deluxe tape measure rather than the usual "step and count" method. After all this, the field looked very similar to the original layout.... Let the game begin. First up and a request from the monkey gallery; "please let me run for you, oh please, oh please let me run for you, I'll give you my tootsie roll if you let me run for you!". "Alright kid, you're cramping my style, but I'll let you run for me". This was not to be. The other team called foul play and required a gender match for substitute runners. I may be old school, but I still believe that tomatoes and little kids get into the lifeboats first.

Highlights of the game.... No home runs, a handful of doubles but we still won the game. The biggest highlight was Kevin downing a "Big Bertha" at Los Gringos after the game and getting his picture posted on the wall of fame... Two thumbs up to you little big man!

This is one of the rare occasions when just about everyone on the team and the reserves come out for a game. We had a record of 17 people come out tonight and it was freakin' Chris out, thank goodness for the erasable position chart. Don't let this scare you off, I repeat, this is very rare and it is very typical of the next game being too lean. This turned out to be a very good game, we got plenty of hits and showed some awesome defense against a worthy opponent.

Highlights of the game; the "Babe" is back, after a slump in his batting average, Bryan's come back with two home runs and some fancy backward catching. Cindy showed that she is a defensive force to be reckoned with and a couple of homeruns by Chris and Dan (whew, that one went into the soccer game no matter how the field was set up!). Go Goats!!!!

Two things significant things occurred during this game that we cannot escape. The first was the dry spell after the deluge of players from the previous game. It seems that we can never get a full team together after a week when "everyone" shows up. We had to squeak by with the bare minimum, sometimes this is a good thing (after we know we have enough to play). The second was the mid game curse. After the first inning we had our opponents in mercy and kept them there until we mercy'd them again. I believe there is an unconscious effort to allow the other team to catch up so that we can play with three outs rather than one as well as the faltering of our defense as the 15 run lead dwindles down to 3. After what seemed an eternity, we were able to pull ahead, they were hot on our trail for a couple of innings but never led. By the end of the game we were back in mercy and closed the door.

Highlights of the game include the two homers by Dave and one by Justin. All of the singles and doubles that scored one run at a time.

Whoa, the reigns had to be brought in and the Goats were served up a slice of "humble pie". This was a low scoring, tight race to the finish. The defense was good but we weren't doing too well in the scoring arena. We had three homeruns but they aren't worth as many when there is nothing to clean up. Yours truly went "O-fer" which goes to show how important our singles are to the game. Dean negotiated a deal with one of the opponents by lending her his glove with a promise that it would not be used to take him out... Sorry Dean, get it in blood next time! By the top of the ninth we tried to gain some margin but it just didn't happen. Bottom of the ninth, we had to hold them with a one run lead; things weren't looking good, we struggled to get two outs and they had runners on base with a heavy hitter on the plate. The pitch, and it's a high fly to left field... dropping, dropping, dropping, bam into the glove; game over, bring in the cones and the bases... whew!

Highlights are the homeruns by Bryan, Dave and Chris and the tight defense that kept the score low.

A good turn out on the field for a Monday game. The other team had a little trouble fielding the women's positions so they requested that a substitute be allowed to play (we tend to be a little more flexible than other teams). We were more concerned about the safety of the young man but when he took the field it was evident that he knew what he was doing. We were even more impressed when he got up to bat... Boom, boom, boom, boom on the plate, then a couple of practice swings and bam the next thing you know he is standing on first base with his arms crossed (this kid was awesome). A Monday game is usually hard to get into the swing of things, so it must have been to our advantage that our last game was the previous Thursday. Our defense could have used some improvement; we were either on or off. Our offense saw some improvement; Miki and Lisa had been in a slump but were able to pull off legitimate doubles.

Highlights of the game include homeruns by Bryan, Tom, Chris, Marc and Brett

Although it was another hot day, it was not so bad at the Rose Bowl. We've been lucky this season to enjoy the nice weather as well as a winning streak. Today we played the Fringes, a young looking lot but still not a match for our young at heart team (a handful of us bring the average age up). We were able to get Larry out for this game, I thought he was trying to preserve his perfect batting average which still could be true, he is still batting a 1000. This game had a couple of exciting moments, a runner at third took a nasty fall when he tried to slide but was tagged out (he should have taken his stand up out at second – nice play Liana!). Another mercy win.

Highlights of the game include homeruns by Dave, Tom, Chris and Jason.

The last game of the scheduled season and we are pitted up against the TOADS. We started out well, with 4 runs in the first inning and holding them to 2 runs. We had a questionable call; a coach from one of the teams also scheduled by the City of Pasadena (which is another story in itself) moved a cone and a foul was called fair, we had to honor it but it cost us big. Our offense could have been better and our defense took a beating (the bruise still hurts) except for the fantastic catch by Dan in right field and a "female" throwing Charlie out at first. It was a sad loss...

Highlights of the game include homeruns by Bryan and Chris and the great catch by Dan.

Take the first game of the season but reverse the teams in the last inning scenario and deduct 10 runs from the score and you end up with another tie... It's déjà vu all over again!

Miki, Bryan, Dave, Lloyd, Doug, Dean, Chris and some others were not there, but we 10 players did show up. Apparently the offense was not too bad scoring 18 runs, but the defense remains a mystery, take out that many players against a good hitting team and there is bound to be one hole somewhere.

Back on the winning track. Both teams had trouble getting three women to show up to the game. We both agreed to play 9 in the field and rotate the two women in the batting order. It took a couple of innings for the offense to get rolling but when it did the runs kept coming. This was a long game and we only played 5 1/2 innings, too much pausing from the other team.