This is the 19th Anniversary Season for the Goat Scouts. The Goats are ready to have fun and win lots of games. The Goat record in 2005 was 14 wins, 2 losses and 2 ties.

• Practice #1
• Practice #2
• April 18, 2006, H7 vs Bruisers (Win 30-22)
• April 27, 2006, H9 vs Fringes (Win 31-17)
• May 4, 2006, H7 vs Wild Turkeys (Win 19-10)
• May 9, 2006, H9 vs Titans (Loss 13-18)
• May 15, 2006, H7 vs Dawgs (Win 13-12)
• May 24, 2006, H9 @ Gravity Fielders (Win 21-20)
• Week of May 29, 2006 - Bye
• June 7, 2006, H9 @ Eclectic Eccentrics (Win 13-11)
• June 14, 2006, H7 vs Homers (Loss 18-31)
• June 22, 2006, H9 @ Crawdads (Win 25-15)
• June 26, 2006, H7 vs L.A. Radars (Win 19-14)
• July 6, 2006, HS @ L.A. Monkeys of Pasadena (Win 27-17)
• July 11, 2006, HS @ Voodoo TOAD Fury (Loss 17-20)
• July 18, 2006, HS @ Paper Tigers (Loss 15-20)
• July 26, 2006, HN @ The Fringes (Cancelled, see story below)
• August 2, 2006, HN vs Paper Tigers (Loss 17-20)
• August 8, 2006, HN @ L.A. Radars (Win 9-5)
• August 17, 2006, HS vs Voodoo TOAD Fury (Cancelled)
• August 21, 2006, HN @ Eclectic Eccentrics (Win 16-6)
• August 31, 2006, HS @ Dawgs (Loss 17-18)

2006 Season Record - 11 wins, 6 losses, 0 ties, 2 cancellations

2006 Game Summaries

GAPs were: Miki, Bryan, Larry, and Keizo. A dreary day, after several rains. Just a quick game of catch on a soggy field, then Bryan hitting a few grounders.

GAPs were: Miki, Bryan, Keith, Chris, Dean, and ?. Where is everybody? Don't they know it's winning (softball) time?

We had a good turnout, with fully redundant A & B Teams. With so many players, most Goats got only two at-bats.

Defensive Highlights: None. There was rust all around. $500 fines to all who failed to attend a practice. In fact, Double-Secret Probation to all Rookies who failed to practice with the team!

Offensive Highlights: Surprisingly many, this early in the season and with so few at practice. Keith homered in his first at-bat after missing last season on the D.L. (that's Disabled List, not Downlink, you rocket scientists). Miki and Toni crushed the ball.

Too cold to start a fire
I'm burning diesel, burning dinosaur bones
I'll take the river down to still water
And ride a pack of dogs

I'm gonna break
I'm gonna break my
I'm gonna break my rusty cage and run

-Soundgarden

Game 2, April 27, 2006, vs Fringes

It was a cool, grey day; a day which threatened rain at every turn. Fortunately, the rain waited until the game was well over. We had a decent turnout, but the Fringes needed players to get started. We offered them Keizo, but they took Kevin H. instead. Kevin played well against us. Maybe it's time to move him up to B-Team. In a surprise move, Jackie was squeezed into the lineup, street clothes and all. Ready to give up retirement?

Defensively, the Goats are still offensive. Amy, from the Fringes (but now working in Goat territory), was hoping to catch us in just this mode. Too bad, though, that the Goat bats overcame the sloppy defense. The outfield could never decide on who was going to get the ball, and when they did decide, they still didn't get it. The one bright spot in the outfield was Cindy's nice running catch of a line drive. The best infield defense was from Keith at first, corralling the wild goat throws (mostly from short).

Offensively, we learned that Bat Girl and Guano Boy (Keizo's other bat) were on the illegal bat list. I don't think Keizo has recovered from the shock - see below. Thank heavens for Wonder Boy! Our hero! The best offensive play of the game goes to Goat Rookie Daniel Cervantes, who overcame leg injury and pinch-runner Keizo to beat both the ball and Keizo to first on a chopper to short. Now I have seen everything!

Then I'm dying at the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun
Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike
And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell
And the last thing I see is my heart
Still beating
Still beating
Breaking out of my body and flying away
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell

-Meatloaf

Game 3, May 4, 2006, vs Wild Turkeys

The Goats did not score in the first inning, but took the lead for good in the second. The Goats put the Turkeys in mercy in the 4th.
I'm sure there is no direct correlation between Chris's absence and the extra-large turnout: 19 Goats plus family and friends. In a recruiting coup, Liana Hernandez filled out the lineup card at 20 and split second base with Miki. $50 fine to Guest Manager Keith, who had to work without "former" Co-Manager and Webmistress Donna.
Whereas the defense was ugly the previous two games, there was marked improvement this time out. In fact, the turnaround of shortstop Bell reminds Dodger fans of Adrian Beltre - there must be something about the prospect of Free Agency that motivates players to step up their game! Or maybe the pen is mightier than the bat and glove! In the last two games Bryan looked like just another Old Goat. Tonight he looked like a Golden Goat of Old: a 1-6 putout at third, a 6-3 tag-and-throw double play, a 1-6 line drive double play, and the final putout, unassisted, at second. Not to mention a couple garden variety 6-3 plays. The good play at short was continued by Big Dave Herman, who exhibited an unusual Zen-like calm and speeds visible to the naked eye.

The "Take One For The Team" Award goes to Dean who took a bad hop off his arm and chest.

"Crazy Legs Herman Envy" affected several baserunners, including Miki, who scored after confusing the following two runners and the defense; and Lloyd, who was tagged out at the plate in a bang-bang play.

Offensive highlights include home runs from Bryan B. and Keizo, a triple by Keith, and doubles by Dean, Lloyd, Dave and Marc.

The letters and calls
Got you climbing the walls
And everyone wants a favor
They beg to remind you
Of times left behind you
But you know the past is a
loser.

The face you're wearing
is different now
And the days run hot and cold
Are you under
The power of gold?

-Dan Fogelberg

Game 4, May 9, 2006, vs Titans

Words can't hardly describe the horrors that befell us against the Titans. It was one of those slow motion train crash nightmare kinda games where the Goats were always a day late and a base hit short. We seemed to be in shock the entire game. We could see the lead, and victory, just ahead of us - but we could never reach it. To shake things up, Chris moved Cindy to 3rd base and Dean to the outfield. That didn't help much, as the Titans found other places to deposit hits. Softball is a simple game, and we took our cues from the soccer game beyond left field: "See the ball. Kick the ball."

The Titans mentioned something at the start of the game about not playing past 7 PM. So, at the end of the 6th Inning they pulled up the field. Most Goats were ready for the 7th and the coming of the Rally Monkey! Next time, Mr. Manager, please explicitly confirm or deny any such statement, request, or implied threat prior to starting the game!

Defensively, Cindy did record one nice 5-3 putout on a long throw across the diamond. Chris, as manager off the field, recorded an out by enforcing the new "Illegal Bat" rule. It's especially sad when a manager can't wait for his fielders to generate outs the old-fashioned way...

Offensive highlights include home runs by Dave and Lloyd, a triple by Bryan B. and doubles by Tom, Dean and Marc.

My red is so confident that he flashes trophies of war,
and ribbons of euphoria
Orange is young, full of daring,
But very unsteady for the first go round
My yellow in this case is not so mellow
In fact I'm trying to say it's frightened like me
And all these emotions of mine keep holding me from, eh,
Giving my life to a rainbow like you
But, I'm eh, yeah, I'm bold as love
Yeah, yeah
Well I'm bold, bold as love (hear me talking, girl)
I'm bold as love
Just ask the axis (he knows everything)
Yeah,
yeah,
yeah!

-Jimi Hendrix

Game 5, May 15, 2006, vs Dawgs

Goats Bite Dawgs - film at 11. But then, Goats bite everything that moves, and then some. It was a beautiful evening for a game. It seemed like the lead changed with each at bat, so it was fortunate the Goats were the Home team. Ian brought home the winning run from second base on a single by Dean. Ian claimed he "just couldn't stop". Good thing, because if he tried, it probably would have looked like "slide, Charlie Brown, slide!"

Defensively, the outfield was much improved. Tom put on an Old School clinic on fundamentals in left field. From his example, the rest of the outfield managed to hit the cutoff every time. The nice relays nabbed a runner at third (yet another tag for Keith) and almost got a runner at the plate - Ian's tag was just a Goat hair late. The defensive play of the game goes to Doug in left field. He charged in on a short fly, caught it at the knees, and performed an Aikido tumble followed by an Ishikawa face-plant. 9.95 if you're scoring at home. The best part is that while prone, he flipped (rolled) the ball to the cutoff and prevented the runners from advancing. Dave Herman did his best Kevin impression and went into the well to retrieve a ball.

During the game, Lisa and Toni were trying to figure out how to carry fold-up lawn chairs on their bikes. They should have asked Keizo, who had a virtual one on the pitcher's mound - and had a hard time getting out of it to make the plays. $50 fine for lounging on the field! Another $50 fine to Larry for his "Aww!" when assigned to take the field. Double that, because Liana was there to witness the outburst. Larry, we're role models. Goats should only complain when being REMOVED from the field!

Offensively, Chris and Keith have been slumping of late, so like any superstitious ball players, they reverted to old uniforms. Keith's Old Goat Grey and Chris's Art Thompson Pink were just what the doctor ordered. Don't expect to see the Longhorn Orange any time soon. And don't ask about the underwear - there wasn't any.

(Gee, I almost spelled that as "underware". You know ... that's the layer between the software and the hardware.)

Batting highlights include home runs from Chris and Lloyd, triples by Toni, Keith and Marc and doubles by Tom, Doug, Dean and Brett.

Another ugly game - but another Goat victory. Both the defense and offense sagged under the effects of old age and Gravity Fielders. If not for one good inning at the plate, the Goats would have imploded. In a game marked by the perpetual dropping of lazy flies by the Goat manager/center fielder, the defense managed two good plays. The first was a relay to the cutoff for yet another tag at third (I never get tired of that). The other was the play of the game: a hot smash to Brett at third, which ricocheted off him into the air - where Justin nabbed it and raced to third for the force out. "Just your average 5-6 putout", as Tom sees it.

Offensively, an incomprehensibly large fine goes to manager (and supposedly coach, mentor, and role model) Chris for not running out a wimpy popup to short center field. The pop dropped in, and Chris made it to second for a double - but with a modicum of effort he would have scored on that! Offensively and defensively, that's a double two-base error in my book!

(Maybe the front office should consider a rehab assignment in T-Ball for Chris.)

Offensive highlights include Lloyd bussing/blessing Wonder Boy for Keith, Tom hitting monster line drives all game - but right at'em, home runs by Keizo and Marc, triples by Lloyd and Chris and doubles by Justin, Tom and Shuichi.

Field Manager Notes:

The most important offensive highlight came in beginning of the last inning. It was singles by Lloyd, Cindy, Justin, Beth, Ian, Dave, and Brett. They all scored as well as some others. As Lloyd keeps saying "line-drive singles wins these games" Great job to the base runners in that inning not getting out and listening to the base coaches ... All done with nobody out. Lets give credit to everyone who kept the rally going ... that is the whole team as we batted around the order in that inning.

Regarding Keith's re-assignment to T-Ball for his mentor and role model. The mentor got on base each time all without the benefit of a tee. Help in the field may be needed ... Maybe I should build a rock garden behind the bench to meditate in before each inning so I can get mentally prepared.

As for Keith assigning fines, he relinquished that post two years ago. Don't worry Keizo, I'm watching your back (referring to lightening speed you showed on the mound two weeks ago). They should have been $100 fines for that
sssssssslllllllllllllllllooooooooooowwwwwwwww play that night, not $50's.

Finally, since Keith likes fines so much --- Fine to Keith for DOUBLE the sum of all fines he has handed out this season. While I'm at it add a $100 fine to Keith for remembering only his 3rd base highlights. Remember the other outfield to 3rd putout when Brett was playing 3rd?

The other team only had 8 people and just 2 women, so we gave them another female ... Tom's son Kevin. He had a rough tart but fought through it thanks to his regular wrestling practice with Tom.

Top of the first inning with Miki on base Bryan hits a home run and chases Miki around the bases, just like old times. The ball gets thrown home where Kevin is standing on the plate waiting for the throw. Bryan helps Miki cross home and collides with Kevin knocking him flat on his back. Great play!!!

Things didn't look better for Kevin. In the 2nd inning with Tom pitching, Kevin gets on base by grounding to Tom and Tom wisely decided to get the lead runner at 2nd which left Kevin on first. The next batter hits a line drive to the outfield to move the runners. Kevin ignores the 3rd base coach's stop sign and tries to make it to 3rd. Dave throws to Tom and Tom tags Kevin out on his way to 3rd. Not just any tag, but a good shove in the back that knocks Kevin down again. Easy out for Tom whose comment on the play "I'm not going to give him an extra base." Great job!!

Kevin's woes continued in the 7th inning. Dean's heads up play at 3rd, tagging out a runner who overran the bag the previous inning didn't teach Kevin anything. With 1 out in the 7th, Kevin ran so fast into third he couldn't stop and overran the bag. A smart Dean with the ball tagged him for the easy out. This tag was not hard enough for Kevin to fall down, I guess only dad can do that!

The even inning defense went scoreless for their three outings which earned them a shot to win the game in the bottom of the 7th. Up by 5, they allowed 3 and Larry's play at shortstop was superb. He recorded the 1st and 3rd outs by picking up the ground ball and taking his time to make a good throw to Lisa at 1st base. Everyone should pay attention to his patient throwing ... especially the manager who missed an opportunity to get an easy out (Kevin) at 3rd by rushing a throw in the 5th inning.

Manager Notes:

This game was all about Kevin, and although he took a beating, he managed to intimidate Chris at bat as he covered left field. Because of his age, we let the other team fill him in a female position but they chose to play him as the man that he is (he proved this with Big Bertha – see Tom’s input). The instructions from top management were to avoid hitting to left field, but Chris taking every opportunity to hit a home run challenged the call. He went up to bat eyeing Kevin way out there, all alone in left field and when the right pitch came in…smack, a high pop up to the catcher. Lesson learned…. Don’t mess with Kevin.

Post Game Notes, Tom Hoffman:

After the game we took Kevin to Los Gringos Locos. In an attempt to slow him down a little and get him to stop to listen to his base coaches, I got him a BIG BERTHA. This is 3.5 lbs of beans, rice and table scraps wrapped in a flour tortilla the size of Rhode Island. They call it a burritto, I call it indigestion. You eat this and they put a lice filled sombrero on your head, take a picture of you, and put it on the wall. Kevin managed to eat through this thing in near record time right up until he got to about the third base point of the burritto. The plan seems to have worked fine, but no... Kevin powers on and eats the whole thing. He even goes so far as to accept an extra tortilla from Bryan to sop up the extra stuff from the plate ... now we know he's just messing with us. This becomes even clearer when he declares "Lets go to Penguins and get some dessert"... Ah the joys of youthful metabolisms.

Post Game Notes, Keith Martin:

Ah, yes, I remember those days of being able to eat everything and not worry about it. The trouble is, I still eat like that! Tom, it's one thing to declare "Let's go to Penguins...", but I'll not be impressed until he then downs a Trough at Farrell's! (Oops, showing my age again.) Maybe you can slow him down if he tackles Big Bertha BEFORE the game?

Post Game Notes, Tom Hoffman:

Ah yes, the Pig's Trough at Farrells....I remember it well .. those were the good old days indeed! I believe that some of them may still be with me today.

After the Homers pounded the Goats for eight runs in the first, the Goats came back with eight of their own in the bottom of the first. Some of the Homers were then expecting an 80-run Donnybrook - but it just wasn't to be. The Homers kept scoring while the Goat lineup collapsed. The Homers had the Goats in mercy most of the game (I don't recall if it got to double-mercy). Every Goat was a step too slow, with a throw too wide, and a bat too heavy. It felt like the game was always there for us to take - we just couldn't get there. It was so bad that Lloyd was forced to throw out a female batter! There may be uglier games in Goat history, but not many.

Offensive highlights include home runs by Keith (a Homeric blast) and Justin and doubles by Chris (2), Dean and Brett.

Woe be unto the team that faces the Goats after they were mercied the previous week! The Crawdads ran into the vengeful buzzsaw of the Goats and found themselves in mercy, and beyond. This game the Goats called up a rookie from one of the local farm teams.

This rookie goes by the name of Bryan S., and plays a decent shortstop. Kinda reminds one of the Bryan B. of a few years ago. In fact, it was quite a contrast seeing young couple Bryan S. & Jessica at short and second compared to OLD couple Bryan & Miki there. Injury of the Game Award goes to Chris, who pulled a hamstring running out a grounder for the final Goat out.

Batting highlights include home runs by Lloyd and Chris (2), a triple by Chris and doubles by Lloyd, Keith (3), Marc, Bryan S. and Brett

The Goats survived a see-saw battle with the Radars. The H7 field is really ragged, so maybe it's good we're moving away for a while. Maybe the outfielders will be a little less tentative on level ground. But, hey! We're Goats! We're supposed to be good on rocks! The Radars took the early lead and kept it for several innings. A minor panic broke out on the bench, but Cindy was calm and reminded the Goats that "we're not losing, we're just temporarily behind!" The Goat bats then responded, and the rest is history. The Near-Miss Award goes to Bryan and Marc, who nearly collided on a little popup just past shortstop. Both fielders were racing toward the ball like two steam locomotives. The tension builds. Bryan calls it (despite Marc having a better shot at the play). The gap closes... I can't look ... Bryan calls it again (didn't he hear me the first time?) ... and then Bryan makes the catch - and all I got was this lousy T-shirt! No collision, just some incidental contact. Next time I'll just wait for it to come out on regular TV.

Beth showed us the Willie Mays way with a nice basket catch in Right Center. Next time she'll show us how to make the over-the-shoulder catch!

Offensive highlights include a Grand Slam by Keith, a regular home run by Chris, a triple by Keith and doubles by Bryan B., Tom and Marc(2). Chris is still nursing last week's injury. He ran for himself instead of letting Kevin run for him. So much for the slugging average...

New Field ... Same Goats ... Same Result

The first game at Hahamonga Park was interesting. The right field wall was shortened due to a line of trees and it was agreed that any ball hit beyond the trees would be a double. This was painful for some of our long hitters as it took away two home runs by Lloyd and another one by Bryan. Lloyd comment on the short right field, "I've turned 2 home-runs into doubles" With left field the only option for long balls Chris and Bryan took advantage by hitting the ball into the other game. One of their players did so as well.

Fielding wise the Goats looked good. Maybe there are a few less bumps on this grass. In the first inning Bryan scooped up a back hander at short and threw a perfect strike to Lisa at first, but Lisa was not able to come up with the catch as the hard throw dropped out of her glove. She was not used to the ball being thrown right at her, but she got used to it quickly. With Bryan and Lloyd playing short and Shuichi and Chris playing third the throws kept coming harder. All strikes right to Lisa at first and she caught everyone of them. In the last inning, the leadoff batter arrived at first just after the ball did and he almost crossed in front of Lisa during his run. Someone on the other team commented "You're very brave, They are throwing very hard to first." The outfield looked quite good getting almost all the balls in quickly. One long fly ball sailed over Marc's head and sent him chasing, and a couple of batters later another one sailed just out of his reach and sent him running again. In the sixth, a short fly ball to left didn't hang long enough for Marc to make the catch as it bounced off his glove, then his body and finally as it hit the ground he kicked it into Bryan waiting for the throw. That's one way to get the ball in fast. Marc getting too much of a workout in left field moved to right field for the last inning. Thinking he would not be chasing any balls, the first batter fouled a ball far off the filed in right and Marc was chasing again.

Offensive highlights include home runs by Bryan B. and Chris (2), triples by Bryan B. (2) and doubles by Bryan B. (2), Miki, Jose, Lloyd (3), Chris and Marc (3).

A series of unfortunate events put the Goats in trouble this week. With the Goats cruising along and staying ahead of the Toads, an unfortunate hit in the 4th inning really set the Goat Scouts back. The Goats were leading 12-9, with 2 on, and 2 out. Lloyd, up at the plate, drills a hard liner between 1st and 2nd. Normally this would have gone for a single or double and scoring 1 or 2 runs, but that night it wasn't to be. Bryan S., playing in only his 2nd game, running from 1st to 2nd was drilled in the elbow with Lloyd's hit. The ball was hit so hard and fast, Bryan could not turn his body fast enough to avoid the ball. The runner is out and the inning over. Bryan courageously played in the field in the bottom of the 4th as we held them to 1 run, but the pain and swelling was too much for him to continue. We had to realign the defense and before everyone was used to their new positions, the Toads posted an 11-run inning that all but put the game out of reach. The Goats did respond with 5 runs in the 6th and the new defense looked sharp putting the Toads down in order in the bottom of the 6th, but the Goat bats dried up in the last inning and we fell 3 runs short.

There seems to always be some issue running the bases. Tonight, Dean hit a single down the left field line with Toni on first. The base coach, thinking the ball went foul, told Toni to stay. She did and they got the force out at 2nd. Nobody yelled foul on the play. Lesson for the week, run until the other team calls it foul.

There were a few other small plays that gave away a couple of outs, but nothing this writer remembers or wants to remember. The Goats had their chances, but couldn't catch up from the one big inning.

Offensive highlights include a home run by Chris, triples by Shuichi and Dean and doubles by Keizo, Shuichi, Chris (2), Dean (2) and Bryan S.

Still reeling from the tough loss the previous week, the Goats came out ready to play. But a few plays here and there made this one a tough game.

In the first couple of innings the Tigers hit a couple of deep fly balls, one of which cleared the outfield for a home run, and that kept the outfield playing deep. In the later innings the Tigers were hitting shallow and everything was falling in short for singles and doubles. We didn't adjust. A good play from the outfield was Chris throwing the ball into Bryan B, who relayed it home and Ian tagged out a runner trying to score. This happened twice. A not so good play from the outfield was Chris trying the throw the ball home for an out but the ball bounced short and then out of Keizo's glove and the runner scored.

Base running must be harder than it looks. This week it was Chris' turn as Kevin hit an outfield single with 2 out and runners on 2nd and 3rd. Chris ran from 2nd to 3rd on the single only to find Bryan still standing on 3rd. Bryan chose not to score on the play, then tried to get home after Chris arrived and was tagged out for the last out. This week's; lesson, watch base runners in front.

Scoring runs on the new fields is tough and comebacks are much harder, at least for the Goats. Bryan hit a fly ball to right center that would have gone for a home run at the Rose Bowl, but it bounced off a tree and was called a ground-rule double. Lloyd getting tired of the short right field decided to flex his batting muscle and drove a home run to left center.

Offensive highlights include home runs by Lloyd and Chris and doubles by Bryan B., Keizo, Shuichi (2), Chris (2) and Brett.

We had a slight problem playing Wednesday night. It seems there was a Tom Sawyer Camp annual picnic with about 300-500 people attending. They set up in center field for the HN field. At first we thought, we are 20 grown-ups with bats and we could take on a couple of hundred kids, but when they brought out some 15-20 horses we decided we were beat. Neither field played last night, and they had a permit as well. Something to keep in mind for next year.

Women ... Women ... Where were the Women? All the regular women were not able to play tonight and we had to call in the back-ups. Jackie, who has been available most of the season as a fill in and Liana who filled in a couple of times were called in. Unfortunately Liana hurt herself warming up and was unable to play. The other team was also short one woman and we agreed to play with what we had ... 7 men and 1 woman for us and 7 men and 2 women for them, rotating the women every 4th batter. This made for an interesting game.

Things started off well as the Goat Scouts played with three outfielders and no second baseman. The defense looked sharp giving up only 2 runs in the first. In the Goat Scouts half of the first, the game looked like it was going to be a rout. Jackie's stats for the 1st inning alone were 3 for 4 with 2 singles, 1 double and 1 run scored. On one play Jackie was standing on 3rd and was also on deck. A slow grounder caused a force out at home before Jackie got there but there was no rest as we told her to grab a bat and hit again. The whole team scored 13 runs and forced mercy, but that was the end of all the offense. Only one bad inning defensively when the Paper Tigers scored 12 and that made the game close. The Goat Scouts were only a couple of runs down in the last half of the game, but could never catch up. A span of 12 batters over 4 innings only produced 2 hits. Things looked lively in the bottom of the 6th when Keith scored Chris on a single and came around to score on Shuichi's double to pull to within one, but a fly-out ended the inning. Giving the 2 runs back in the 7th didn't help or matter as the Goat Scouts went down in order in the 7th to end it.

Jackie had 11 at-bats in the game, probably a team record, and she was getting tired in the latter half of the game. Other batting highlights include a home run by Doug and doubles by Keizo (2), Shuichi (2), Lloyd, Chris, Jackie and Brett.

Dean saves the day tonight n more than one way. With only 7 responses by 4 p.m. on game day a frantic call to Dean convinced him to come out to play. He made 8 people and he brought his 2 sons to make 10. Dean saved us another way by being the only one there who could pitch. Chris was able to pitch, but only if he really wanted to help the other team win. Dean pitched a fabulous game keeping most of their hits catchable by the fielders. In the first inning a low line drive was caught by Chris at shortstop a la goalie style. A total of six hard line drives came his way and a number of grounders and he caught all of them. The outfield was also up to the test as Jackie in center field caught a deep fly ball and almost caught another but the ball fell just past her. Good defense prevailed again as Beth was backing Jackie up and threw the ball in quickly and held the runner to a double. He did not score, Beth's quick throw saved a run.

Runs were hard to come by as the other teams defense held quite well. We were able to get a lot of hits, but stranded a lot of runners on the bases. Offensive highlights include homeruns by Dave (2) and doubles by Dave, Chris (2), Dean and Marc.

As much fun as this game would have been, the Goat Scouts cancelled it to allow players from both teams to mourn the loss of Miki and Bryan's son who was killed in a tragic accident.

Another low scoring game for the Goat Scouts. A good mix of people showed up on a warm afternoon to do battle. Actually only the infield was warm as the outfielders were standing in the shade early on. Playing on the south filed is tough on the hitters. All the right handed batters hit looking directly into the sun. That might explain why Lloyd, Beth and Marc hit well and early. For the rest of the team it took until the 5th inning for the bats to start moving. The sun also went over the hills in the 5th inning. Brett early on hit a hard line drive that drilled the opposing teams pitcher right above the heart. This shot would have knocked a lot of people out of the game, but this pitcher barely flinched. He took a step backwards, picked up the ball and threw to first. Brett did jog to first before seeing if the pitcher was fine. He was and continued the game.

Defensively the Goats were in good form. A couple of balls rolled past the infielders, but nothing too dangerous. Lloyd was back on the mound and pitched well. An interesting play occurred when one of the other teams younger players was running from first on a grounder to first and stopped in front of Toni to distract her. It worked as the ball rolled past her into right field. A conversation ensued that this writer did not get involved it, but there was some tensions over at first.

Offensive highlights include a home run by Brett, triples by Chris and Keith and doubles by Lloyd, Chris and Marc (2).

Last game of the season comes down to a last play. On the Thursday before labor Day, the Goat Scouts concluded an up and down season. Unfortunately luck was on the other side that night. The Goats were up by one in the 7th inning of a very close game with Big Dave leading off. Dave got caught between 1st and 2nd and didn't know which way to go so he tried for the double. The good news - he was safe as the fielder did not tag him. The bad news - Dave didn't know how to slide. In his sliding attempt, he awkwardly fell injuring his ankle to the point where he would not be able to play. He came out of the game immediately and we put in a pinch runner. This injury would prove more costly later. The Goats did score 3 more runs taking a 4 run lead into the bottom of the 7th. Now the Dave injury would come into play as we only had 10 players, so we would be playing with only 9 for the last inning. His mean play a centerfield was missed as the whole team felt the absence of Dave in some way. Many bad throws and bad decisions later from many of the remaining Goats lead to a 5-run inning for the Dawgs and a Dawg victory.