This is the 20th Anniversary Season for the Goat Scouts. The Goats are under new leadership this year with first time Goat Scouts managers, Tom Hoffman and Dave Herman. Best of luck to you both as you try to fill the "big shoes" of former manager Michele Bell. Good luck Goat Scouts. Have fun and win lots of games!

The Goat record in 2006 was 11 wins, 6 losses and 2 cancellations.

• April 18, 2007, HN @ Eclectic Eccentrics (Loss 12-13)
• April 23, 2007, HN vs Crawdads (Win 26-8)
• May 2, 2007, HS vs Gravity Frawgs (Loss 11-18)
• May 9, 2007, HN @ Lamp Fringes (Win 20-8)
• May 15, 2007, HN vs Paper Tigers (Loss by ~8 runs)
• May 21, 2007, HS @ Homers (Win 14-8)
• May 29, 2007, HS vs Procrastinators (Loss 7-14)
• June 4, 2007, HS vs Titans (Cancelled - see write-up below)
• June 12, 2007, HS @ Voodoo TOAD Fury (Loss 8-21)
• Week of June 18, 2007 - Bye
• June 27, 2007, HS @ Bruisers (Win 19-17)
• Week of July 2, 2007 - Bye
• July 11, 2007, HS vs Wild Turkeys (Win 14-11)
• July 16, 2007, HN vs L.A. Radars (Tie 23-23)
• July 23, 2007, HN @ Procrastinators
• July 31, 2007, HN @ Titans
• August 8, 2007, HN vs Voodoo TOAD Fury
• August 14, 2007, HS @ Gravity Frawgs
• August 21, 2007, HS vs Eclectic Eccentrics

2007 Season Record - 5 wins, 5 losses, 1 tie, 1 cancellation

2007 Game Summaries

It was a cold and blustery day with the wind blowing seemly from every direction. We had a good turnout for the first game with some new faces (Emily), some faces we haven't seen for a while (Hi Leticia), and then the old reliable faces (You all are looking Good). The Goat Scouts looked ready to start another season strong. Then we got off the bench (reluctantly) and went out to warm up. Luckily nobody injured themselves warming up while breaking the rust off of the limbs and mitts, but we did have some close calls.

We got the game started fairly well against the Eclectic Ecentrics scoring 4 in the top of the 1st with good hitting from Keith, Dave, Keizo, Larry, Tom, and Mark. Tony hit the ball sharply but right at 'em, unfortunately this held all game for her. The bottom of the inning saw your 2007 Goat Scouts take to the field. Dave started a trend that played out for the rest of the game in providing detailed and lengthy instruction to our new Goat (Kid?) Emily on how to play Rover. The Goats did well blanking them and even got a double play on a sharply hit ball to Keith and throw to 2nd to get the runner before they got back to the bag. The next inning we got blanked back and then the Ecentrics scored three in the bottom of the second. The Goats got 3. And so it went back and forth all game with the Goats holding a precarious 1-2 run lead. By the 3rd Leticia was already asking when do we get to go to the bar - not til the game is over-put the flask away!

Then in the 5th we felt the wrath of Laverne! After having told the outfield to move in repeatedly to more quickly cover the ground balls that were sneaking out into the field, the Goats finally paid the penalty when Laverne hit the ball way over Doug's head. Sorry Doug! At that point the Eccentrics took the lead and if not for Larry sacrificing his body at second to get an out by tagging the runner we still might be counting runs. The fifth ended with the score Goats 12 EE 13. At that point the EE captain decided to call the game. What!! No Way!! The goats play seven my friend. After some discussion, the EEs decide they can play one more, Grumble Grumble it's not even twilight yet, but OK just one more it is. The top of the six started well with Brett getting a double. Tying run on Second! No outs! Three batters later Tying Run on second! Game over, Bummer! All in all not the best start to the season, but we had fun and hit and fielded well for the first game. We'll get these guys next time when we play 7!

Afterwards some of the Goats headed to Los Gringos Locos to commemorate the start of the season, get Leticia a drink and celebrate Kevin's 16th B-Day by watching him eat a Big Bertha. We were all saddened that he did not finish it (leaving about three bites) claiming he had to "run fast" tomorrow. You better run fast!

Batting highlights include: a triple by Dave and doubles by Dave (2) and Brett (2).

Final Score: Goat Scouts 12, Eclectic Eccentrics 13.

Footnote: Kevin did win the 800 the next day.

The Goats hit the field for the second game of the 2007 C-League season hoping to overcome the disappointment of last week. We were set to go with a line-up that we knew would do the trick....But where is the other team. Is it those 3 guys over there? No they have Frisbees, HMMMM.

Well they finally showed up (all 7 of them) and came over to say they would have to forfeit. But after some discussion we decided to loan them a couple of players and play 9 on 10. We traded Emily for a mitt to be used by Clement - go get a mitt Clement. Sorry to trade you away for a mitt Emily - But it was a good mitt as Clement made a couple good catches in left field later in the game. Emily did get to try a couple of new positions in the field for the Crawdads ... sorry about that hard grounder off your foot. We traded Keizo for ... well lets just say ... I guess we got what we paid for him. Although he ended up playing for both teams at some point in the game.

Anyway due to the late start we only got to play 4 innings, but the Goat Scouts had hot bats in this game with notable hitting by Tony (4 for 4 with a triple), Liana (3 for 3 in her first game), Clement (4 for 4), Jose (3 for 3 with a double), and Doug (4 for 4, 2 doubles). Everyone else hit well too, but got out at least once. Sorry Dave, your double, triple and homer are barely worth mentioning - maybe if you had gotten a single in the first inning instead of hitting it to the shortstop you would have been mentioned with the big hitters earlier (and hit for the cycle).

The Crawdads were in mercy after the second inning and double mercy by the third. We had held them to just one run through three inning do to really strong defense. Thanks (?!) partially to poor fielding by the fill-in shortstop (Ole!) the Crawdads did get out of mercy with a big fourth inning, but then the Goats came back with a vengeance and scored 10 in the bottom of the fourth to get back into mercy. Since the other teams had already left the south field and it was getting dark, we decided to call it quits. Final score Goat Scouts 26, Crawdads 7 or 8. (We had some fun with math with the Head Crawdad Scorekeeperess.)

The goats were the home team and felt generous - giving up 5 runs in the top of the 1st to the Gravity Frawgs. I am sure that we were thinking that goats are higher up the food chain than Frawgs so we figured we would be nice - bad idea we did not count on the gravity! The generosity continued in the second when we gave them two more. Finally the sleeping lumber awoke and the Goats scored 8 in the 2nd on eight straight hits including a HR by Dan, a triple by Lloyd (to left), doubles by Leticia and Tom and singles by Cindy, Marc, Jose and Emily. Unfortunately this would be the only lead the Goats would have as we only scored three more. One in the third on a double by Dan, one in the 5th on a double by Dave, and one in the 6th on a Homer (not Simpson) by Keizo.

Final Score: Goat Scouts 11, Frawgs 18

The goats were still stinging from last weeks game - and looking for a better showing. The other team showed up for their picture day with Dave H. acting as guest photographer - wearing matching red shirts. We were temporarily mesmerized and gave up 4 in the bottom of the first after getting blanked ourselves. Then we started hitting well and our defense really kicked into action. Defensively we had good catches by Brett, Larry and Jose in the outfield and strong infield play by Keith, Liana, Emily, and Leticia the 3rd base vacuum. Kevin also got into the act out in the field - but next time use your glove not your body and you might hold on to the ball. Offensively, the goats had their best game of the season with everyone hitting the ball really solid. We scored 1 in the 2nd, 6 in the 3rd, 5 in the fourth, 7 in the 5th (double mercy) while not allowing another run until the bottom of the 5th. Highlights were back-to-back home runs from Larry & Keith in the 3rd (they also had back to back doubles in the 6th and b2b singles in the 4th), home run from Dave "crazy legs" Herman, and a triple from Tom "give me oxygen" H. The only mis-step from the Goats came in the 4th when Jose decided to channel Dave and get an extra base on a fly ball - the only problem - the ball was caught - "Get back Jose" - too late double play! No more watching Dave run the base paths!

Final Score: Goat Scouts 20, Fringes 8

We brought our scissors and were prepared to shred the paper tigers in a game of Ro-Sham-Bo. Unfortuntely we were playing softball. When we grabbed our scissors we forgot our bats (and gloves) and the Paper Tigers were ready to play ball. The goats got behind early and stayed there. Despite some good shortstop play by Keith and Alex and solid outfield play by Brett, Dave and Jose - they just hit too many balls where we weren't and we hit too many to where they were. Hitting highlights were 1 double by Alex.

Final Score: Goat Scouts ??, Paper Tigers ?? (loss by ~ 8 runs)

The Goats were looking to avenge last weeks loss and also beat one of our long time rivals. Things looked at little shaky pre-game as not many Goats Scouts were present at 5:30. However a late arrival by Dave (no rain outs unless I call you!) and some quick thinking by Liana in getting her brother to show up allowed the game to start. The Goats were up first and down quickly, scoring no runs in the 1st. However, in signs of things to come the Goat defense was stellar in the first with an outstanding play by Emily (catching a smoking line drive in RF - next time don't act so surprised!). We held the Homers to no runs in the first three innings with several good plays by all of the Goats. Memorably a couple of great stops at shortstop by Alex, a running fade away catch by Kiezo "he's still got wheels" in LF, good stops by Cindy, solid play by Dave in CF and a couple of double plays involving Lloyd, Alex and Marc.

The Goat Scout bats were working after the first inning allowing us to get runs in almost all innings - highlights were homeruns by by Dave (2) and Lloyd, triples by Keizo and Marc and doubles by Dave, Tom, Lloyd (2), Marc (2) and Alex 2). The Homers finally broke through the Goat Scout defense in the 4th, but we continued to shut them down and caused them to strand more runners then they got across he plate. LLoyd managed to pitch well enough to get out of bases loaded jams in two different innings and leave men on third in two other innings. Late inning highlights were Kevin bailing out his Dad by moving over from 3rd to catch a short pop-up after his Dad slipped at Shortstop, continued good outfield play by Liana, Emily, Kiezo and Dave getting the balls in quickly and not overthrowing a base even once, catlike infield defense by Cindy, Marc and Lloyd, and awesome efforts by Emma in diving for pop-ups at Catcher - great job! Special kudos to Dave for playing hurt at First and even getting an unassisted out after sustaining an injury while scoring an insurance run in the top of the sixth.

It's always fun to play the Homers and even better when we can beat them. I don't think that we had any errors during the game - let's keep that up for the rest of the season.

Final Score: Goat Scouts 14, Homers 8

Some time you are the Louisville Slugger and sometimes you are the Ball....

Today we were the ball and definitely left our bats at home. The Procrastinators did not have as much trouble getting hits as we did, so we went down quietly. I am going to blame it on a hang-over from last weeks win vs. the Homers. Highlights were few and far between. One highlight? was when Keizo managed to turn a sure home run into a triple in the bottom of the seventh. Luckily (for the third base coach) Keizo did not need CPR and managed to score on the next at bat giving Liana an RBI. The team did play well defensively highlighted by good play at short from Alex, another fine display of channeling Willy Mays in the outfield from Keizo, Solid play at first from Marc and nice fielding from all of the women (Emma, Beth, Emily and Liana).

Final Score: Goat Scouts 7, Procrastinators 14

It was a beautiful blue sky with mild breezes in the parking lot when the Goat Scouts exited their vehicles. Looking like a great day to play a game at least one Goat Scout was heard to udder "Let's Play Two". Alas, who knew what trouble was brewing on the field. A highly localized rain shower was making the conditions unplayable on HS. Just as the rain shower stopped, it would restart in another part of the field. The gods were mad at something. Looking around for a sacrificial item (Where was Kevin?) proved to provide useless. Dave attempted to appease the gods with help from the other team by playing with strange boxes from the field - also to no avail. Some thoughts were put into upturning garbage cans but there were not enough to catch all of the water. Finally a call was placed directly to the bosses up stairs. After confirming that we had made the correct offering (fees paid up) they agreed to send a lesser deity to alleviate the rain showers. At this point though the field was very wet and no deity was in sight. Game was called at ~6:15.

Ahh yes, finally the Toads. The field was once again wet, but at least playable. What we did not consider was the advantage that webbed feet would have in slippery conditions. The toad defense was nearly impenetrable - or we were continuing our poor hitting (this is a decision left to the reader). Anyway, the Goat defense was in pretty good shape and looked up to the challenge, especially in the 2nd where Lloyd was able to get three outs on three pitches. Most impressive was that the ball did not touch the ground until the end of the inning. If only all of the innings were that good. The Goat defense was highlighted by great stops at short by Alex and good fielding in the outfield by Keizo, Brett (when he could see the ball), Emily and Liana. The game was fairly close heading into the bottom of the 5th (Goats 4 , Toads 8), but then the wheels came off of the bus. The Goats gave up 7 in that inning. However we came back in the 6th and got within striking distance by scoring four - highlighted by doubles from Lloyd (would have been a homer at the RB) and Brett. Unfortunately the Toads got 6 more in the bottom of the inning and so the Goats were in a big hole. Hope still prevailed on the bench for a miracle rally. Unfortunately Hope struck out, followed by Patience grounding to third and Perseverance Popping out to the catcher.

Final Score: Goat Scouts 8, Evil Toads 21

This was one of the most anticipated games of the season. At last we were to witness the Atomic tape measure in action as the Bruisers were the Home team. Wanting to see the field set up to within .02 microns of perfection, several Goat Scouts came early. Alas it was not to be the Bruisers were there even earlier and had completed calibration, set-up and re-calibration. Apparantly they do not want their special field set-up secrets stolen.

Anyway we did have a game on a beautiful day with a cloudless sky. Two new Goat Scouts make their first career starts. Welcome to Will Jay and Derek Adams - recruited from the GSE software team by Keith. Now if we can only get them to get some mitts we will be in business. Things started out well for the Goats with 6 runs being scored by the first seven batters including a homer by Lloyd, add another homer by Jason and we get 7 quick ones to start the game. The stingy Goat defense only allows 3 runs through the first three innings while adding 4 more of our own. Unfortunately Tom is injured on the first ball of the first inning and pulls his calf while attempting to catch a ball hit to CF and is out for the rest of the game. Thank goodness for next week being an off week. The Goat Scouts were looking good on both offense and defense. Seven more runs are scored in the top of the 4th and now we are up 18-3 so we get double mercy. Highlight is a homer by Keith - welcome back!

Since we already have the game won after 4 we might as well start planning for the after game dinner. Los Gringos or Wolf Burger, no maybe Sushi. Then the Bruisers scored 4 in the bottom of the 4th - no problem we still have them in mercy. How about Pizza. Apparently there are more than 4 innings! Things get exciting in the 6th. Through numerous well hit balls and some poor fielding and throwing, the Bruisers get back 10 big ones to cut the margin to 2 runs! Then for the first time all day they blank us in the top of the 7th! Thank goodness we wake up in time to have some outstanding defense and shut them out in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the win.

For the record - Los Gringos.

Final score: Goat Scouts 19 Bruisers 17

The Goat Scouts were rested after a week off and were looking to continue the win streak versus the Wild Turkeys. Thinking that Thanksgiving had come early all of the Goats scouts showed up with the mitts this week and were ready to stuff the scorecard with runs.

For the first time this season it is starting to look a little iffy to have enough women. Just as the manager starts to figure out how to cover the outfield with three players...Who is that guy ... can it actually be Dean Miller! Isn't he on MSL? More importantly is that Danielle with him - isn't she pretty good? The answer is yes she is good and she came to play! Meanwhile Marc has recruited Amy to play convincing her that softball is more fun than playing catch with her dog and husband. That's what I like about the Goat Scouts - they got initiative! Now we have 4 women and we are ready to start roasting some Turkey!

Turns out those Wild turkeys can be kind of tough. It is a see-saw battle with the Goats giving up 3 to start the game, but getting back 7 in the top of the first with 6 consecutive hits highlighted by a double from Marc and nice hits from both Emily and Liana. The Turkeys get 4 more in the 2nd to tie it up. The Goats get blanked in the 2nd and 3rd. However the Goat Scout defense is strong and returns the favor in the 3rd and 4th by blanking the Turkeys. Highlights are solid play at SS by Alex, good outfield play by Brett, Clement, Amy and Emily. Then we trade runs for the next two innings until the bottom of the 7th when we get 3 more to go up 14-11. Highlights during this stretch include doubles from Dean, Dave and Brett. Might have gotten more, but the Turkey Scorekeeper (Jack B.) calls Clement for leaving second too soon and so he wants to call Brett's double a dead ball - we just call Clement out - fine him 20 Goat Scout points and move on. Since the turkeys want to play 7 - thanks for that you Turkeys - we let them bat in the top of the 7th and pick 'em off 1-2-3 kind of like shooting... well you get the picture.

Final Score Goat Scouts 14 Turkeys 11

Derek and Will are there early warming up with those new mitts - 30 Goat Scout points to each of you for showing solid spirit! Then they report - "We hear this team is really tough ". Never let the opponent intimidate you boys! The manager fails to pass on this scouting report to the rest of the team.

The game sees a solid turn-out from the Goats with 16 players showing up ready to Jam these guys. The scouting report appears to be good as the first inning defense for the Radars looks strong. We start the batting in the bottom of the second down 5-0. Well the Goats got on a roll then. We scored 16 big ones, batting around the entire order + 3 more. In fact we would have gotten more except Larry decided not to run on Liana's single to the outfield - Larry have faith - she's your daughter! Minus 20 Goat Scout points for you - it would have been thirty, but you did redeem yourself by scoring another run later in the inning. Highlights of the inning include 11 consecutive hits including a homer from Jose and a double from Marc. Later inning highlights include a solid double from Leticia and a homer from Tom. Larry, Liana and Alex all get two hits in the inning with Liana scoring two runs (that could have been you too Larry!).

Things can't get much better than that - and they didn't. Both teams score more runs despite some fairly solid Goat Scout defense. This team likes to go for the automatic double into right field and they get a lot of them. We do get good defense from all of the women including nice stops by Amy at 3rd and nice catching by Leticia in the outfield. Jose and Brett do a good job on the few balls not hit into right. The fifth ends with the Goats up 22-18. The LA Radars say - we only want to play one more - I hate that but agree. OOPS! that was not such a good idea as they get 5 in the top of the sixth - otherwise known as the inning in which the Goats go out to pasture. We figure we can get a couple in the bottom of the inning and still come out OK. This is confirmed when Alex starts off with a triple and scores the tying run on an overthrow. Good thing to because the next three batters go down in order and the game ends in a tie.

However, we are still on an unbeaten streak.

Final Score GS 23 LA Radars 23