Koch Blockers 4, Catfish 9!

Dear Catfish Nation:

Catfish were victorious this past Friday against the Koch Blockers! (Please note that is pronounced "Coke Blokers.") The attached scoreboard (kept meticulously by Katie "Hellie Dawg" Dokshina) shows what an exciting game it was.

We were quite a full team, 16 fishes of us at our peak, including two much missed Fish from the olden times, Alyssa "Wicked Pyssa!" Larose and Daniel "Mr. Zippy" Mickus, along with a fresh young shortstop the Fish have on our radar, Bea "Pee Wee Beazles" LaRose Mickus.

Batting first, "Pickles" Picazio; second, "The Perfesser" Nedeau; third, "The Menace" Dokshin; fourth, "Tslammin' Johnny" Tsai; fifth, Jim "Hungry like DeWolf" Dewolf; sixth, "Mr. Zippy" Mickus; seventh, "Savagely Savage" Christine Savage; eighth, "Butters ['Oh, hamburgers!']" Elwell; ninth, Kate "The Scalder" Elwell; tenth, "The Beast" Mauser; eleventh, "Wicked Pyssa" Larose; twelfth, "The Perplexer" Lash; thirteenth, "That Pesky Pole" Wladkowski; fourteenth, "The H Bomb" Hasley; fifteenth, yours truly, Captain Batty; and finally, "M Lo" Lowenthal.

Koch Blockers started out quite strong, and had us shaking in our Fishy little boots, especially given that we were once again lacking the zealous cheers of Phil "The Laughing Man" Laughlin. O where had his zeal gone, we wailed, when it was tied up in the 3rd? Why oh why has he taken his kindly, zealous visage so far away from us? Thank goodness we had the smiling doggy countenance of Osa the Mimosa-Drinking Hound; but still, we pined for the support of the Laughing Man.

But we are Fish, and we are proud, and we are fighters. Our bats were on fishy fire, especially those of Pickles, Hungry Like DeWeolf, Savagely Savage, the Beast, The Pole, the H Bomb, and M Lo, all of whom got singles; and even more on fishy fire were the bats of the Menace and Butters (doubles) and the Perfesser and Tslammy (triples).

Still, we were concerned; this was no easy fish-pie-in-the-sky win for the Fish. The defining moment, however, came in the 6th inning, when--lo, and behold--who should arrive to cheer us on but Ellen "The Big Cheese" Faran! Our fishy spirits soared and we likewise rose to the occasion. As it happened, with one out, H Bomb got on base after a long battle at the plate. I then managed to get on through a fielder's choice. H Bomb was out at 2nd--2 outs. Would this be the crushing end of the inning? No: Next, M Lo stepped up and kept the fires burning, getting me to 2nd and himself to first. Tension building, Pickles stepped up. "NO PRESH, PICKLES!" we screamed, but there was no need; Pickles kept the streak going and I advanced to 3rd. Next, to the plate, stepped the Perfesser. He paused for a moment, put his finger to his mouth, and worked out some complicated philosophical proof in his head; satisfied, he nodded to the pitcher and with a steely gleam in his eye he smashed himself a hit that took him on a journey all the way to 3rd base. THREE FISHY RUNS SCORE! With this cushion buoying us up, we felt strong going into the top of the 7th, and we proceeded (props to Pickles, Tslammy, and once again the Perfesser) to shut those Koch Blockers down.

I think we can safely say that our soaring flight in the final two innings are thanks to the fearless, forceful cheering of The Big Cheese Faran.

Our next game is Friday, June 1, on the baseball diamond "BB" field (see attached map below), at 5:30 vs. the dastardly BE Natural Killers. I unfortunately will be unable to attend, but I am sure that my fellow fishies will make me proud.