Back: Kenric, Ken, Ryan, Ameet, Ron, Andy, Gaston, Wilson
Front: Joanne, Sandra, Janice, Hung Ling
(Thanks to Janice for the pic and her photoshop work! :P) 
With my softball league's playoffs, the past weekend marked the official end to my summer sports season. We ended the regular season 8-7-1, so truthfully I wasn't expecting a lot. On Saturday, we took care of business and avoided elimination by winning our first game 7-3. We then faced our archrivals and ‘nemesis’ Chaos/Anarchy in the semifinals--we had been eliminated by them in the finals and semifinals over the last couple of years. They're a great team--fun to play against and they raise our caliber of play as well. With some solid D, clutch hitting, and by taking advantage of some uncharacteristic errors, we finally managed to get over the hump, get that monkey of our backs and beat them in two games, 6-3 & 12-9. In the finals, as usual, our team played some more nerve-wracking ball. We won the first game 8-7, then lost the 2nd game 8-1. In the decider, it was another back & forth game and we squeezed it out 10-9! League champions! It would have been only sweeter had we faced/beaten our ‘sister’ team, the Isotopes, in the finals. Unfortunately, they didn’t hold up their end of the bargain by getting eliminated in the semis. ;)
Wow, this was such a satisfying conclusion to our season. We had struggled by being pretty inconsistent throughout the summer, but we managed to pull everything together when it counted. All the guys did their jobs with solid play and generally good batting, and some others played great defense even if their hitting was off. However, a special mention has to go out to all the girls on our team. Joanne and Sandra came out to every practice over the summer and really raised their level of play this season—learning new positions, improving their hitting. Joanne too for pushing through even after she hurt her ankle in the playoffs and making some great plays despite it--what a trooper. Hung Ling stepped up with her pitching--even though she struggled a bit with her control, she fought through it and did all that we could have asked from her. Most of all, a big thanks to Janice for coaching this season. She ran all the practices, admirably dealt with people’s egos, made adjustments when necessary and just held the team together—a true team leader. I’m really proud of how everyone worked together and fought 'til the end. Cheers to a great finish!!!
Pics below are of our celebratory dinner at Jack Astor's afterwards...
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