Beginning at the End!

Bay City hosts Greenfield Village • May 19, 2012 • Carroll Park, Bay City, MI

Bay City 19, Greenfield Village 6

The Independents would open their season for 2012 with the last opponent they faced in 2011, the Greenfield Village La-de-dahs.  The Dah's had defeated the Bay Citys in extra-innings to take the State Championship 15-14 in late September, and the Independents hoped that scheduling the State Champions early would allow them an opportunity to take the Championship from them in 2012.   Alas, the Independents' planning proved futile, as the week previous to their scheduled match the Greenfield Village boys lost the Championship Cup to the Regular Base Ball Club of Mount Clemens, so the days match would go off without the potential for a Championship for the Bay Citys.  The aforementioned wrinkle would however be the only flaw in the Bay Citys plan, as they took to the field against the Villagers and played excellently throughout.

The match began in Bay Citys favor when they won the toss and elected to strike last in the match.  What happened next would be an omen of things to come, as the Village captain, Matt "Mad Dog" Valant, would attempt his usual fair-foul chicanery against the Bay Citys only to find the Independents' third sacker, Justin "Doc" Garcia, up to the task of killing his hand.  Keeping Valant off the bases is imperative when playing this fine club, and although the Bay Citys were successful in that endeavor, the Dahs still left their first innings with an ace in their pocket, and a one run lead.  That lead would be very short lived for although the Villagers were able to keep the Bay Citys speedy lead man, Tanner LeRoux, off the bases the next six strikers would make theirs with two baggers being made by Justin "Doc" Garcia, and Branden "The Rope" Revette.  In all the Independents would send ten strikers to the plate in the first innings, and tally 5 runs of their own.

The second innings would see both clubs tighten their belts, and skunk the opposition keeping the status quo.  In the third however, the Bay City defenders would again whitewash the Villagers, but not without some fantastic play in the field.  The Dahs had placed their first two strikers of the innings on the bases with successfully placed garden shots which brought Ed Lynch to the plate.  Mr. Lynch flexed his muscles and drove a hot, howitzer to the left field that appeared destined to tally at least one ace for the Village gents, however, at the last second with his back turned to the striker, the Bay Citys left fields man, Jason "Buttons" McInerney, reached out with his right and and plucked the apple from the air on a dead run.  Having brought the crowd to its feet with the astounding running catch, Buttons drew even more applause with a spinning throw to the short stop, Tanner LeRoux, who then nabbed a wandering Dahs base runner to kill two birds with one fantastic play.  Perhaps building on the momentum of the fine defensive plays, the Bay Citys tallied two more runs in their third innings thanks in part to the Garcia brothers.  Alan "Kid" Garcia would drive a cannonade into the long field that had him make his second, and he would be brought to tally by his younger sibling, Justin "Doc" Garcia, who would outdo his own striking in the first innings by making his third on a howitzer driven between the left and center fields men.  Doc would then tally on a safety from the bat of the Bay City Independents' Most Valuable Ballist of 2011, Tom "Cat" LeRoux.  The Bay Citys now held the lead at 7 to 1.

In the fourth innings the La-de-dahs would plate three aces to narrow the lead in the match at 7 to 4, but that would be as close as they would get, for the Bay Citys would clamp down defensively on the Villagers and didn't allow another tally until the ninth innings.  In that time the Bay Citys would mash the apple with impudence, and tally twelve more runs of their own thanks to continued fine striking performances by Alan "Kid" Garcia, who was 4 for 4 with a double and three runs tallied, Justin "Doc" Garcia, who was likewise perfect in his four plate appearances with a double, a triple, and three runs tallied, and the newcomer to the club, Jimmy "2 Quarts" Arnold, who was also perfection personified with two doubles, and one run scored.

Both clubs will meet again in June at the Village with Bay City making it's first single match return trip since 2005.