A slight breeze blew in from the left, gently touching the
well-maintained green grass. A deep
blue sky formed a natural ceiling to Hamster
Stadium. As the crowd caught sight of the orange jerseys running out
onto the field, they gave out a great roar. They were understandably
excited to see last yearās PVBL championship team attempting to reach
the 100 win mark. They entered the game with 95 wins, and only 20
more games to get the last 5. When the Kamloops Bears jogged out to
conduct their own pre-game practice, there was still a great boom of
cheering. Most failed to notice as the Bears first started to reach
the field. But once they did, they gave them a cheer also. Sure the
Bears had lost the last 10 games, and sure they were fighting to keep
from 100 losses, but they were excited to watch their favorite team,
no matter the competition.
The local boys choral group sang the national anthem, and a
president of a local bank, Dave Thompson a former Illinois star
athlete, threw out the first pitch. The game was a competition between
two 21
year-old right-handed starters. RHP Tennessee Jones threw a strike to
Bears Allensworth to start the game. By the time the Bears part of
the inning was over, they lead by 1 run. What was this? Were the
Hamsterās going to let themselves fall to the lowly Bears?
Then RHP Bartolo Colon was ready to pitch his first pitch. The
crowd settled down to watch their mighty Hamsters take on the Bearsā
pitching. They expected the Hamsters to outfight and destroy the
Bears. The two pitchers started off in a similar fashion, both only
allowing 1 run in the first. But Jones had the Hamster offense at his
disposal, while Colon had to rely on the Bears. The Hamsters offense
scored their first run in the first inning. Jones settled down and
pitched 7.1 more great innings. He allowed 9 hits, but the Hamster
defense contained the runners, and kept all but 3 from scoring. On
the other hand, Colon pitched just 2.2 innings and was chased from the
game, after giving up 6 runs, 5 earned. Both pitchers ended up giving
up 9 hits, but Jones did it over 7 innings, while Colon jammed it all
into the first two innings.
The Hamsters scored 2 runs in the 2nd, 3 in the 3rd, 1 in the 5th, 3
more in the 6th, and one last one to top of the day in the 8th. The
Hamster offense acquired 18 hits and 11 runs.
The game lasted a quick 2 hours and fifty minutes. By the third
inning the slight breeze gave way to 21 mph winds, but otherwise it
was a beautiful 72 degree day. As relief Morgan recorded his last out
in the top
of the 9th, the crowd erupted. The team is now only 4 games from a
100 win season. Jones had recorded his 15th win, and the Hamstersā
their 96th.
At the press conference after the game, Matt Peck, owner and GM of
the Hamsters announced a new addition to the Hamster family. Sarah
Gordon, baseball analyst of some small ability, was named as assistant
GM and interim manager for the regular season.
(baseball analyst? As few know, I helped write some parts of the
Bryson AVBL reports. My brother, Victor Bryson, is the main author of
the reports (and one reason that the reports still havenāt been
finished).
