Kickball Playoffs, Quarterfinals: Cinderella?

As you may have read, my kickball team (seeded 12th out of 16 teams) beat the 5 seed in the first round of the playoffs - in DC Kickball, every team in the division makes the playoffs.  This week, our challenge was even bigger: take on the 4th seed, a team that crushed us 10-0 during the regular season. 

Our weekly newsletter, which provides not-so-serious matchup previews and picks, had this to say:

"The Freqs upset the No. 5-ranked Bad News Barristers last week. So it’s not much of a stretch to imagine that the F Train also could derail the No. 4-ranked Milers. Of course, >1.4 Miles scored more runs than any other team during Round 1 of the playoffs last week, so knocking the Milers off the track might be trickier than expected. So we’re inclined to choo-choo-choose the Milers to win. (Why are you groaning?)"

HC: 1.4M
MD: 1.4M
SP: Freqs"

I suppose this wasn't surprising, since we'd also been picked to lose the first game.  It's hard for teams that haven't played us lately (or ever) to give us any credit, I guess.   Anyway, it was an intimidating matchup.  This wasn't one of those good-natured teams that is just there to have fun; they are in to win, every week, and score as many runs as possible.  Remember, this is the team that continued to have its male players bunt against our obviously-overmatched team when beating us 7-0 during the top of the 5th inning, when it was obvious we weren't going to mount any sort of comeback in the bottom of the inning.  At the same time, this was our chance for payback. 

Having worked 2 extra-long days in a row and getting very little sleep all week, I was sleep-deprived and tired.  I popped some Jolt Gum and Gatorade before gametime just to stay awake .

We used the same lineup (both kicking and fielding) that had been so effective against the Barristers the week before.  This week, though, it wasn't nearly as potent.  Dave ended up getting a leadoff single to  start the game.  After fouling off twice, I semi-bunted towards third for a single (as usual).  Unfortunately, I added a right hamstring pull to my PCL strain from last week; this would hobble me for the rest of the game, and I wasn't 100% to begin with. 

Cat moved me to second on another single, scoring Dave.  Then Justin, our cleanup kicker, popped into the outfield.  D'oh.  Then Greg, who is at least our second best player (it's either him or Justin) popped out.  Damn...both our heavy hitters got nothing.  Fortunately, Katie moved me to third on a single while Dave scored, then Duff kicked me home on his own single before we recorded 3 outs.  Freqs 2, >1.4 Miles 0. 

Now it was their turn.  They scored a run in the first inning, then shut out the weaker part of our kicking lineup the next inning.  Then the unthinkable happened: with runners on base, Greg misjudged a fly ball to right field, allowing in the tying run.  Sheeeeeiiiiit.  He was our outfield stopper!  2-2 tie. 

The game stayed that way (I kicked safely again, but was stranded) until our last chance in the top of the fifth.  Greg managed a single, but Katie recorded our first out.  Then Duff got on, if I'm not mistaken.  It was now up to the bottom half of the lineup: Stacy, Ben and Molly.  Stacy popped out, but Greg tagged up and pulled off a sweet headfirst slide into third base.  Now Ben was up, with two outs in the top of the fifth and Greg in scoring position.  He's not so good at kicking, but he was our last chance to take the lead.  No pressure. 

A few pitches later, Ben kicked a blooper towards third...where GGreg was running from.   NOOOOOOO!!!!!  But something crazy happened: the ball went AROUND Greg as he charged towards home plate, yet bounced inside the foul line and stayed fair.  Greg scores!  3-2 Freqs.  Molly recorded the last out, but we had a lead to protect going into the bottom of the 5th and final inning. 

We had come to a weaker point in their lineup, and all three of their kickers either popped out or were tagged at first.  Ballgame. 

And just like that, The Freqs crashed the final four.  Final score: Freqs 3, >1.4 Miles 2.  We're going to Super Saturday (tomorrow). 

I said as we came off the field, "I hope everyone continues to doubt us.  We're the George Mason of kickball!"   We started this season 0-4.  We went 1-4 on a forfeit.  It's easy to see why people wrote us off.  But we persevered.  We started to care.  the people who weren't really into it stopped coming, leaving a core of people that would at least try to win while having some fun.  Some of us learned how to kick for singles and use base running to score.  In this game, we manufactured a run when we needed it the most.  

At the bar afterwards, the head of the division approached our team at the flip-cup table and said, "How does a 12-seed make it to Super Saturday?!  Congratulations, guys!"  he then gave us the championship schedule.  And guess who we play in the semis?  If you guessed Thick Femur, you get a gold star.  They won their quarterfinal game by one run (of course), so now we face the undefeated, 6-time defending champions with a lot more on the line than during our regular-season clash.   We scouted them out after our game, and we saw their winning formula: everyone can play, nobody makes mistakes, their fielding and throwing skills are way above average, and they wait for the other team to hand them the game with an unforced error.

To top it off, a lot of our regulars won't be able to make it on Saturday.  I'm not even sure if we'll be able to field a full roster of 11 players.  So you think we're just happy to be there?  Think we're going to roll over for the champs?  Think we've lost faith in ourselves?  

No freqing way. 

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