Oracles Rise Above the Dinh to Winh

On Thursday, as the sun still sat high in the sky, oozing warmth like a heat lamp in a cut-rate tanning salon, the Oracles geared up for their game versus Dinh and Tonic (which sounds like a refreshing drink to have in a cut-rate tanning salon), coming off their ego-stroking win of the week before.

The Oracles appeared to hit their stride immediately with Paul C. throwing a sharp ball to get the first out and Mike R getting the final two outs of the inning, while coach Brian (who is such a great guy for allowing anything less than the highest of praise to be said about him on the blog he runs) sat in the outfield picking on the new girl Emily, who was just activated from the 60-day DL. Great things are expected from the two-time ACC player of the year. In the bottom of the 1st, with Roy on base, Jake made the dugout dance a happy jig when hit a homer right out of the park. Yay Oracles Yay! Keep it coming!

The euphoria quickly faded in the 2nd inning, despite Roy shouting fielding tips to Brianne at short, where she stopped the ball once again with her shin. Holes appeared in the Oracles’ intimidating defense, and three runs were scored.

At the top of the 3rd Dylan (the new Oracle who wandered over from across the street) began to show off his defensive chops with an outfield out. Lucinda topped that off with a stop at the mound. And in the bottom of the 3rd, the Oracles bats awoke with the power of the Babe (or the steroids of the Sammy) as Dylan hit to the hole in left field for a double, followed by a single from Roy, a single from Jake, a single from Brian (who shouted, “THIS IS TOO MUCH PRESSURE!” when confronted with a bases-loaded setup), followed by a double from Alex. Nelson hit an under-the-fence double, followed by a single from Mike, and Paul got one more single, bringing Nelson home and upping the score to 7-6 Oracles. Re-read that paragraph. The Oracles were rallying, and nobody even pulled out a rally cap.

It's true that a single scores a run, but it helps to start off with a couple of doubles.

The Oracles almost had a 1-2-3 defensive round at the top of the 4th, which was good enough, because they began piling on the runs in the bottom of the 4th, with the bases perpetually loaded and another five runs coming in, leading to a 1.5 inning flip from 2-6 to 12-6.

The rest of the game relied on defense on both sides, with the Oracles only letting one run in during the top of the 5th. But that was the last run the Oracles allowed, and when the top of the seventh inning came to a close on excellent defense by the Oracles, the team emerged victorious once again, 14-7. And no Tim, it's not a winning streak after 2 games. It's more like mercy from the softball gods after a losing streak. But we'll take it. As the Cleveland Indians’ manager said in Major League II, “Ok, guys. We've won two games in a row. If we win tonight, it’s called a winning streak. IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.”