Beers In My Lunchbag

Sometimes some of my good buddies will ask me if I ever open the fridge in the morning and think about cracking a beer. They almost feel wierd asking until of course I answer, "Every Fucking Day". As a matter of fact sometimes if I am stinging from a previous night of hard-fought softball I may even think about putting a couple twelve-ouncers in my lunch bag, no biggie.

Arguably the top four teams met this week in what could have possibly been a preview of the semi-finals.

Recent improvements to The Lowlands Field, home of the Nahant Softball League, has made it look more like a poor man's Fenway Park. Their is new clay that is soft as a baby's bottom, and the grass looked so good it may have been cut by the legendary "Mr." Joe Fazzolari, a top notch barber who gained fame from his version of the high-tight fade inside Rosa Brother's in Swampscott, MA.

Wednesday night was the much anticipated rematch between the Barbarians and NFL. NFL riding their small ball game, couldn't get it going against B. Serino, who painted all night long. Not giving in to NFL's walk first, hit later approach, the Barbarian's battery mixed the split seamer with a knuckleball, both of which found the zone consistently. The veteran infield of the Barbarians stifled the NFL batsmen, getting put outs on all the ground balls Serino produced. The bitter rivalry continues between the two teams with a split of the season series.

The Knights, looking to keep pace with the Barbarians in the standings, battled through adversity, to sweep the season series against the defending champion Brickyard. Riding their big Horse, P. O'Leary on the hill, the Knights looked to close the door on the Brickyard, who has ushered them out of the playoffs the last two years.

The Knights came out swinging, scoring in each of the first innings, capped by a three run tater by C. Carpenter, his first of the year. Carpenter is coming off a 120-day DL Stint after tearing his knee in a sexual romp at a swinger's party. The Knights would build a 6-0 lead and O'Leary was looking for his first shutout.

The Brickyard refused to fold, and matched up with O'Leary was the Brickyard's big rookie right-hander. The Brickyard made some uncharacteristic throwing errors to put themselves in a deep hole early. After letting up the homerun to Carpenter, the ace settled in striking out two of the next four batters he faced.

The "Yard" came storming back in the top half of the seventh inning, but fell short of a great come-back win, losing 8-5.

GEA played a makeup at the Firehouse Field against the winless Sand Bar Pirates. GEA got up big early and cruised to an easy victory. GEA, who looked to be done in the NSL, has gathered their team and are building toward a playoff run. T. Collins, SandBar's new pitcher, saw his league high ERA balloon to an all-time record of 15.00.

With the newly surfaced Lowlands field, additional seating, a tightly contested playoff race, and three Nahant contenders, the playoffs will be very interesting. So pack a brown bag lunch and be ready for some entertainment.

STANDINGS
NFL 8-2
BARB 7-2
KNIGHTS 7-2
GALAXY 5-3
GEA 4-5
BRICK 3-5
GULLS 1-7
SAND 0-9