AP – In yet another game played underneath the ominous specter of rain, the Away Team had its revenge against Home Team, winning 20-14 this Saturday.

Yet another weekend of baseball was postponed due to the bad weather, but still enough people turned out to play a rousing game of softball. With the first pitch postponed for the clearing of the field from puddles of a late Friday thunderstorm, the game got underway around 2pm.

Despite the high score, this game continued to buck the trend in being a rather defensive-minded affair. Aside from the weather, Web Gems by both teams were the story on this afternoon.

Home Team jumped out to an early lead, powered by the Mark-Scott top of the lineup. Both players are usually slotted in the middle of lineups, but Rubin - a righty with a penchant for slow running and extra-base power - curiously batted leadoff, while Schiffman – a line drive knocking lefty – batted second. Using this approach, Home Team jumped ahead 8-3, but saw that lead disintegrate rapidly as the middle innings approached.

Brian Mangan, who arrived late, had the first Web Gem of the day. Playing left field in his first half inning he misplayed a ball hit into the left center which turned into a double. He earned his keep, however, by making the next two outs in unusual fashion. The first ball was a flare off the end of the bat of the batter, which Mangan charged and had to slide to snare. A few plays later a ball was flied into the gap in left center again between both outfielders, Mangan and Roger. Mangan charged – not knowing where Cormier was – but slowed, fearing collision. At the last second, not hearing anything from Cormier, he threw out his glove and somehow caught the ball waist-high, saving a run.

The story of the day, however, was a member of the Away Team, CF Kevin Chau. Chau was an integral part of an unheard of 10-run inning for his squad, beating out a ground ball to second base. Mangan was playing deep but charged the ball hard, but by the time he scooped the ball and tossed to 1B Jose Cornier for the putout, Chau had already beat it out, keeping the inning alive. Several more batters made good contact after that, putting Away ahead to stay, but that wasn’t all Chau had in store for this game.

As the late innings approached, the wind picked up and the sky darkened as threatening clouds quickly filled the sky behind the left field wall. Home Team was doing its best to mount a comeback, whittling Away Team’s mammoth lead from 20-8 to 20-11, but both teams expressed concern about the weather. Chau has the inside track on the Web Gem of the season already, making an unbelievable basket catch on a ball Mangan tagged to deep centerfield.

With the wind gusting toward home plate, Chau was playing a moderately shallow center, and had to sprint back for the ball. He ran back looking over his left shoulder, and at the last second spun and caught the ball over his right shoulder, fully extended and in a dead run. On that catch, Mangan said, “I feel left at the altar. He robbed me.”

Home Team added 3 more runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, to make the score 20-14, and both teams hastily packed and left before the rain arrived.

NOTES: Once again, Plakas seemingly led the Universe in putouts. Playing less outfield than last season, he’s flourished and taken more control of the infield. ** Deviating from last week, there were several extra base hits by both teams this week. ** Jose got on a bit of a streak, flying a ball deep to left that went foul, and lining a hard shot to right. ** Benclement continued his streak of injuring players, as his throw on the aforementioned liner by Jose pegged him in the shoulder. ** 

Mark
Scott
Brian
Roger
Kevin   single
Christos
Benclement
Jose ?