Solent
The Lions played more tournaments in 2006 than in any previous year. The undoubted highlight was our victory in the Manchester tournament and we also won our own pre-season invitational tournament. We also played in the Nationals for the first time and many of the team flew to the Solent tournament, another first !
The Lions had an up and down time on the first day at the Solent tournament, but on the Sunday we played some solid ball that bodes well for next season.
Saturday was a mixed bag, we played well against Team Norm, had an efficient win against the Centurions, lost a close game after an up and down performance against the Splitters, and played badly against Condor and the Nicks.
On the Sunday we played well all day: A close loss to the Ascot blues was followed by a revenge (and comfortable) win against the Splitters. That gave us a plate semi against the Creamers, a tight game could have gone either way but we eventually went down 9-7 in a game whose greatest highlight was Gill's home run. We won the 3rd and 4th place play off by default when the opposition couldn't raise a team.
Team MVPs for the weekend were Angela and Ed. Angela continued her good work in the outfield and her batting has been transformed since changing bats, Ed's batting was excellent and he also was impressive in the outfield.
Off the field most of the team registered a first by flying down to Southampton. Having a meal out sat on the platform of Southampton station was a memory to treasure along with Champagne in the hotel bar and Vicky's drinking prowess.
In 2005 the Lions won the plate at Nottingham, in 2006 an injury affected squad improved on that record by getting to the Semis of the cup and putting in a respectable performance in defeat to the Sherrifs at the Semi final stage.
In the morning we went 3 & 0 against the West Midlands All Stars, Sting, and Bashers. After lunch we won a tight game against one of the Pyros teams, coming back from an early defecit to level and then winning it in the bottom of the 7th. That gave us a semi final meeting against the Sherriffs. Again we came back from an early deficit to keep in touch but we never got closer than 8 - 5 and three Sherriffs runs in the top of the 7th gave the score a lob sided look.
New boys Ed and Paul got the chance to strut their stuff and elsewhere in the team there were lots of encouraging signs for 2007:
Gordon and Angela played blinders in the outfield, Gill was strong with bat and glove,
Dave enjoyed himself at first and Adam was excellent again at pitcher. Everyone did their bit in some strong team performances.
The Lions had a strange old time at the "C" nationals. We won 4 games out of 8, respectable for a first go,
but we didn't really do ourselves justice - losing in the final of the plate meant we finished 8th out of 10.
Despite the overall disappointment there were good games and good individual performances within the mix:
Individually, Adam's pitching was excellent, and he also performed far better with the bat than he seemed willing to believe.
Gill was our other MVP with strong hitting combined with an excellent showing at two, particularly on the Sunday.
Best team performances were the win against the Phoenix and the 7-6 loss to the Mutineers on Saturday morning, followed by our 3-0 record in the group stages of the plate on Sunday.
The Lions did well with a 5 & 1 record in the group stage at Edinburgh but saved our worst performance of the weekend for the semi against a hard hitting Doh Nuts team who advanced to the final only two hours after losing to us in the group stage.
We had suffered a big blow in our very first game, with Darrell getting a nasty rib injury when he swung and missed during his second at bat. Darrell had to be content with being only a (vocal) spectator for the rest of the weekend. Fortunately we were able to recruit an able replacement in the shape of Wade, who did a fine job for us over the rest of the tournament.
Gill's hitting and base running were highlights of the weekend. Dave played well at first, Adam put in his normal strong pitching performance and as a team we took advantage of the weekend to move players round and give them experience of different positions.
Darrell suffered a double whammy on Saturday when his rib injury was followed by potentially fatal damage to his gazebo that just couldn't cope with the Scottish weather. Off the pitch the caravan brigade were badly led astray by the Mavs on Saturday night and then showed some serious stamina on Sunday night / Monday morning.
The Lions started slowly in the 2006 MSL tournament but got better as the weekend progressed until we peaked in the final.
Our first round robin group posed few problems. We took advantage of an early start to chalk up a win against a strong but perhaps tired and emotional Ascot Jays team, then ran out comfortable winners against the Sting and Bats.
Our last game on the Saturday, the first of three in the second round robin, provided a bit of a reality check when we lost a game we should have won against the Splitters. This meant we needed two wins out of two on the Saturday morning but despite some thick heads we were in the groove by now and played well in beating Pyros II and a Terriers team that was much weaker than the 2005 version.
The Semi was a tight derby game against the Mets and Lindsay was the MVP with a home run and a fine outfield catch to record the last out. Derek also deserves a special mention for recovering from a dodgy start to take some excellent catches in the outfield.
The final was another derby affair against the Rangers who had thrashed us less than two weeks before in the league title decider. It was a much different Lions performance this time however and in another tight game we played some excellent defence to chalk up a win. Darrell put in a masterful performance at short and the whole team was on it's mettle as we survived a late Rangers rally to win 7-5.
MVP of the weekend was Adam, who pitched brilliantly and fielded his position even better, but more importantly everyone on the team played well in what was a true team performance.
The Lions made their first trip to London and stayed unbeaten (4 wins and a tie) until they lost a well contested final to a strong Raiders team. London seems very wet for somewhere suffering for a water shortage ! Angela deserves a special mention for her heroic efforts to keep us all fed. Everyone played hard with highlights including Adam's play at short, Gordon's excellence in the outfield and Vicky's continuing improvement both in the field and at bat. Here's a full report:
The Manchester Lions travelled in convoy to London for Grandslam 1 on Fri 19th May 2006. It was the first tournament for some and the first for the new team to play in together. Our aim was to enjoy ourselves, not get too injured and do ourselves justice. After a fun filled journey, involving a quiz to determine who was the most intelligent (I seem to remember winning), with the crappest prize in history, a four pack of value lager, 2.0% an many other stories we arrived in a wet and windy London.
Putting tents up in the rain is everyone's idea of a good time naturally, especially when one of the tents is missing a pole. Sleeping arrangements were hastily reviewed and then we were fed a superb curry by our very own Masterchef, Angela (twice on Masterchef don't you know). As we had a serious tournament to play in the next day we decided the most appropriate course of action was to drink all the alcohol we had brought and get leathered. Our popularity on the 'campsite' was increased by 1 a.m. chants of "Necro! Necro!" directed at an unnamed Lion who, when asked "who would you love to 'do'?" picked someone dead, eyooooo! Fully fed and entertained we retired to our soaking tents to try and sleep.
After awaking in our slightly inflated tents Saturday morning we had to brave the showers. Oh my god, the bog in trainspotting is like the Dorchester compared to those facilities, truly horrific.
Our first game was against Oblivion at a reasonable time so we at least felt we had time to have our sausage butties (we love you Ange) and brews and prepare for battle. Being the loudest bunch of yobs helps too, with a cowbell, airhorn and Angela (significantly louder than both, put together) you can't help but wake up.
Oblivion didn't live up to their name as we didn't have to queue for hours, there was minimal screaming and no-one soiled. Final result 15-5, happy with that and a great start.
Next up was the Raiders Rogue. The Raiders had 3 teams entered in C comp and have an enormous squad. Once more though our miserly defence held out and we secured an 8-4 victory.
The London Lynx threatened to roar in the battle of the big cats and was also our first encounter with the 'well oiled' blu. His claim that I missed the plate was all the more remarkable as I'm pretty sure he was having difficulty seeing the plate and his 'interesting' habit of chatting away to us when we're trying to hit grated after a while. In the end great hitting and base running meant we won 15-10 and finished top of our group.
Our men and women went on to play for the Tripods and Tarts in the afternoon and we re-grouped later for a well deserved feed. Again, convinced that we could go a step further we did the proper thing and got babooned, who said preparation is everything?
Sunday was a horrible start, 8.40 game against a bit of an aggro bunch in the Richmond Swingers. Playing softball is so much harder whilst experiencing mild hallucinations. My advice when seeing five balls, go for the middle one, it worked. Hitting was noticeably affected by the fact that most of us couldn't see, even Leigh was confused when she said "I'm the first batter so why haven't I had a bat?" thanks to Lindsay who gently took Leigh aside and explained that she had actually had a bat five minutes previously. Despite our best efforts to lose we didn't and managed to hold the Swingers to a 5-5 tie.
We went through to the semi-finals because of our superior record. We were all slightly annoyed at our performance in the Swingers game and had two hours to get our heads together. Some slept, some showered, some did both at the same time but we came back for the next game ready for the challenge of the semis.
It was raining on and off, Adam predicted approximately 4.5 minutes of rain and was very close (I think it was about 4.57 to be exact) and up to face the rejuvenated Lions were the Clapham Thunder. Now, this lot were many people's favourites and were a very good team. Fortunately our best game of the tournament saw us defy all the odds and run out 13-9 winners. There were too many highlights to mention in this game but it was the Lions at their best, a solid all round team performance.
The final saw our second meeting with the Raiders, this time The Raiders Storm. They were an excellent team and in the end they had just too much for us, despite some superb play, notably two glory catches in the outfield by Big Vic, following which she did her own little dance and Dave taking the highest fly ball catch ever seen. The weather was horrible at this point and the Raiders Squad raised their team by singing songs from Cabaret all the way through, we had Ange of course so we were louder, but the presence of some of the Marvels and Mutineers who came to support us despite the rain was really appreciated and spurred us on, cheers guys. We lost 8-10 but were happy with our performance against a very good team.
The team were excellent all weekend. Tony's pitching was absolutely spot-on, everyone was made to hit, amazing consistency and batted as well as he has all season. Dave looked like he'd never been away taking all sorts of catches at first and batting solidly all weekend. Adam made a mockery of the rumour that lefties can't play short with a faultless performance and great batting throughout.
Vic was a revelation in her first tourney and has clearly got outfield sussed as the final showed. Michelle was simply moonal despite losing things left right and centre, her debut as blu is eagerly anticipated.
Ange was a star in the field at bat and in the kitchen, her vocal talents kept us all lifted and made sure we had support wherever we played. Karen's scoring was excellent and was so patient as we relayed every play in the pub. A big shout to Wendy who, despite being filled with Lions stuff, made the journey well and kept our chef warm and cosy.
Lindsay was her usual composed self in the outfield, with myself forming a Gandalf like barrier (you shall not pass) despite some outfield's resembling corn fields the grass was so long. Also worth noting there was not a single drop in the field all weekend from everyone that played there, superb. Lindsay's batting also got her a homer for the tarts (happy now Lou?). For my part, no kamikaze runs and more solid base hitting which represents a major achievement I think.
Leigh and Robert performed brilliantly as honorary Lions, Leigh overcame memory loss to bat like a woman possessed and Robert produced a personal highlight of the weekend: when shouted at to "make them throw" Robert ran to third baseman and clapped in his face, third threw it long and Robert laughed all the way home, pure class.
Last but most definitely not least the biggest of big-ups goes to our Gaffa Gill and vice-Gaffa Derek. Somehow both managed to play outstandingly well whilst managing to organise not only us lot, but also captain the Tarts and Tripods also. All this whilst nurturing storming hangovers, we are all impressed and immensely grateful to you both.
We missed our friends who couldn't make it, Darrell, Nahn, Carol, Kelly and Mitch; you were with us in spirit.
And so it ends, a weekend of fun, frolics, learning and the occasional softball match. We learned that moonal is a word, prostitutes are women too (unnamed source) and Derek cannot walk past a fruity without having a go.
To really highlight the team spirit, Ange and Karen parked Wendy next to a tent with two scousers in and at the end of the weekend Wendy still had her wheels, that, ladies and gentlemen, is togetherness.
The Lions returned to Manchester, the last of us finally getting back at 1 a.m., our brains dead, our bodies tired, our pride.. stronger than ever.
Gordinho June 2006.
We also took the oportunity to play a bit of single sex softball and tarts and tripods both made their debuts. The tarts went 1 and 3 and the tripods 2 and 3. The tripods second win was one of the most exciting games I've ever been involved with with the result in doubt until the last play of the game when Derek's aggressive base running forced both an error and our win. Thanks to the Japanese guys from Godzilla that saved us from forfeiting and also put us to shame with their brilliant play. I should mention Lindsay's home run for the tarts but Gordinho's already mentioned it above so I won't.
Dave
