It has been a whirlwind year for the LaunchSquad softball team (aka Jerry’s Lube & Fenders) to say the least. Coming off a dismal 1-6 season in the summer BASS season, Jerry’s looked to improve on that single victory — and boy, did we!
We’re still unsure if it was the competition level, the laughable team names (many of which I still do not understand) or the newly-replenished Jerry’s roster, but we did the unthinkable and went undefeated in the regular season with a flawless 7-0 record — and won the championship.
With strong arms from pitching veterans Brett and Jesse, we had the Lincecum-Cain 1-2 punch that most MLB teams only dream of. Schreiber played like a young Omar Vizquel in one of his eleven Gold Glove-seasons, and with contributions from some new blood from Coop, Mnich and Marty, as well as assorted friends family of LaunchSquad, we headed into the postseason with guns blazing.
After beating the Hawaiian Slingshots in our first round match-up, we anxiously awaited our second, and final, night of playoffs, and after being a weeklong delay due to inclimate weather, Jerry’s finally took the field in the semifinals against “Cookie Dusters.” With an extra boost from Melissa Biles in right field, who took the field after a last-minute decision to come out of Jerry’s retirement, we got three outs on three pitches in the top half of the first inning. In the bottom half, we scored ten runs, and despite a last-minute offensive surge in the last two innings, we held them off to advance to the championship.
We faced the Wallabies in the finals. Despite excellent performances by fierce characters like a Wendell-Kim lookalike and a centerfielder who covered the entire outfield like Grady Sizemore on steroids, we came out on top by a score of 7-5.
This season was certainly one to remember, but also one to grow on. Moving into the LaunchSquad soccer season next week, we hope to keep this undefeated streak alive.