New Lenox, IL - The last Tuesday night regular season game at the Lions Den pitted High Voltage against Paradise Bay. These teams have had some good matches in the past, but yesterday was not one of them. Bay came out swinging and took a 4-3 lead after an inning, and tacked on five more runs in the second while the Volts could not keep up. Leading 9-5 after two innings, Bay packed on seven more to take a commanding 16-5 lead that would ultimately see the teams flip batting order as the Volts were hopelessly chasing. Volts did keep the game alive with a Sutes homerun but were unable to cut into the Bay deficit. After trading a scoreless inning, Bay scored a run in the 6th inning to move up bedtime by 10 minutes with an 18 - 8 run rule victory. Bay players didn't stick around for comment as there was rumor of an all you can eat buffet ending soon at the sponsor. The loss brings the Volts regular season record to 8-2, good enough for 2nd place overall, while Bay ends up at 6-3-1 and 3rd place. Playoffs begin next week with a 9:30PM tilt against Moon Goons. Any patron showing up awake for the late game will get half price off their admission.
Notables:
Warm Up - Game time temp in the mid-70's were as good conditions as you'll get for a softball game. Ken can be seen in the background immediately after doing a toe touch, heading toward what looks like a knuckleball clinic with Jay, Koz, and Noah. In case any of you don't know this, Ken was former major leaguer, Charlie Hough's pitching advisor in the two years he spent with the White Sox in 1991 and 92'. When asked about what was the toughest part of his assignment with Hough, Old School shot back; "Walking into that damned stadium 81 times for two straight years".
Schmoke and a Pancake - Stapes celebrated the end of the Lions Den by lighting up a pre-game cigar. Interestingly enough, rumors are swirling around that the old venue will become a dog park. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Mayor Baldermann made an announcement last week that the Lions Den will become the home of the world's largest cigar lounge. Hey, we've already got the
World's Largest Santa so why not? Getting back to the cigar.......smells better than the sage.......not as effective.
Crowd(ed) - The largest crowd in Lions Den history was on hand last night to watch the finale, or so we thought. After the game was conducted, the crew went to work on dismantling the scoreboard, which will be taken to Dennis's house where he will use it for neighborhood backyard baseball games.
Zinger - Ken shares a moment with Cousin Jake and Troy at first base. The discussion seemed to be centered around the impact of the Uncle Gary retirement. Troy quipped; "yeah, the biggest impact of Uncle Gary's retirement is that our team average age is down by 11 years". Ouch!
Hall of Fame Catcher Roy Hobbles - I don't care what anyone says, take a look around the league and find a catcher who has had more impact on games than this guy. We saw some butchery going on last night behind the plate and what life would look like with a prototype softball catcher. Volts players should hug this guy before every game. Volts fans should be waiting for him in the parking lot to take a selfie and grab an autograph. Hobbles has been seen quite a bit lately at Gus's Pretzels and Silky's Frozen Custard down near St. Louis, so if you know folks over in that area, let them know that Hobbles is in the Lou.
Nothing as it Seems - What appears to be a friendly game of catch for two former JJC Wolves pitchers is not what it looks like. Koz standing in the outfield is a ruse for Sutes, Jerry Bats, and Blue Shirt to face the tall fence and case it out for its construction. Seems like the large netting is nothing but a few zip ties away from being in Dennis's garage along with the scoreboard. When asked what he would do with a 200'X30' net, Dennis said; "it's for when the giants are in town".
Last Exit - Even though Bay has a "don't pitch to Sutes" policy, it is appropriate that he hit the last ever home run in Tuesday night regular season history of Lions Den on a pitch four feet over his head.
Lights Out - Cap'n Jack was already looking at a short night with the late game and early rise for work. He's seen here in the dark at 1am continuing his post-game speech to what he thought was the team. Turns out that it was a couple of volleyball players who were quickly running out of beer, and a vagrant. Only the four of them, along with Snaps Pantone, know the contents of that near four-hour long oration.
Lions Den Top 5 - There's been over a decade of memories for the High Voltage franchise at The Lions Den and it's always debatable when "Top" lists are compiled, whether it's the Greatest Drummers, Best Football Team, or LeBron vs Jordan. This "Top" moment involves a game that was played on August 6, 2024. The opponent was Chuck's and was a #2 vs #3 semi-final match with the Volts being the underdog against the reigning Summer League champions. The game was tight throughout with Chuck's taking a 15-12 lead after six innings of play. With the Volts on their last at bat in attempt to overcome their pesty foes and get to the championship game, they made two quick outs with a single base hit spaced in between. Trailing by three with a man on base and two outs in the final inning, the High Voltage Summer 2024 season was on fumes. That ended up being a tipping point that saw the feisty Volts string a few base hits together, along with a hustle play and big hit to keep the inning alive and take a 16-15 lead to turn over to the defense to uphold. Chuck's made a quick out followed by a base hit before making the second out of the inning. The final out was recorded on a bomb home run, which was over the limit, thus ending the game with High Voltage avenging their 2023 loss. High Voltage would go on to win the Summer 2024 championship and repeat in the Fall 2024 season, which may not have been possible if not for that huge win against Chuck's. In this writer's opinion, the biggest franchise win ever. Let the debate begin on this moment, but keep in mind that we have one more Top 5 moment to go as the 2025 Summer playoffs arrive and daylight falls on the Lions Den.
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