Independents Next Match

Carroll Park, Bay City
Bay City 25 Midland 10

The grey clouds of recent days departed, and springtime returned to the ball grounds at Carroll Park. Along with the sun and pleasant temperatures, the springtime brought along the game of ball and many spectators who would witness the first match of the season for The Bay City Base Ball Club.

The game began as teh Midland boys won the coin toss and elected to strike first, hoping to gain an advantage by striking while the old onion was still fresh. They seemed to have chosen correctly as they jumped out to tally 3 quick aces behind the striking of Misters Westbury, Rocha, and Kain, but the Bay Citys would not be outdone and matched the Midland score by the finish of the first innings.

The Independents of Bay City made quick work of the Midland boys in the next two innings and whitewashed them in each, while placing two more tallies on their own side of the ledger bringing the score of the match to 5-3. The two clubs would rally back and forth in this tight scratch of a game. The home town boys were led by their newest addition, Dean "Daisy-Cutter" Koch, who struck safely in each of his four opportunities and tallied a run in 3 of those chances as well.

In the eighth innings the Midland boys would load up the sacks with only one hand down. It was at this time that fate, and the home park, chose to lend a hand to the Independents cause. Mr. Metcalf of the Hogs stepped to the plate and hit a sky ball that scraped a tree that lies just to the left of the third sack. The ball struck the tree in fair territory and then fell into and then out of the grasp of the Bay City third sacker, Mr. Trevor David. After leaving Mr. David's hand, the ball fell harmlessly to the ground in foul territory. The Midland strikers, believing the ball to be foul, galloped back to their bases of origin. It was at this time that Mr. David realized that the umpire, "Honest John" Gravlin, had not called the ball foul, as he is obliged to do in such a case of a foul ball, so believing the ball to have been judged fair he threw the ball to home to force one hand and then received the apple at third on a return trip to force the third hand down for the innings. That play ended the Hogs last serious threat of the day.



The Bay Citys would add 11 more runs in the 8th and 9th innings to give the final tally a more lopsided look, and was no where near an indicator as to the true battle that this contest had been. The final score stood at 25-10 in favor of the Independents. After the game the Midland captain took up a challenge for a return trip to Bay City on July 2nd. Perhaps then the Hogs will have the final say.