A fine defensive show

During a beautiful evening at Freeman field, Excelsior Covenant split two games. The first game was a face-off between fellow evangelicals, Westwood. The game started off well with a two run homer by Andy Wiersma in honor of his mother and father (who attend almost every game). Besides his homerun, Andy had a stellar evening at shortstop leaping through the air, falling on his back, and soaring into the outfiled as a fine defensive show.

We entered the last inning of the first game down 12-10, which was the final score. Our rookie of the evening was Youth Pastor Steve Anderson, also known as Super, who joined us following his finishing up the semester at Bethel Seminary. The second game went quite well for Super, who had several hits and fine catches in the outfiled. Unfortunately, he ended the first game for the team with an alarming "swing-n'a-miss." To date, both pastoral members of the team have had stikeouts that call forth laughter and humiliation. In the end, we played an excellent game against Westwood - and in good evangelical style, no one drank, smoke or cursed, or so the record shows.

The second game was better. We played TMC, Tonka Men's Club, and we came out with big bats and better gloves. Our defensive efforts continue to improve throughout the weeks, and it is worth saying that the Twins farm team is looking at our second baseman, shortstop and left-fielder for potential contracts.

We turned one double-play, had a tag-out on an attempted double, and barely missed any fly balls. Excellent gloves, indeed.

We won the secind game by an easy ten runs, and again, I have forgotten the exact score. (POst the score int he comments if you remember it).

Kit Housch came out tonight with a big stick, pushing the ball far out into both left and center field. Brian Wiersma poked a major blast to left-center, hauling in two runs on a triple. Steve Anderson corrected his swing and had several fine hits. And John Quinlan made a dash of a run to first base, but was called out - the play is still under review.

We all came out to play hard tonight, and that we did. Unfortunately, we did have an injury - catcher and one of our lightning speed, base-hitters, Tim Carlson, pulled that muscle that sits on the front side of the leg, just above the knee - it might be called a hamstring. Andy Wiersma should have injuries, but he is still young enough to fall on his back and not break any bones.

Pastor Kyle stepped in and pitched two games in Steve Adams' absence. Kyle not only took the mound but batted 8-8 with a double; he crossed the plate six times which says something about the batters following him. It is worht noting that following last the May games, Coach John Quinlan was pondering moving Kyle out of the number 2 spot, as he was failing to connect at the plate, yet since Kyle was forced to pitch tonight, Coach didn't want to place too many difficulties on him. Obviously, Kyle has regained his position at number 2 - he better not screw it up.

In the end, it was a beautiful night - the sun broke through the rain, and a splendid time we had.

Thank you to the many fans that attended the game, including Ashley and Lauren's mothers, as well as Lauren's grandmother. Brian Wiersma's wife was there, as was the Mrosko family. The Folwick's stopped by to cheer us on, and a young boy named Jack, who was just there to watch stayed for the full two games. Great thanks to the Wiersma parents, Dan and Carleen for coming out to support their boys and the entire team! Thank you to all the fans who support the team, both in person and afar.

We look forward to seeing you next week, again at Freeman Field at 6:30 and 7:30 pm.