Blackburn tournament

Exit Realty finished the weekend with a 3-2 record. This meant a trip to the semi-finals in a game which we lost to the eventual victors, Mr. Electric.

Despite some really close games on the weekend, the game between Mr. Electric and Exit Realty must have been the most dramatic. Keanu Reeves could not have even provided for that much drama. In a close 1-0 game going into the bottom of the 7th, Mr. Electric scored the tying run with only one out remaining. To them, it would be like picking up a hot chick at closing, nearly impossible, but an amazing finish.

Exit Realty opened the scoring in the 4th inning. While pitching a perfect game until that point, Nick Bowmann walked the first batter of the inning (me). I advanced on a beautiful sacrifice bunt by Terry Jones. I later scored on a ground ball that went through the infield.

Will Lowe, Exit's pitcher, was pitching an equal gem of a game. After pitching 7 innings in the quarters, Will never looked tired in the semis. With two outs already in the 7th inning, Exit Realty looked poised to win the game. Unfortunately, the defence behind him got unlucky.

With Nick Bowmann running for Steve Walman, Shannon Borho hit a slow grounder towards emergency 2nd baseman, Will Mood. Mood, waiting for the grounder, positioned his body directly behind the ball, but the ball hit a divot and the game became tied as it rolled past him. Exit would get out of the inning without any further damage.

With international base running rule in effect for the 8th inning, Exit Realty was able to score Al Tomlinson from 2nd base. This was no easy task. Terry Jones mentioned that he was going to time Al's speed from 2nd to 3rd, but he didn't bring his calendar. Regardless, Wayne Hunter was able to single him in. Exit Realty, however, could not provide any more offence in the inning.

In the bottom half of the inning, Mr. Electric didn't waste any time. On an attempted sacrifice bunt, the runner was able to make it to first before the throw. The runner from 2nd made it safely to third as well. Exit Realty was in a big hole. Will Lowe could not stop the bleeding and Mr. Electric would eventually score 2 in the inning on some clutch hits. They got advance to the finals.

It was a great game for the fans to watch. There was some classic small ball, and Mr. Electric were deserving champions. They eventually beat the Good ol' Boys in another tight 3-2 game.

No-No for Will Lowe

Will Lowe (buck-rider, not A's pitcher)

Congrats on my teammate Will Lowe for throwing a no hitter last week. Will pitched for the Blues last week and threw up a doughnut against the Rogues. It's nice that he's sharp this early in the season. The trick will be to try to get him to do it when he's pitches for our team. Hopefully, the new jerseys will pump him up.

A's lose last game

The shirts have been fitted, the order will be placed, the A's will disappear. Exit Realty will be providing shirts and hats to the fastball club formerly known as the A's.

The A's played against the Knights tonight in a game where both teams did not look very sharp. There were mental errors on both sides, yet the game remained tight between last year's playoff finalists. The final score was 3-2 in favour of the Knights.

Early in the game, the Knights had loaded the bases and threatened to score some runs, but could not break the game open. The A's had struggled against Knights pitcher Ryan Cox for most of the night. Ryan's mix of speed kept the hitters off balance and limited their run production.

The game was 1-0 for most of the game. The Knights made it 2-0 in the top of the 6th, but the A's rallied in the bottom half and tied the game at 2-2. With the bases loaded, the A's looked poised to steal the game away from the Knights. I had made a baserunning error when I had thought the ball crossed the plate for ball 4. In fact, it was only ball 3 and the Knights were able to get out of the inning unscathed.

With the momentum from escaping possible danger, the Knights took full advantage in the top of the 7th and ended up scoring a run. With a man on third, the Knights batter had struck out but there was a passed ball. The A's were fortunate that there was some confusion on the batter's part, and were able to throw out the batter before the run from 3rd had counted. The A's would only be down by one run in the bottom of the 7th. With the strong bats of the A's, this was a real opportunity.

Unfortunately, the A's could only muster one hit in the bottom of the inning. They have not reached their championship form. Hopefully, the A's will be able to shake off the cobwebs in the coming weeks.

Johnny B. Good for Good ol' Boys

Last Thursday, in their season opener, Exit Realty tied their first game of the season 8-8 against the Good Ol' Boys. Exit was solid at the plate as demonstrated by their 8 runs, but ultimately could not prevent GOB from doing the same.

After taking an early lead, Exit was up 8-5 going into the bottom of the 7th. With a comfortable lead for their ace pitcher, Will Lowe, Exit looked like it was going to start the season strong. Unfortunately, Lowe struggled a little bit by given up a couple of base runners. He seemed to have regained his composure after he went up 2 strikes against the always dangerous John Tremblay. Unfortunately, Lowe missed his spot and gave up a solid shot to right-centre field. The ball was hit high and seemed to have just carried beyond the reach of centre-fielder Chad Featherstone. Tremblay had just hit a game-tying 3 run homerun.

Fortunately, Exit avoided complete collapse and managed to shut down the GOB's in the rest of the inning. Team Captain, Terry Jones, seemed particularly upset about the game. "We had that one!", exclaimed Jones. "We're ahead of where we were last year" retorted a positive Will Mood. "We lost our opener against these guys last year".

Exit Realty looks to rebound on Thursday night against the regular season champions, the Knights. Although many of the Knights and members of Exit Realty get along very well off the field, be prepared for a war on the field as the competitiveness between these players is very high. The Knights will be looking forward to avenging their loss in the finals of the BMFL playoffs to the A's.

A's gone, Exit in

It looks like the A's will be no longer. After many years of going under the Wally's A's moniker, the team has benefitted from some tremendous generosity from their 2nd baseman, Albert "AJ" Plant. AJ is the broker of record of Exit Realty. With a strength in the east-end of Ottawa, Exit provides a full range of brokerage services.

The A's were overdue for some new wear. With different players having different green jerseys from over the years, there were some players that had no jersey at all. As defending champs, it will be great to look like defending champions, or, at least, a team.

The jerseys were not available for the first game as there has been some "delays" in the procurement process. (ie. AJ didn't know when the season started). Hopefully, Exit will be able to show their new stuff within the next couple of weeks.

A's return to defend title on Thursday

Wally's A's return to the ball diamond after a long, long snowy winter. After dusting their equipment off, the A's look to return to BMFL supremacy. This year there are 11 returning players. There are only two players that are missing from our championship team, Dave Millette and Noel Hayes. Although these two players were instrumental to our playoff championship, we could not keep them as we had acquired them from the reserve list last year. This meant that they had to return to the BMFL through the draft. From my understanding, injury and a European vacation are to blame for their non-committal to play in the BMFL so far this year.

As a result, the A's have decided to go with a roster of 12 players this year. In order to do this, the A's have drafted Scott Cassidy. The A's felt confident in their selection after calling Scott to tell him the news. "When do we play?" asked an eager Cassidy. Secondly, "what do I do about beer?" was Scott's immediate second question. There is no question that Scott will fit in well with the A's.

The only major question this year is whether or not the team will remain called "Wally's A's". Numerous reports suggest that a mini, mini-Eugene Melnyk is thinking about sponsoring the team. Overdue for a fashion revival, the A's are hoping to go under the moniker of "Exit Realty" and acquiring some new jerseys to look as good as they play.

The A's open the season against the Good Ol' Boys on Thursday. GOB usually provides for a good game as they have some of the best hitters in the league. The key to the game for the A's will be to stay sharp defensively and keep the GOB on the pine and not the bases.

Newest submission

It should read "Eagles" instead of Gryphons after some slight confusion.

More help

The Greely Men's Fastball Club needs more help. We have been planning our upcoming season but we need an official team name to build a fan base upon. We need a good name, and similarly, we need a good logo. Our colours will be blue and white, and we have DNTW Chartered Accountants as our major sponsor. Above, my submission of "Greely DNTW Diamonds" is displayed.

Need your help

The Greely Men's fastball club is preparing for their inaugural fastball season. As such, we are in need for fundraising dollars to help pay for some of the equipment our team will need now and into the future. Thankfully, my work has stepped up to the plate with a "Platinum" sponsorship to secure the naming rights and will help to provide jerseys on our backs.

There are two ways that you can help. First, there are sponsorship opportunities that are available that will go a long way in helping to promote fastball in the area. Check out tylercox.ca for details.

Secondly, but more immediately, we are running a playoff hockey pool. The fee will be $10 and most of the prize money will be distributed to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers. You pick 9 forwards, 6 defencemen, and goals and assists are worth 1 point each. It's a simple pool, but it will really help our team with the funds we need to operate a successful season. Please consider playing.