Day 234: The Home Stretch

(Nikon D90, 18-55 VR @ 18mm, f/8, 1/500, ISO 800)

This weekend was the first week of playoffs for the CCSA Senior Division.  The first two rounds would be played during this weekend with two divisions playing on Saturday and two more playing on Sunday.  Since Ekklesia finished at the top of their division, they received a bye to the second round of playoffs and thus were only required to play one game out of the whole weekend.  They would be squaring off against Missisauga Chinese Baptist Church Messengers who were able win their first game earlier in the day.

(Nikon D90, 35mm DX, f/4, 1/640, ISO 200)

There was one snag however.  One of the parks - Parkway - got hit hard by the bad weather over the weekend and was pretty much knocked out of commission for the day.  All games scheduled at that park were thus bumped to the park that Ekklesia was playing at, leading to twice the number of games being squeezed into the same amount of time.  Despite the extra hecticness though all teams managed to take it in stride.

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ ~145mm, f/4, 1/800)

If you recognize a familiar face on the other team, then you're correct.  Joanna (above two photos) from Quick Dumpers was playing on Messengers - pitting her against her own church.  All in good fun of course. 

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ ~82mm, f/4, 1/800)

For the most part Ekklesia managed to keep things under control for most of the game, though the Messengers did rally during one of the later innings in which they scored six of their seven runs.  Quite the inning where everything seemed to go right for them, including some big hits, nice runs, and capitalizing on some Ekklesia errors.

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ 70mm, f/4, 1/800)

After that inning though, Ekklesia managed to stop the bleeding and rebuild on their lead, eventually winning the game.  Good time was had by all, and there was a ton of support from ETCBC too.  Afterwards most of the team as well as several of the fans headed off to our beloved season-long pub: The Owl and Firkin.  

A good start to the playoffs.  On paper the playoff road favoured Ekklesia going to the finals, but of course no one was taking anything for granted.  Still, a win meant that the season was extended at least one more week for the team meaning that you, the reader get at least one more weekend's worth of softball blogging.  

More to come.