The Jitterbugs in Weeping Water

In the Jitterbugs' much-needed day of rest after our Stromsburg game, we acquired a valuable asset: a 70s-era Toyota Dolphin camper. After hosing it down, checking the oil, changing the battery, and filling it with fresh water, it was ready to shuttle us down to Weeping Water. And with its oak veneer paneling and brown plaid cushions - plus the teal curtains Mrs. Minarick helped us hang - we'd be traveling in style.

Weeping Water is a small town in the southeast corner of the state, a few homes and churches and stores nestled among a number of gentle hills. It would be a nice enough place, but WW has always had a long-standing rivalry with the blue-collar hamlet of Louisville, and since a number of Jitterbugs hail from Louisville, we were out for blood. Our center-fielder Andy Mixan had been talking up the game since our earliest team practice.

But Weeping Water came to play. Led by a coach who sported an intimidating Mad Dog moustache (imagine the top and sides of a square, a thick salt-and-pepper inch), they put their
bats on the ball from the very beginning. But with a combination of solid fiedling and savvy pitching by Mark Demmel, the Jitterbugs stayed in the game. On the offensive end, Luke Francis had a stellar game, going 3-3 with a couple of doubles and a couple of RBIs. Mark Demmel was also swinging well, using a old-timey wood bat to slap a couple of hits near the outfield fence. By the end of middle of the sixth inning, the Jitterbugs were trailing 8-4 but were within striking distance.

And in the sixth strike we did. Hits by Gangwish, Greenquist, Paul Demmel, yet another by Francis, and a clutch two-RBI single by Andy "Weeping Water's Bane" Mixan tied the game at eight by the end of the inning. As the baby-faced Mixan said, "You don't ever discount old man strength."

Unfortunately for us, the Weeping Water squad wasn't quite done yet, putting up 6 runs in the seventh, and then sticking in a hoss of a closer, who shut us out in the bottom of the inning to end the game, 14-8 Weeping Water. But the game proved that we could rally, and that with a little more practice to scour off the years-old rust, we could play with anybody. After the game, the Dolphin took our bruised bodies to Heron Bay, an elegant bar overlooking the Platte, and we let the PBR do the rest.