The Village People

Amid the pomp and circumstance that is a match among the grounds at Greenfield Village is the daunting task of facing their home club … the Lah De Dahs.  The field at Walnut Grove nestled down the hill from some of America’s historic buildings served as the setting for a game of base ball.  Lead by the joyous and mesmerizing tunes of the Dodworth Saxhorn Band, the ballists marched their way through the village greeting the cranks and sharing their good will.  The Greenfield club of nine continued their march when they picked up their lumber and began to strike first.  Soapdish, Stonewall and Whistler began the afternoon with singles and Checkmate ended the scoring for the inning with the aid of a misplayed ball by Frisco in center.  An inning later Red Beard scored on a single by Beast, but the scoring was limited as Frisco redeemed his play from the previous inning with a sprawling catch up the hill in right center off the bat of Stonewall and doubling up Soapdish at first base.  The third frame showed the depth of the Lah De Dah club as five consecutive singles and a double by Rudy all with two hands retired resulted in five more tallies.  Meanwhile the Northville club stayed unproductive with the bats and offered playable offerings to the infield and less challenging flies to the outfield.  The Lah De Dahs continued to entertain the large contingent of cranks that had gathered along the hillside and near the wooden fence behind the teams.  There was a brief moment of confusion when a few wandering souls lost their whereabouts and stumbled across the playing field.  Oblivious to the enjoyment of those gathered to watch this great sport, they regained their bearings after a few minutes and a stoppage in play determined to seek their new adventure in the new country.  Even the activist moves of a few could not cool off the Greenfield sticks in the warm sun.  Polska and Beanpole joined Stonewall in the scoring as they increased their lead to twelve tallies.  Not one averted to scoring, Stonewall tallied again off a well struck two bagger from Whistler that even his mom would be forced to leave her chair and applaud.

The Eclipse finally gave the tally keeper something to stretch their legs on as Stitch singled with two hands retired and Frisco plated him with a double over the head of the mid fielder.  This little momentum carried over to the top of the next frame as once again Frisco doubled up on the outs in center from a well struck ball by Soapdish in almost the same area as earlier in the game and converting to stop the Beast lumbering to first.  The seventh frame saw TinMan open the inning with a single, followed by a Bender double and Jaundice single.  However it was a hard hit single by Cuppa that perked the Eclipse bench and tallied two while two strikers later Louie arched another well placed single that plated Jaundice.  Unfortunately for those cranks that donned the orange and black that day, the Northville club would score no more and give little to become joyful over.  The Lah De Dahs would tally four more and best the Eclipse club by a total of 17-4.  Offensively the Lah De Dahs were led by Stonewall who tallied four, Checkmate who assisted in four tallies and four hits apiece from Whistler, Checkmate, Red Beard and Beast.  The Northville club, who dropped their second straight match, was led by Cuppa’s two tallied assists and seven ballists who registered two hits each.  A date with the Early Risers awaits the Eclipse at the end of the month.