Freedonia - How baseball became this nation's pastime

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Freedonia - 1871



Baseball is far from popular in this island nation, but then again no sport really is. It is played from time to time by schoolchildren in the afternoon before supper. The sport has shown to be most popular in the towns of Lano and Montesutti, located in the north-west of Orotelia.



Lano has a population of 1,800. Montesutti has a population of 1,105. Montesutti is an agricultural town, while Lano is a port town.

Now in December of 1870 Mayor Jimerson, who had been Mayor of Montesutti for about 20 years now, got together with Mayor Thorvald, who'd been Mayor of Lano for about 10 years now, and they dined and they chatted as they liked to do a few times a year and had done a few times a year for about 5 years now. Eventually they got onto the topic of baseball on account of Mayor Jimerson's son, Conor Jimerson Jr., who played the game quite frequently, and on account of Mayor Thorvald himself, who played the game quite frequently as a child. Mayor Thorvald remarked that while he was quite too old himself to play ball anymore he had always lamented that he never got the chance to play much in his adulthood. It seemed everyone just up and dropped the game when they finished elementary school and had to start working. The Mayors lamented this and discussed it and pondered it and eventually decided they ought to get some men together and play a few games between the two towns. And when they returned home from dinner and their wives asked them how it was all they could speak of was the Lano & Montesutti Baseball Association.

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They Mayors spent the rest of the winter and all of the spring and much of the summer putting together their ballclubs so they could compete in the fall. They went around asking old friends if they wanted to play and asking young boys that they found playing if their fathers would like to play. Mayor Thorvald spent so much time on it that the people of Lano had started to wonder if he shouldn't be spending less time on baseball and more time on mayoring, although they were not all too sure exactly what mayoring consisted of. Both teams were all put together by late July and the Montesutti team even got around to practicing a couple times in August but did so without Rich Donnell who was a butcher and said Fridays were a big day for him.

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The Montesutti Ballclub - 1871



27-year-old Casey Levin, who they called Bijou on account of how small he was as a boy and the name just stuck, will be the starting pitcher for the Montesutti club. He handles the ball well but the people of Montesutti have speculated that he may get too tired to finish an entire ballgame himself.

30-year-old Justin Lundin would start if Levin couldn't or would be the long reliever if Levin got in trouble early. Lundin doesn't have much experience playing ball as he never really liked to as a kid and only joined the team because the mayor insisted and because his son insisted it would be fun.

29-year-old Colin Benell would be the middle reliever, and the local paper rated his ability at 3.5/5.

30-year-old Justin Stephens would pitch in the 6th inning or later if necessary in order to set up for 32-year-old Adam Ewer, who is the best pitcher on the team aside from maybe Casey Levin, but Ewer gets tired real quickly so he'll be the stopper.

25-year-old Luke Story is a speedster who likes to play the outfield and is quite good at it too, so it was decided he would bat first and play at center field.

37-year-old Jody Brown would bat 2nd and play left field. Everyone remembers Jody being the best of them all when they played as kids, but he's 37 now and that's older than most of the guys who are playing in these contests so that'll likely hold him up a bit. Jordan Anderson, who writes for the local paper and has been looking for ways to keep busy lately, rated him a 3/5 in his piece on the upcoming ballgames.

27-year-old Bobby Hamilton is batting 3rd and playing in right field. Hamilton runs so fast that Mayor Jimerson started calling him Turbo after their first practice and the rest of the guys picked up on it too. He's the best hitter of the lot too, getting a 5/5 from Anderson in the Montesutti Gazette.

32-year-old Rich Donnell would bat next and play at first base. He's nothing special in the field but can hit the ball well.

35-year-old Jared Hunsicker would bat 5th and play 3B. Jared is short and a little bit fat and a little bit of an odd personality, so everyone was a bit surprised to see how well he did in the batter's box during practice.

30-year-old John Mull was to bat 6th and play catcher. He's even shorter than Hunsicker and can get down in that squat real easy so he makes a pretty good catcher and a decent hitter too.

32-year-old Travis Watts would play shortstop and bat 7th. He's not as good as the other hitters listed prior to this and is the only one Anderson gave below a 4/5 besides Jody and besides Ryan Rae, who would play 2B and bat 8th.

34-year-old Bobby Sapp and 28-year-old Eric Schatzel wouldn't start the game but would come into play or pinch hit if necessary throughout the game.

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The Lano Ballclub - 1871



The Lano Ballclub didn't hold any practices in August with the exception of once a week before the first game where they all got together and talked about what positions they wanted to play and then did 15 minutes of batting practice, so consequently they put a lot less time and thought into developing their lineup, only providing the information to the Lano Times at the last minute.

1. 29-year-old CF Ryan Hensley
2. 26-year-old 2B Zachary Johnson
3. 37-year-old 1B Matt Howell
4. 42-year-old LF Kevin Cain
5. 28-year-old SS Frank Taylor
6. 24-year-old RF Justin Mowry
7. 29-year-old C Allen Materne
8. 25-year-old 3B Eric Brickey
9. 29-year-old P Steve Patrick

In the bullpen 28-year-old Zach Wells would be a long reliever, 32-year-old Eddie McElroy would be middle reliever, 32-year-old Jimmy Moak setup, and 34-year-old Kyle Pritchard would be the stopper. 27-year-olds Jim Blasdell and Toby Simonian would be available to hit from the bench if necessary.

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After much argument on the trip over to Montesutti it was decided that Simonian would in fact start over Eric Brickey and play left field and that Cain would shift to 3B, although this would upset the Times writers who had only just published otherwise in the previous day's paper.

Montesutti was not without their own issues after Luke Storey was kicked off the squad after Jody's brother Jason expressed interest in playing, infuriating Storey. Schatzel also couldn't make the game, so he was replaced by Mike Baker. This ended up being Montesutti's lineup:

1. RF Jason Brown
2. LF Jody Brown
3. CF Bobby Hamilton
4. 1B Rich Donnell
5. 3B Jared Hunsicker
6. C John Mull
7. 2B Ryan Rae
8. SS Travis Watts
9. P Casey Levin

750 people came out to the game which, which was almost everyone in Montesutti, and the weather was nice for a ballgame.

Lano batted first, and Hensley led off with a hard-hit double into the right field corner and was thrown out trying to score on a single by Matt Howell. Howell was advanced to third on a hit and run, and Travis Watts committed an error allowing him to score and putting Taylor and Cain at 2nd and 3rd respectively. Mowry brought them in with a double and then Materne popped up to end the first half inning.

The first two outs came easily for Steve Patrick, but then Bobby Hamilton hit a single and tried to steal second and finally ended up at third after Materne threw it over the second baseman's head. Rich Donnell couldn't bring him in, grounding out weakly to second base.

Simonian made it to first after Jody Brown dropped an easy fly ball, and Patrick bunted him over to second. Hensley crushed a ball to the exact same spot in right field, this time good for a triple, making it 4-0. He scored when Zachary Johnson made it to 2nd on a throwing error by Hunsicker. Levin was able to get the next two batters out, so the score was 5-0, but none of those runs were earned.

John Mull made it to first on an error and then to second on a wild pitch and stood there with one out and Ryan Rae batting. Rae grounded out, moving Mull to 3rd, and then Watts grounded out for the final out of the inning.

After Taylor flew out, Mowry made it to first on Jody Brown's second dropped fly ball of the day. He then went to second on a wild pitch but was thrown out at home by Hamilton after he tried to score on Materne's single. But Materne was able to score after Simonian hit a triple into right field, and he was then able to score when Patrick hit a single into right field. Hensley again hit the ball to right but this time Jason Brown collected it easily.

With Lano now up 7-0 entering the bottom of the third, Casey Levin helped himself out by reaching first on an error by Frank Taylor and moving to second on a wild pitch, and then on to third on Jason Brown's single. Jason was subsequently thrown out stealing second, but Levin was able to score on Jody's groundout, making it 7-1. Bobby Hamilton reached first on Taylor's second error of the inning and stole second, but Donnell failed to drive him in.

Casey Levin entered the fourth inning having already thrown 78 pitches and given up 7 runs, so it was pretty clear he wasn't going the distance today. He gave up a leadoff single to Johnson who then stole second and made it to third when Howell reached on an error by Jason Brown, making Luke Storey shout furiously from the stands. Levin got the next 2 batters out but gave up a run on a Justin Mowry double. Materne came to the plate with runners on second and third and hit the ball hard to right where it was caught easily, ending the inning.

The score remained 8-1 through the fifth inning, and at that point Justin Lundin was brought in to pitch for Levin. Kevin Cain hit a double in the left-center gap with 1 out and scored on a Justin Mowry single with 2. Materne crushed a double to right, but Mowry was thrown out at the plate to end the inning with a score of 9-1.

With 1 out, consecutive errors by the pitcher and first baseman gave Montesutti runners on first and third. Patrick got Mull to pop it up in the infield and Rae to fly out to center, escaping the 6th without allowing another run.

Lano loaded the bases without recording an out, bringing up Zachary Johnson. He grounded out to short on the first pitch, bringing in a run. Matt Howell followed by reaching on an error, advancing both runners, and Cain walked to load the bases again. Taylor grounded into a double play, once again failing to get his first hit. The score was now 11-1 going into the 7th inning stretch.

Montesutti scored there second run due to a single by Lundin and an error by Mowry when throwing the ball back in, allowing Lundin to advance to second and Watts, who had been on first after leading off with a single, to score. He scored from third after Jason Brown moved him over with a groundout to first and Jody Brown hit a single to bring him in, but Jody was quickly picked off at first by Patrick. Hamilton became the third out of the inning.

Materne hit a 1-out triple and scored on Simonian's single. Simonian ended up at second due to an error by Jason Brown. Steve Patrick hit a grounder all the way to the left field wall that became a double and brought in Simonian. Zachary Johnson reached on an error, and he and Patrick both scored on a triple by Howell, making it 15-3. Montesutti then brought Colin Benell onto the mound, but Kevin Cain made it to 2nd on an error by the SS, which allowed Howell to score. Frank Taylor knocked in another run with a single, and the Mowry brought him home with a triple. The inning finally ended when Materne lined out to center field, but Lano had scored 7 runs, making it 18-3.

Patrick made quick work of Montesutti in the bottom of the 8th, putting them down in order, and Simonian ended up at 2nd on an error to start the top of the 9th. Patrick bunted him to third, and then he scored on a wild pitch. The inning then ended without excitement, as no other hits were recorded in the game and Lano won 18-3, with Toby Simonian being named player of the game.

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September 17, 1871

Game 2 of 3 was played today at 2:05 in the afternoon in Lano. The game was well attended, and the lineups were set well in advance this time.

Montesutti
1. RF Jason Brown
2. LF Jody Brown
3. CF Bobby Hamilton
4. 1B Rich Donnell
5. 3B Jared Hunsicker
6. C John Mull
7. 2B Ryan Rae
8. SS Travis Watts
9. P Casey Levin

Lano
1. 2B Zachary Johnson
2. SS Frank Taylor
3. 1B Matt Howell
4. CF Ryan Hensley
6. 3B Kevin Cain
7. C Allen Materne
8. LF Toby Simonian
9. P Steve Patrick

Montesutti got off to a quick start in the top of the first with an RBI triple from Rich Donnell, who then scored on Hunsicker's single, giving the team a 2-0 lead on 2 unearned runs. They scored again on an unearned in the 2nd inning when Watts reached on an error by Taylor and scored on Jason Brown's single.

The game remained 3-0 until the bottom of the 5th, when Simonian led off with a triple and was knocked in with a ground out by the next batter, Steve Patrick.

Hamilton brought in another unearned insurance run with a single in the top of the 7th to make it 4-1, but Lano got it back after Simonian hit another triple and Patrick singled him home in the bottom of the inning.

Ryan Rae in the top of the 8th scored on a terrible throw by Jason Brown in right field after a single by Watts, who ended up at 2nd.

Mull doubled and scored in the top of the 9th after Johnson threw it over Howell's head at first base.

That made it 6-2 (all 6 runs unearned) going into the bottom of the 9th with Materne, Simonian, and Patrick due up. Materne hit a lazy fly ball to right that was caught easily by Jason Brown. Simonion lined out hard to the second baseman. Eric Brickey was brought in to pinch his for Patrick and was able to deliver with a triple. Zachary Johnson drove him in with a single, keeping hope alive and making it 6-3. But the comeback was short-lived, as Frank Taylor popped it up, ending the game 6-3.

Despite being given the loss, Steve Patrick was named player of the game for his complete game performance without giving up an earned run.

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September 30, 1971

The third and final scheduled game between the Montesutti and Lano baseball teams took play today in Montesutti.

Lano
1. 2B Zachary Johnson
2. RF Justin Mowry
3. 1B Matt Howell
4. CF Ryan Hensley
5. SS Frank Taylor
6. C Allen Materne
7. LF Toby Simonian
8. 3B Eric Brickey
9. P Steve Patrick

Montesutti
1. RF Mike Baker
2. LF Jody Brown
3. CF Bobby Hamilton
4. 1B Rich Donnell
5. C John Mull
6. 3B Jared Hunsicker
7. 2B Ryan Rae
8. SS Travis Watts
9. P Casey Levin

Steve Patrick got into a jam early, starting off the bottom of the 1st by allowing a single by Baker, Jody Brown reaching on an error by Hensley, and then walking Hamilton on 4 pitches. He got Rich Donnell to fly out to right on the first pitch, just shallow enough to stop the runners from tagging. Mull then hit a single to left on the second pitch he saw, and everyone moved up a base, making it 1-0. Hunsicker flew out to right, again not quite deep enough for the sacrifice. Patrick escaped the inning with minimal damage when Rae flew out to right field as well for the 3rd out.

Patrick helped his own case in the 3rd by earning his 4th hit in the 3 game series and moving to second on an error, later to be brought home by Justin Mowry, tying the game at 1-1.

But Montesutti regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning after 3 errors allowed them to score a run. A fourth error loaded, the bases, bringing the pitcher up to the plate with 1 out. He hit into an RBI ground out to make it 3-1, and then Mike Baker flew out to end the inning.

Steve Patrick hit an RBI single in the top of the 4th to cut the deficit in half, but Montesutti added that run back to their lead in the bottom of the inning. They almost had a second when Ryan Rae hit a soft single to center, but Jon Mull’s sluggish sprint home got him thrown out by Hensley, keeping the score to 4-2.

Hensley then reached on an error by Donnell and stole second base to get into scoring position, which he took advantage of when Taylor hit a double on the next at bat, making it 4-3. Allen Materne came to the plate with a runner in scoring position but was unable to take advantage, flying out to center to end the half inning.

Bobby Hamilton knocked in another run in the bottom of the 5th to give Montesutti back the 2-run lead.

Neither team scored again until the top of the 8th, when Kevin Cain was brought in to pinch hit for Patrick with the bases loaded and 1 out. He hit a single to center which brought in 1 run, but the tying run was thrown out at the plate by Hamilton. But Zachary Johnson quickly made up for it, hitting a 2-RBI single to give Lano a 6-5 lead, their first of the game. Mowry grounded out, ending the top of the 8th.

Kyle Pritchard came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th and quickly gave up the lead, allowing Watts to score from 3rd on a wild pitch, tying up the ballgame.

So the two teams entered the 9th inning tied at 6. Levin was pinch hit for by Bobby Sapp in the 8th, so Colin Benell was brought in to pitch the 9th. Matt Howell got to 1st base on an error by Travis Watts, and Hensley followed that up with a groundout that allowed Howell to advance to 2nd. Taylor was intentionally walked, bringing Materne up to the plate. He grounded into a fielder’s choice on the 2nd pitch, but he was safe at first and Howell advanced to 3rd base with 2 outs. Simonian was walked on 4 pitches, which brought Brickey to the plate with the bases loaded and 2 out in a tie ballgame. He swung at the 0-1 pitch, hitting it in the air to center for Bobby Hamilton to catch and end the top of the 9th.

Jody Brown led off the bottom of the 9th with a single to right, and Hamilton followed with a single of his own. Donell then grounded into a double play, sending the winning run to 3rd with 2 out. John Mull came to the plate with a chance to be the hero, but he grounded out to the shortstop, sending the game into extra innings.

Jim Blasdell was brought in to pinch hit for for Pritchard to start the 10th inning. He worked a full count and then walked, but was stranded at 1st as the next 3 batters went down in order.

Jimmy Moak entered the game as Lano’s pitcher. He easily pitched a scoreless 10th inning.

Adam Ewer came to the mound for Montesutti after Jason Brown pinch hit in the last inning. He too was met with little resistance, keeping the game tied up.

The game remained tied through the 11th inning. Jimmy Moak, Justin Mowry, and Matt Howell then all hit single sin the top of the 12th, eventually bringing Moak home to give Lano the lead. That was all they’d get, as the next batter, Ryan Hensley, made the 3rd out by grounding it to 2nd base.

Moak finished off Montesutti in the bottom of the 12th, giving Lano the 7-6 win in the game and the 2-1 win in the series.

The mayors of both towns came onto the field after the game and shook hands, expressing their pleasure with how the series went and their desire to make it happen again soon.

Bobby Hamilton was named player of the game despite being on the losing side due to his stellar offensive performance.

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October 16th, 1871

When the series concluded, Jordan Anderson of the Montesutti Gazette put together a poll to vote on who the best ballplayer of the series was. The ballot was distributed to writers in Lano, most of the players on both sides, both of the mayors, and six of Anderson's neighbors. The results were published today, when Allen Materne's photograph appeared on the front page of the Gazette, naming him "Best Ballplayer." Toby Simonian had finished 2nd in the voting, and Justin Mowry had come in third.



The article also mentioned that Mayors Jimerson and Thorvald had gotten together and agreed to host another series of games the following year, this time holding 7 games. They had also decided that the game would be played right in a row, all in 1 week.

Kevin Cain told Mayor Thorvald he wouldn't be playing in the next series, as he was 43 years old and that's just too old for baseball.

[Dark Horse]

Always happy to see another fictional world.
Your origin story is simple and great.
You have a started a bold undertaking. Can't wait to see where you take it... and how you get there.

[boogeyboard1]

Originally Posted by Dark Horse

Always happy to see another fictional world.
Your origin story is simple and great.
You have a started a bold undertaking. Can't wait to see where you take it... and how you get there.

Thanks! That's nice to hear. It might be a bit of a slow-moving dynasty, because I wanted to start as small as possible so I can really get into it, and because I've got a lot going on right now so I won't be able to dedicate a lot of time into it, but I'm excited to really get into this fictional world!

[boogeyboard1]

September 8th, 1872

The second baseball series came upon Lano and Montesutti quickly, or at least it seemed that way to anyone involved as it had been a full year but hardly felt like it on account of the rushed manner in which Montesutti's practices were organized at the end of the summer and on account of how Lano hardly did any practicing for the second year in a row and instead spent their time arguing about what their lineup would look like without Kevin Cain. But by the time September 8th came around Lano's lineup looked just about the same as it had last year except with Matt Petri instead of Kevin Cain and Montesutti's lineup had quite a number of new names in it and a number of old names missing from it on account of how they performed in those disorganized practices, including both the Brown brothers, much to Luke Storey's excitement. But the townspeople of Lano and Montesutti were quite excited for the series regardless of the lineups and so 755 people were in attendance of that first ballgame in Montesutti.

Lano
1. CF Ryan Hensley
2. LF Toby Simonian
3. 1B Matt Howell
4. RF Justin Mowry
5. SS Frank Taylor
6. C Allen Materne
7. 3B Eric Brickey
8. 2B Matt Petri
9. P Steve Patrick

Montesutti
1. LF Tim Vernon
2. 3B Sam Hollowell
3. CF Bobby Hamilton
4. RF Luke Storey
5. 1B Ron Clifton
6. C John Mull
7. 2B Jessie Rossi
8. SS Travis Watts
9. P Casey Levin

The game got off to a hot start with Levin letting up 3 runs in the top of the 1st, all of them earned but 2 of them directly led to by errors and wild pitches respectively, with Simonian and Lowry knocking in runs and Lowry then scoring on the wild pitch.

But Lano also committed an error against the 1st batter they faced, letting him get to 2nd base and move over to 3rd on Hollowell's ground out and then on home on Hamilton's single. Hamilton was subsequently caught stealing second and Storey failed to reach base, ending the 1st inning with a score of 3-1.

The 2nd inning was uneventful, but in the top of the 3rd Justin Mowry singled and advanced to third base after Mull threw it over Rossi's head in attempt to catch the runner stealing. Mowry scored when Frank Taylor deposited the ball into right field for a single. Materne hit the ball hard enough for a double, and Taylor made it to 3rd base, from which he tagged up and scored when Brickey flew out to right. Petri was walked intentionally and the half inning ended with Patrick grounding it right back to Levin and the score 5-1.

Montesutti decreased the deficit when Casey Levin scored on a terrible throw by Justin Mowry, but couldn't score any further despite having Hamilton on 2nd base with 2 out. 5-2 after 3 innings.

With 1 out in the next inning Simonian reached on an error and made it to 3rd base when Mull once again threw it into the outfield in an attempt to catch the runner stealing. Howell couldn't bring him home with a weak line drive to 2nd base that was caught easily, much more easily than Mull's throw at least, but he scored when Mowry hit a single in his next at bat.

The game was now 6-2 and remained that way until the top of the 6th when an error followed by an intentional walk followed by another error followed by a wild pitch followed by another error allowed Lano to make it 9-2 and have a runner on 2nd with just 1 out. That was the end of Casey Levin's day and Justin Lundin came onto the mound to replace him. He gave up a single to Taylor who then tried to steal 2nd and ended up at 3rd on account of another terrible throw by John Mull which also allowed the runner from 3rd to score. Mull continued his miserable performance by letting the next pitch go right by him, and Taylor ran to home and stepped on it safely to make the score 11-2. Materne and Brickey each hit doubles to make it 12-2, and then finally Lundin was able to get 2 batters out and get his team on offense to attempt to make up that 10-run deficit, but they instead went down in order and it was Lano's turn to bat again.

Hensley began the 7th with a double and Simonian followed that with a pop-up to first. Brad Toole then pinch hit for Howell and watched as Hensley stole third on the first pitch of the at bat. Toole flew out to center but not quite deep enough for Simonian to feel comfortable testing Hamilton's arm, which he decided to put on display anyway by firing the ball home. But it didn't matter because Lundin threw it wildly in the next at bat and Simonian trotted home with Lano's 13th run. Mowry gave Montesutti some reprieve with a ground out to end the top of the 7th, but it was now 13-2.

Brad Toole would stay in the game to play center field, with Hensley moving to right and Mowry to 1st base, and Patrick threw another good inning to keep the score where it was.

Now everyone was starting to grow tired of Lano scoring, except for Lano's ballplayers that is and perhaps except for Montesutti's ballplayers who were committing so many errors it seemed maybe this was just what they wanted. When all was said and done Lano scored 5 more runs this inning and Colin Benell had to come in and relieve Lundin in order to get the 3rd out.

Nothing much of consequence happened the rest of the game except for that Hamilton hit an RBI ground out in the bottom of the 8th to make it 18-3 and the pinch hitter Mike Baker drove in another with an infield single and Montesutti scored their 5th run in the bottom of the 9th on an error by Mowry, and Mull finally threw out a couple of stealing baserunners at 2nd in the top of the 9th.

So the final score was 18-5, and the Montesutti townspeople left the game not nearly as excited as they'd been when they arrived, but tomorrow's game was in Lano anyhow so it didn't really matter much.

[boogeyboard1]

September 9th, 1872

Game two would be played in Lano in front of a crowd of 706 with the following lineups.

Montesutti
1. RF Luke Storey
2. 3B Sam Hollowell
3. CF Bobby Hamilton
4. 1B Ron Clifton
5. LF Tim Vernon
6. C John Mull
7. 2B Jessie Rossi
8. SS Travis Watts
9. P Casey Levin

Lano
1. CF Ryan Hensley
2. RF Justin Mowry
3. 1B Matt Howell
4. C Allen Materne
5. SS Frank Taylor
6. LF Brad Toole
7. 3B Eric Brickey
8. 2B Matt Petri
9. P Steve Patrick

It was a tough battle between Levin and Patrick in the early going with the game remaining scoreless through 4. John Mull led off for Montesutti in the 5th with a double and failed to advance on Rossi's fly out but did so when Watts reached on an error by Taylor, bringing up Levin with runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out. He grounded it to Taylor who proceeded to make his second error of the inning, this time on the throwing of the ball rather than the fielding of it, allowing Mull to score and Rossi to move to second which made it 1-0 Montesutti. Storey reached with an infield hit by grounding it to 1st and beating Patrick to the bag, and then Howell gave Taylor the opportunity to make his 3rd error of the inning which he immediately did, keeping the bases loaded and doubling Montesutti's lead. Hamilton flew out to right but hit it hard enough that Levin didn't have any chance to tag up as he had no speed whatsoever and Mowry had quite the arm in right. But Clifton came through with a bases-clearing double, extending Montesutti's lead to 5-0. Finally the 3rd out was made when Vernon hit a ground ball but to 2nd this time rather than short, and Petri did what Taylor had failed to do all inning when he scooped the ball up and threw it on to Howell for the out.

Lano didn't score in the 5th and Brickey picked up right where Taylor left off in the 6th by making a throwing error that allowed Mull to reach 2nd base. Rossi grounded out to Patrick and Mull went to 3rd and then scored when Watts grounded out to Taylor. Levin flew out which made it Lano's turn to bat with the score now 6-0.

Lano finally got on the board when Patrick reached 2nd on an error and Mowry drove him in with a single, advancing to 2nd on the throw. He subsequently scored when Matt Howell hit a single to center with 2 outs. Materne struck out swinging to end the inning with a score of 6-2.

After Montesutti went scoreless in the top of the 7th, Taylor led off for Lano with a hard hit ball to left that resulted in a triple. Brad Toole grounded out to 3rd, so Taylor stayed put as Hollowell could've gotten him out easily if he hadn't, and he stayed put again in a more questionable decision not to test Vernon's average arm when Brickey flew out to left. He of course took off running as soon as Petri made contact, but it was just a harmless ground ball to 3rd that was easily delivered to 1st for out number 3.

Neither team scored or even came close to scoring in the last 2 innings, so the townspeople of Montesutti who had completely lost interest in baseball after yesterday's game suddenly found they had more interest than ever and wanted nothing but to attend the home game tomorrow.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by boogeyboard1

Thanks! That's nice to hear. It might be a bit of a slow-moving dynasty, because I wanted to start as small as possible so I can really get into it, and because I've got a lot going on right now so I won't be able to dedicate a lot of time into it, but I'm excited to really get into this fictional world!

Very good beginning.


I think it is wise of you to start small and just see where it leads you... I made a huge mistake early in my IPA dynasty league of expanding from 12 teams to 64 in its first few seasons... if I had it to do over again, I would limit the league to no more than 16 teams... that way you really get to know the teams and it's much easier to cover... readers also can follow the league better as well... it's much easier to get immersed in the league.

Good luck... you've gotten off to an interesting start.

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by boogeyboard1

Thanks! That's nice to hear. It might be a bit of a slow-moving dynasty, because I wanted to start as small as possible so I can really get into it, and because I've got a lot going on right now so I won't be able to dedicate a lot of time into it, but I'm excited to really get into this fictional world!

Take your time. The dynasties are enjoyable when you don't force yourself to fit into a timetable. I can't wait to get updates from my favorite dynasties... but I can wait

On a lighter note, when do they invent home field advantage in your world?

[boogeyboard1]

Thank you both!

Is home field advantage something you can mess with in OOTP? I hadn't thought about this at all. I guess they've already figured out that home team bats in the bottom half of the inning!

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by boogeyboard1

Thank you both!

Is home field advantage something you can mess with in OOTP? I hadn't thought about this at all. I guess they've already figured out that home team bats in the bottom half of the inning!

No. There is no setting. i was just making a joke.

It is just by funny coincidence that none of the games have been won by the home team. i would be tempted to write a story about the baseball superstition being born because of this. Either one city or the other purposely tries some stunt to break the streak and they win. Or something memorable happens and it becomes a part of the baseball lore...

[boogeyboard1]

Originally Posted by Dark Horse

No. There is no setting. i was just making a joke.

It is just by funny coincidence that none of the games have been won by the home team. i would be tempted to write a story about the baseball superstition being born because of this. Either one city or the other purposely tries some stunt to break the streak and they win. Or something memorable happens and it becomes a part of the baseball lore...

A great idea, may have to work this in somehow!

[boogeyboard1]

September 10th, 1872

Game 3 was set to take place back in Montesutti, in front of a crowd of just 377 as it was a week day.

Lano
1. CF Ryan Hensley
2. RF Justin Mowry
3. 1B Matt Howell
4. C Allen Materne
5. SS Frank Taylor
6. LF Brad Toole
7. 3B Eric Brickey
8. 2B Matt Petri
9. P Steve Patrick

Montesutti
1. RF Luke Storey
2. 3B Sam Hollowell
3. CF Bobby Hamilton
4. 1B Ron Clifton
5. LF Tim Vernon
6. C John Mull
7. 2B Jessie Rossi
8. SS Travis Watts
9. P Casey Levin

Nothing worth reporting happened in the 1st inning but Materne and Taylor led off the 2nd with back-to-back singles, and Materne moved to 3rd and Taylor back to the dugout when Toole grounded into a fielder's choice. Toole then took off for 2nd base and Mull committed his 6th error of the series, throwing the ball into the outfield and allowing Materne to score and Toole to advance to 3rd base. Brickey knocked Toole in with a double and then stole 3rd base. He scored on Mull's 3rd passed ball of the series to make it 3-0, and the half inning ended shortly after.

Patrick handled Montesutti quite easily in the first 2 innings and most of the 3rd inning until Storey hit a triple with 2 outs and then Hollowell hit a double to make it 3-1. Bobby Hamilton hit a dribbler back to Patrick but beat out the throw while Hollowell moved to 3rd. Taylor botched a grounder hit to him by Clifton to make it 3-2. Vernon flew out to right, making him 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position in this series and ending the inning.

Petri led off the top of the 5th by making it to 2nd on Hollowell's throwing error and advancing to 3rd on Patrick's sacrifice bunt. Hensley hit a fly ball to right field and Petri thought about but decided against testing Storey's arm, so he was instead driven in by Mowry's 2-out single. Howell grounded into out number 3, the score now 4-2.

Storey started the bottom half of the 5th with a single and a stolen base to put him in scoring position where he stayed when Hollowell grounded out but then took of for 3rd and made it there safely on the 1st pitch of Hamilton's at bat. Hamilton popped it up to the 2nd baseman for the 2nd out, and Clifton flew out to left for the 3rd, so the score stayed at 4-2 with Lano winning.

After a scoreless top of the 6th Montesutti started the bottom of it with singles from Vernon and Mull to give them runners on 1st and 2nd base. Rossi poked one through the middle for a single and Vernon scored from 2nd despite a throw home from Hensley, which allowed Mull and Rossi to move to 3rd and 2nd bases respectively. Watts was walked intentionally to bring Levin to the plate and he subsequently drove in 2 more with a single and gave Montesutti the 5-4 lead. Storey bunted the runners from 1st and 2nd to 2nd and 3rd and then Hollowell hit a single, and Watts scored easily from 3rd but Levin tried to come home as well and was thrown out by Mowry for the 2nd out of the inning. The inning ended with a score of 6-4 after Hamilton flew out to center field.

Now the Montesutti fans began to get excited as they'd never seen their ballclub win live and in person before and as they were winning now, and Mayor Jimerson and all the Montesutti ballplayers began to get excited too on account of how they got treated by their friends and neighbors when they hadn't seen them win but had just heard about it and how they figured they might get treated if their friends and neighbors did actually see them win live and in person.

So Levin did some of his best work over the next two innings and didn't allow a hit or a run, and neither did Patrick but no one at the ballpark aside from Patrick and his teammates and his mayor were paying much attention to Patrick's performance and were instead thoroughly focused on the scoreboard and Levin's maintenance of that 2-run lead.

And he entered the top of the 9th with that lead still intact and with Taylor up to bat 1st. Now Taylor was already 2-for-3 on the day so he was seeing the ball well and hitting it well too, and he hit the 2nd pitch of the at bat well to left field and was able to make it all the way to 2nd base. Brad Toole came up next and with the count full he too hit the ball to left field, but this time hit it in a way so that Mike Baker could catch it before it hit the ground and so made the 1st out of the inning. Brickey hit the ball on a line straight up the middle in the next at bat, and it looked like it'd make it through but Travis Watts made an excellent diving catch for the 2nd out. Matt Petri became Lano's last hope, and it looked like it was all over when he popped it up to 2nd, but Petri dropped the easy catch and Petri arrived safely at first while Taylor booked it to 3rd. Simonian pinch hit for Patrick and hit it hard to the hot corner, but Hollowell was able to handle it for the 3rd out, giving Montesutti its first home win.

Now Lano became all too aware that they hadn't yet won a game at home and were embarrassed and ashamed and thoroughly angered by the fact that Montesutti did it before they did, so they became quite determined to win this next game and to win all the others after that regardless of what town they were played in, but especially to win the next game as it was being played in Lano.

[boogeyboard1]

September 11th, 1872

A crowd of 464 came out to see Lano play despite it being a weekday due to some inflammatory comments made in today's paper by Mayor Thorvald about his desire to win a game in front of a home crowd.

Montesutti
1. RF Luke Storey
2. 3B Sam Hollowell
3. CF Bobby Hamilton
4. 1B Ron Clifton
5. LF Tim Vernon
6. C John Mull
7. 2B Jessie Rossi
8. SS Travis Watts
9. P Casey Levin

Lano
1. CF Ryan Hensley
2. RF Justin Mowry
3. 1B Matt Howell
4. C Allen Materne
5. SS Frank Taylor
6. LF Brad Toole
7. 3B Eric Brickey
8. 2B Matt Petri
9. P Steve Patrick

The 1st inning was scoreless despite a great opportunity for Lano, who had the bases loaded with 2 outs and Toole hitting, but he hit a fly ball to center that Hamilton just barely reached for the 3rd out.

Brickey led off the bottom of the 2nd by reaching on an error and then stealing 2nd base. Montesutti fielders dropped their second infield pop up of the inning to allow Petri to reach first, sending Brickey to 3rd. Patrick laid down a bunt, moving Petri over to second, but Brickey stayed put. Hensley was credited with the RBI when he grounded out to 2nd, advancing the runners and putting Lano on the board. Mowry flew out to end the inning.

Montesutti tied it up quickly when Hollowell hit an RBI single to score Storey from 2nd. Then in the top of the 4th, Montesutti loaded the bases with no outs thanks to a single by Clifton and then 2 consecutive errors by Lano's middle infielders. Rossi hit a fly ball to straightaway center that Hensley should've had easily but dropped, scoring 2 and giving Montesutti runners at 2nd and 3rd. Watts was given the IBB to bring Levin up to the plate, and he grounded out to 1st but brought in a run and increase Montesutti's lead to 3 runs. Storey hit a fly ball to right that Rossi couldn't tag up from 3rd on, and then Hollowell flew out to right as well. The score was now 4-1 Montesutti.

Lano scored in the bottom of the 4th when Hensley hit an RBI triple with 2 outs. Hensley registered another RBI in the bottom of the 6th when he hit into a ground out with runners on 2nd in 3rd, bringing in Petri and moving the other runner, Steve Patrick, to 3rd base, where he was stranded after Mowry flew out to left.

The score remained 4-3 through the 7th and 8th, and then in the top of the 9th Levin reached on an error, and Storey made it to 1st base safely when he was only trying to bunt Levin over, and then Hollowell reached on an error as well to load the bases. Bobby Hamilton grounded the ball right back to Patrick, who threw it home for the 1st out. They tried to get Hamilton at 1st base as well, but he was able to beat it out. Clifton grounded the ball between the shortstop and 3rd baseman for a 2 RBI single, extending the Montesutti lead to 6-3. With runners now at 1st and 2nd and 1 out, Mike Baker, who had been a defensive sub for Vernon last inning, came to the plate. Hamilton and Clifton went for a double steal on the first pitch, which was a ball outside and caught by Materne and fired over Brickey's head and into the outfield. Hamilton went all the way home and Clifton made it over to 3rd base. 7-3. Baker then hit a triple into the left field corner to score Clifton and make it 8-3. Eddie McElroy relieved Patrick at this point and came in to face John Mull. Mull flew out to the center fielder who threw the ball home although Baker had decided not to tag up. He scored on the next pitch though, which was scored as a passed ball by Materne. Rossi grounded out to finally end the top of the 9th, the score now 9-3.

Lano did score a run on an RBI double by Materne, but that was all, ending the game at 9-4 and leaving Lano still without a home win.

[boogeyboard1]

September 12th, 1872

The ball clubs traveled back to Montesutti for game 5.

Lano
1. CF Ryan Hensley
2. RF Justin Mowry
3. 1B Matt Howell
4. C Allen Materne
5. SS Frank Taylor
6. LF Brad Toole
7. 3B Eric Brickey
8. 2B Matt Petri
9. P Steve Patrick

Montesutti
1. RF Luke Storey
2. 3B Sam Hollowell
3. CF Bobby Hamilton
4. 1B Ron Clifton
5. LF Tim Vernon
6. C John Mull
7. 2B Jessie Rossi
8. SS Travis Watts
9. P Casey Levin

Lano got on the board first in the top of the 2nd thanks to 2 errors by Watts, allowing Materne to score and Toole to reach 1st. Toole ended up at 3rd after a passed ball followed by a wild pitch. Brickey drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left. They scored again in the top of the 3rd thanks to 2 errors by Sam Hollowell, allowing Patrick to get on base and then around to home. So it was 3-0 after 3 innings, but Levin still had a no hitter.

The no hitter was broken up with 2 outs in the 4th when Brickey hit an infield single. Petri followed that up with another infield single, but Patrick hit a pop up for the 3rd out.

Montesutti led off the bottom of the 4th with Hamilton reaching 1st on an error and then stealing 2nd. He scored when Ron Clifton hit a double to left field. The next 3 batters were retired easily, ending the 4th with a 3-1 score.

Lano scored another unearned run in the top of the 5th to make it 4-1, and then Taylor drove in a run with a single to make it 5-1. Toole then reached on an error which brought in another run and gave Lano runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out. A passed ball moved the runners over, but the inning ended when Brickey lined out to short. Brickey made the most of his next chance though, tacking another run onto the lead with an RBI single in the 7th, making it 7-1 at the 7th inning stretch.

Patrick finished out the game without allowing another hit in what was probably his best performance so far.