From the beginning the Pattaya based Thai Tigers softball team knew it was going to be a set of tough games as, due to some rescheduling of other fast pitch league matches, they had no access to around 75% of their regular players and were forced to start with their Head Coach and even General Manager taking the field. Playing against the lower qualified Bootleggers it should have been an easier weekend for the Tigers, however it turned out to be anything but.
The first game started off with some low scoring from both games and some good defense from the Tigers seeing them leading in the top of the 4th inning by a 2-0 score. At the bottom half of the inning the feisty Bootlegers scored 1 run themselves and from then on the Tigers started to falter as inexperience began to tell.
The Thai Tigers pose for a team photo prior to the game against the Bootleggers in Bangkok last weekend.
All hell broke loose in the 6th inning. The Tigers didn’t manage to score but still led 2-1 and must have been having thoughts of holding out for the win. Then what looked like an easy sky high pop up out turned into a double for their opponents and then another error triple followed. The Tigers started to panic and before everyone really knew what had happened a new score on the board showed 5-2 to the Bootleggers.
At the top of the 7th inning it was an all or nothing effort from the Tigers but they came up short after a questionable called catch (though for some a clear trap). The final score was 5-3 to the Bootleggers and was the Tigers fourth loss of the season.
In the second game, the mental toughness of this Tigers C-team would be tested and they came up well short of expectations with the game being over before it ever even started, seeing a score of 7-2 to the Bootleggers after just 2 innings and the pain wasn’t even over then, with a final mercy score of 14-4 after just 6½ innings played.
So even though it was the not the regular team fielded by the Tigers, it was still 2 shock losses and hurt the team’s league position with them tumbling into the bottom half of the standings.
The Tigers Head and the Manager will be hoping to have a full roster to select from for the next game so they can get back to doing what they do best, consuming beers on the sidelines.
