Flying Muskellunge 14, Mighty Milfoil 10

A new rivalry is born.

If you spent any time at Lake Calhoun (our "home field") in the summer of 2003, you were struck by the infestation of ugly, bizarre Eurasian milfoil all over the lake's surface. The invasive species dominated the lake, depriving other lake plants of enough light to grow, and choking off the oxygen supply for fish in Calhoun -- which really does include a sizable muskellunge population.

In the late summer of 2004, the Muskies exacted our revenge.

There's little to say about our instantaneous offensive explosion in the opening innings of Tuesday's season opener versus the Mighty Milfoil, except to say that we executed brilliantly. We followed the Kickball Commandments. We kicked smartly and hustled down the baselines. We took extra bases and made the most of almost every opportunity.

We scored 2 runs in the first inning, 4 in the second, one in the fifth and 5 in the sixth. We led, at various points, by scores of 2-0, 6-0, 7-1, 7-3, 12-4 and 14-4. Several of us had some incredible baserunning adventures -- Geoff and rookies Scott and Patrik come to mind. Geoff even laid out the catcher in a play at the plate. (Now, was that necessary?)

By my count, we had 27 hits (for a .563 average), and didn't make any baserunning blunders resulting in outs.

Defensively, we kept the Milfoil down long enough. Whenever the Eurasians got a threat going (like first and second with no outs), they repeatedly did the same thing: kicked the ball to the hole between pitcher and third base, setting up easy Geoff-to-Sarah forceouts.

We got them out at third more than any other way; in fact, I believe Sarah made all three putouts in one inning. The Milfoil were employing the common kickball strategy of bunting to left for almost everything. It can be effective, but it only goes so far -- and it may be why that experienced team is now 4-13.

Eventually, the strategy started getting to us. I wish that we could have ended the game at 14-4 to prove that we have turned the corner defensively, but then we gave up 6 runs in the final frame -- a sequence that gave me nightmarish visions of dashing a 10-run lead. Pitcher Geoff was getting understandably tired from all the bunts, while we took lots of crazy fielding chances just because we could. I should have brought in Scotty to relieve Geoff, and we'll have to be more careful next week.

But it barely tarnished what was by far our strongest offensive game yet. I can't wait to get out there again.