Mutis wins debut on the mound
On a night when they beat Ewen's true love, the Headliners showed off gifts with the glove.
The 'Liners, who treated the grounders off opposing bats like they were jars of lowfat mayonnaise in their season opener a week ago, were sparkling defensively Tuesday night, handing Ewen's adorable wife Carol-Ann and the rest of the Rhinos a 22-5 decision on Bring Your Niece and Bif Naked to the Ballpark Night at Gordon Park SE.
Cav, Mr. Play Everywhere for everybody's favourite slopitch entertainment conglomerate, led the way in the field. Starting in right, he held Rhinos sparkplug John to a single on a sharply hit ball down the line to lead off the game. He did the same to Chad with one out in the fourth.
Brett (exhaustion from honeymoon with Michelle...hubba hubba) returned to the line-up after a one-game absence and was his usual stellar self at short, highlighted by going deep in the hole to hold Nathan to an infield single and keep at least one run from scoring in that fourth frame.
Mutis, making his debut on the mound in lieu of an absent Michelle (exhaustion from her honeymoon...hubba hubba), induced a force out at second to the next batter to leave the bases loaded.
Brett also made a delicous snag on a hot shot off the bat of Stocks in the fifth to get a force at second base and help squelch a Rhino revival. They scored three runs in that frame.
"The Rhinos can swing the bats," said 'Liner captain Ewen, who later denied that was merely shameless sucking up to his wife. "They have one of the top three or four offensives in our league, in my mind. They're not nearly as bad as we made them look."
The 'Liners did most of their heavy swinging in the early frame Tuesday, much like they did in last week's 29-23 win over the Fireballers. They put up a maximum six-spot in the first, highlighted by newcomer Boss's Daughter's RBI single to end off the frame. Three of the six runs came with two outs.
They scored four more in the second, paced by back-to-back-to-back doubles by Rintoul, Brett and Cav.
The offence was spaced out overall, with every spot in the order producing an run scored and an RBI.
Rintoul finished the night 5-for-6 with five runs scored and one RBI, while Cav, who moved to first base midway through the game to give him three different defensive positions (SS, RF, 1B) already this year, was 4-for-5 with four runs scored and three RBIs.
Snarla continued her strong start to the season, going 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI, while Boss' was 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs.
