coyote42 and I bring you the story of Game 6 of the 2012 Wild World Series between the Eastern Division champion Charleston Swamp Foxes and the Western Division playoff winner Portland Pioneers. Enjoy!

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Game 5, August 9th

Charleston, SC

Tequila Sunrise Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina was rocking as Tex Harrison's (cougar) line drive found center field and he took a wide turn at first base but quickly scooted back as Willie Milligan (fennec), Portland's star center fielder, quickly threw the ball to the cutoff man. The announcer, 56-year old bobcat Jerry Sanderson, then spoke through the PA system:

"Your attention please: now batting for George Cameron, number 26, Felicia Harrison (cougar)."

The rookie batter strode to the plate, "F. HARRISON" and "26" emblazoned on the back of her jersey. Tex grinned as he watched his sister get the signs from third base coach Jack Dawson (fox).

Pioneers closer Derek Miller (badger) didn't show that he was concerned. Tex was the tying run, but the one standing in his way was his rookie sister at the plate.

As Felicia stood at the plate, brown tresses of hair peeking out from under her orange batting helmet, she only saw Daniel and nothing else. She didn't even hear the crowd.

Then Daniel went to the stretch and threw a fastball. The cougar watched it go past her eyes as the crowd roared around her. Ball one.

The next pitch from the badger broke too soon and she held up as Domingo Encarnación (spider monkey) blocked the pitch. Ball two. Encarnación instructed Miller to try to paint the outside corner with another curve and he just missed. Ball three.

"Atta girl, Felly!" Charleston manager Larry Howe (cheetah) shouted. The 46-year old, brown-haired cheetah was usually very vocal from the dugout. His voice carried a long way and he thought it was best to encourage batters. Just like his old manager and mentor Skip Morrison (skunk) did when Howe was a Swamp Fox player.

Portland’s catcher jogged out to the mound and held his glove to his face. "Break out the sliders, Chief. She's itching to swing now," he said. Miller nodded and walked around the mound until his catcher set up again. Felicia waited impatiently for the pitch.

Slider in the dirt; she swung and missed. A second slider that darted away from her, she swung and missed again. Miller uncorked a third slider and Felicia committed a feeble swing, just missing making contact. The crowd emitted a loud groan and Miller pounded his chest in victory, shaking Encarnación's paw as he came to the mound. The Pioneers players exchanged high fives in the dugout as the victorious visitors came off the field.

After she missed, Felicia growled in frustration walked back to the dugout with her head down. She should have been able to hit one of those sliders, she thought. She let everyone down... then she felt a familiar paw on her shoulder and looked over to see her brother. He was smiling a little.

"Hey, Sis, don't take it so hard, you did fine. Remember, we got Jane going tomorrow," he said.

She nodded and tried to smile. "Yeah, you're right, bro." Felicia knew she'd be kicking herself all night in the hotel room, but her brother spoke the truth.

* * *

Game 6, August 11th

Portland, Oregon

Blue, green and white clothed Pioneers fans of many species filed into Nike Stadium as the home team, dressed in green batting practice jerseys coupled with white pants, warmed up on the field. Harold Tailwind (coyote), a bespectacled, portly sort in his late 40s, watched as Graham Hollinger (fox), Portland's Game 6 starter, warmed up.

"Feel good today, Graham?" Harold asked. Hollinger nodded. "Sure do, Skipper."

"Great. The opportunity is here. Momentum is on our side. Keep that Pioneer Pride," he said. "Let's see another day," he finished, patting Graham on the arm. Long associated with the organization, Tailwind respected the Pioneer tradition to the utmost degree and encouraged that in all his players. Graham, a veteran of nine seasons, probably understood that the most.

On the visitor’s side of the field, Jane Howard (red fox) completed her warmup tosses under the watchful eye of Alex Smalls (hyena). He nodded over to Howe as he came over. to them.

“She looks good, Larry,” he said.

“I’ve got a good feel for the pitches tonight,” she added. Howe nodded.

“Are you nervous at all?” he asked. It was an odd question to pose, as Jane had pitched in the Wild World Series before just last season, but this was probably the biggest game of her career. The black-haired vixen flicked aside a stray bang of her hair as she thought briefly.

“Well, yes and no, Skip. I just want to go out there tonight and get the job done.”

Howe smiled. “That’s what I want to hear. Go get ‘em,” he said, encouragingly giving her a pat on the arm. Howard nodded and put on her serious game face as the three went back to the dugout.

* * *

Hollinger and Howard both staved off first-inning scoring chances and got through the second inning without trouble. George Cameron (alligator) shook his head, returning after popping out to third baseman on the infield. That brought up Marcos Hererra (cheetah) again, who led off the game with a single.

Behind 1-2, Marcos got on top of a fastball and grounded it to the right of the infield, immediately taking off from the box. Scott Smith (coyote) took the hard grounder at deep second and threw to first in one motion.

Bad move.

Jose Salas (labrador retriever) lunged after the wild throw, then turned to watch it sail into the home dugout, hearing the crowd groan. Hollinger caught a fresh ball from the home plate umpire as he watched Hererra jog to second base.

“I know what’s coming next,” the red fox mumbled to himself.

Everyone in the stadium knew it.

Marcos took a walking lead off of second and hunched over, leaning his paws on his knees

Hollinger looked back to the cheetah off second, then started his delivery.

Marcos took off as the red fox threw a fastball.

The ball crossed the plate for a strike. Encarnación caught the ball and threw to third in one motion, his mask falling off his face. Harriet Featherwind (jackrabbit) snatched the throw and brushed her glove down as quickly as she could. Though she caught Marcos on the face, he was well ahead of the throw as the third base umpire signaled safe. The cheetah grinned as he stood up and brushed himself off, slyly winking at Featherwind.

“You want me to tag you on the face again?” she quipped.

“I’m kidding, Harriet,” Marcos chuckled.

Hollinger and De La Cruz then battled as the skunk fouled a few pitches off, working the count full. Then the red fox made a mistake with a hanging curve and De La Cruz crushed it to center. Several Swamp Fox players got up on the railing, imploring the ball to go out. Milligan seemed to have a beat on it, though, brushing her paw against the right-center field wall and she caught the ball in her glove. That was certainly deep enough, though, as Marcos was able to briskly jog home with the first run of the game. Sparse Swamp Foxes fans cheered in the crowd as Marcos gave De La Cruz a fist bump, then getting rounds of high-fives as they went back to their dugout seats.

* * *

Mike Hooper (fennec) bent down as he thought a curve coming was coming towards him. Unfortunately, it broke right into the heart of the plate.

“STRIKE THREE!”

The Portland faithful roared their approval as the tall fennec worked his way back to the dugout and Iemochi Yamasaki (siamese cat) took his place. Designated hitter Aaron Davis (hedgehog), seated in the home dugout, pointed this out to Jeff Dempsey (tiger) beside him.

“Graham’s got the curve going, but I hope he watches it. If he misses it gets crushed.”

“At least Yamasaki can’t hit it,” Dempsey said, just as the cat flailed at a curve for strike one.

“See?”

“Eeeyep.”

Hollinger painted the corner for strike two with a fastball.

“So what are you going to do against Jane next time?” Dempsey asked. Davis nodded.

“That’s the question, isn’t it? Willie was able to ambush her fastball when she made those mistakes. That’s something to try to catch.”

“Yeah.”

The red fox’s next slider broke just a hair outside. Ball one.

“Her slider’s dynamite tonight, though,” Aaron said.

"You're right it’s really bit-”

*CRACK!*

“Holy crap, that thing's going straight to Washington," Jeff said with a hint of wonder in his voice. The tiger and hedgehog watched as the ball sailed past the left of the center field scoreboard and into the night. Aaron shook his head.

"Psssh. No kidding."

Yamasaki jogged excitedly around the bases, getting a pawshake from Dawson as he rounded third, a fist bump from Joe Hodges (beaver) on the on-deck circle. He cracked a big smile as he got exuberant high-fives from his teammates in the dugout. Santiago Dávila (raccoon) clapped him on the shoulder.

“Did you see how far you hit that, man?” he asked. “Four hundred fifty five feet!”. Iemochi grinned and shook his head.

“Sugoi, sugoi!” was all he could say.

* * *

Antonio Soto (jaguar) stood on third and Encarnación on second after Milligan sacrificed them up a base. Cleanup hitter Alejandro Coyotl (coyote) strode up to the plate, looking to get the team on the board somehow.

Howard’s first pitch was high for a ball. George Cameron (alligator) signaled for a slider. The vixen nodded, went to the stretch, and threw.

She knew something was wrong the instant the ball left her paw.

The vixen could only watch as Cameron slid to his right to anticipate the break. The ball hit the dirt, skipped off his shin guard and bounced into foul territory. Coyotl leapt back and waved his free paw as Soto scampered home and touched the plate just as Cameron was picking up the ball. The crowd was now really energized as one swing from their slugger could give them the lead!

The lefty swung at the next pitch and hit a hard grounder to the second baseman. De La Cruz, playing back, took the grounder and threw to first for the out, but Encarnación scored, tying the game! The crowd went berserk and the home team celebrated with high fives and helmet pats for Encarnación and Coyotl as they both returned.

“We got this Pioneer Pride back now!” Coyotl bellowed.

Howard’s look remained stoic as she got Featherwind to strike out on three pitches, but the damage was done.

* * *

Things had appeared to go the Pioneers' way in the game. They'd been able to tie it up in the sixth and Hollinger was putting away, the old reliable fox managing to keep the shaky tie from getting away from him. The tod was starting to finally show his age that game, and everyone knew that Ryan Mansfield was being considered the ace on the squad after his year where he was sure to be a finalist of the VanHoover award. But Tailwind trusted in his pitchers, all of them. He was old school, preferring to keep a pitcher in up until the pitcher themself tapped out. And many figured that was where things went on.

Hollinger felt a new surge of confidence with the tie score, getting Hodges and Tex Harrison to strike out looking with identical curveballs. Cameron was able to inside-out a hard single into short left field, but Herrera struck out on three pitches, swinging and missing at a fastball. Hollinger yapped and pumped his fist, jogging back to the dugout.

“Just one run!” he shouted. “That’s all we need!”

It’s what Charleston needed too.

* * *

With one out, Aaron Davis watched a curveball fall in for a strike. He was looking for that mistake fastball. That’s the one the team had been hitting all night. Jane toed the rubber, wound up and fired.

‘Got it,’ Davis thought. In the next instant, the hedgehog swung and rocketed a line drive to deep left-center. Playing a little shallow, Hererra turned around and started to sprint, his bare feetpaws digging into the grass. In just a couple of seconds, the ball was nearing him. He leapt with his glove outstretched as far as he could get it. He felt the ball enter his glove and in the next instant he hit the ground, rolling over on his back.

He held on, triumphantly raising his glove to show the baseball. The visitors dugout reacted with cheers as Marcos got up and threw the ball back in, signaling “two out” with his ungloved paw like it was nothing. Davis removed his helmet in disgust at his bad luck and jogged back towards the dugout, shaking his head.

Howard then got Benito Rodriguez (ferret) to bounce out to Hodges down the line at third to end the inning and the threat. She made sure to bump gloves with Hererra as he came in for the nice catch.

* * *

Graham was looking visibly tired by the eighth; the series was tense and playing in front of the home crowd always kept him on the mound longer than he should. Dawkins and Brewer were warming up in the pen on pitching coach James Franco (Arctic Fox)'s insistence, but Tailwind just told Graham to bear down as he trotted out to the rubber. As the eighth went on it was showing Graham's fatigue though; he'd walked De La Cruz and plunked Haynes right on the muzzle, but he looked like he was still in control, his slider teasing out one strikeout and his fireball smoking a second one in succession


Yamasaki fouled off a fastball into the seats, and Hollinger countered with change-up Putting a solid swing on it, the siamese cat muscled the ball into left field past Rodriguez.

De La Cruz scored easily and Haynes motored around third as fast as his legs could carry him. Soto threw the ball back to Rodriguez, but Haynes had too good of a jump and the ferret didn’t want Yamasaki to get to second. Iemochi clapped his paws while Haynes and De La Cruz got several high fives.

Hodges dug in for the first pitch after Hollinger trudged around the mound. It was time to try again. Encarnación signaled for a curve and Hollinger fired.

The curve hung in the air and Hodges smacked high and far down the left field line, getting the Swamp Foxes players to the top step.

“Stay fair, stay fair!!” Tex yelled from the on-deck circle.

It did, and once it did, the Charleston players exploded in cheers. Hodges touched home plate and received very exuberant smacks on his helmet when he returned to the dugout

“You should be smacking Iemochi, guys!” he laughed as Otte Alfons (elephant) whacked the batting helmet clear off his head.

Hollinger got Tex to strike out, but it was clear the damage was done. The Pioneers were running out of time.

* * *

The red fox starter was trying not to show any weaknesses in the 9th, his basic instincts kicking in, but it was clear he was tiring, as his shoulders slumped and he was taking just a little more time before each pitch.

Graham knew why he was still out there: Pioneer Pride. Tailwind wanted him to finish the game. Hollinger threw a first-pitch strike to De La Cruz at the plate, but then his next four pitches were nowhere near the mark, no matter what Encarnación wanted him to try.

Harold came out of the dugout and tapped his right arm. Hollinger’s night was done. The coyote climbed the mound.

“You did good tonight, Graham,” he said. Hollinger nodded.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t finish it for us, Skip,” he said. Harold shook his head.

“You kept us in the game as much as you could. We’ve got a season to be proud of. And besides, there’s still one final inning left.”

Graham nodded, handing the ball to his manager and walking off the field. The Portland fans gave him a standing ovation for the effort and Tailwind handed the ball to Mike Brewer (raccoon). The reliever got Haynes to pop up on the infield to bring the game to the potential final inning.

* * *

Howe wasn’t about to turn the game to anyone else. Howard went back out to the mound, and her first test was Alejandro Coyotl. He worked the count to 2-2, then sent a screaming line drive to right. Haynes didn’t have to move a step as he caught the ball for the first out.

Featherwind also got a 2-2 count from Howard, then hit a hard grounder that skipped past Jane on the mound. Yamasaki quickly ranged to his left and scooped up the grounder, firing to first to catch featherwind by a few steps. Harrison fired the ball back to De La Cruz for an around-the-horn throw, signaling “two out”. Just one more!

The red vixen got a fresh baseball and watched as Salas came up to bat. On a 1-1 count, the labrador retriever bounced a high one off the plate. Cameron pounced on it as quickly as he could! There was the title in his claws! He fired quickly to first base.

Too quickly, in fact. Harrison couldn’t stay on the bag and the quick Salas reached first base, pleasing the home crowd.

Cameron shook his head, looked to Jane and tapped his chest protector, telling her it was his fault. Howard nodded and went back to work. Aaron Davis, the last player to take her so deep, came to the plate.

Howard threw a slider for strike one, and a curveball for strike two, the crowd cheering to keep the rally going. The second slider missed the mark for a ball. When she tried a fastball Davis just missed, fouling it back. She tried the change-up next.

Davis swung, lofting the ball in the air.

Jane rushed off the mound, pointing into the sky, an excited look in her eyes that she hadn’t had all night.

“JOE! POP UP!! POP UP!!” she screamed. Hodges, the ball in his sights, watched as it grew bigger, falling from the the night sky. He took a few steps into foul territory in front of third and gloved the ball.

Davis watched as the umpire signaled out and walked silently to the dugout,

Hodges raised his arms in triumph, but yelped with surprise as Jane joyfully jumped into his arms. The team started to surround them in celebration. Haynes, Hererra, Bob Elledge (blue jay) and the bullpen sprinted in from the outfield to join the impromptu dogpile by third base. Felicia and Tex joyously hugged one another on top of the dugout steps. Cameron was so giddy, he was giving Juanita Oliveras (wolf) a piggyback ride, and Jane was just looking to hug anyone after Joe, even the camera crew that came to record the festivities. Navy caps and batting gloves flew through the air and dropped to earth like confetti.

Half the stands were empty by the time the final out smacked into Hodges' glove. Several Pioneers players let out long sighs, several shaking their heads as they filed out to the locker rooms after silently watching the Swamp Foxes celebrate for a few moments. They gave the Charleston team their due but dreading the feeling of being roasted by the local radio jocks and newspaper columnists for the week to come.

After commemorative championship caps and t-shirts were doled out, a crew of FLB brass led by commissioner Buddy Sealig (seal) presented the Wild World Series trophy to manager Larry Howe. Iemochi Yamasaki was named Series MVP with two home runs and five RBIs, including his go-ahead single in Game 6 that gave the Swamp Foxes the lead for good.

The Swamp Foxes repeated as Wild World Series champions. What will 2013 hold for them and the FLB?

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 flb c  coyote42