A summary of today’s 1st annual Easter Seals Softball tournament..

(White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen in hoodie/t-shirt, Governor Patrick Quinn is in blue dress shirt/black pants)

Hello to all,

The 1st Annual Easter Seals Softball Tournament was a success with a few bumps inbetween, and i’m ready to talk about them all.

We had three CVS/Caremark teams represent (One-Blue, Two-White & Three-Red) and we were the home run sponsor as announced by the CEO of Easter Seals in the Metropoltian Chicago area.

Our team (Caremark Three) were spectators at first, as we watched Caremark Two pull off a very nice 6-2 win in their opening round game against Century 21.

There was music going during the games that could be heard on all 3 fields, but it was the loudest on White Sox Park. Nice mix of old school stuff, although some songs were played as duplicates.

There was a delay between games due to two very special guests that both took the mic. One was Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn, and the other was Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen, who was accompanied by his starting pitcher Gavin Floyd, who has a very nice looking fiancee.

Quinn thanked a couple of kids that were standing alongside him, which was really nice. He also dubbed Ozzie Guillen as “the best manager in baseball”. While many people (myself included) may not like Ozzie’s antics, you have to respect the fact that the man won them a World Series. I am sure that magical ’05 run will be in his heart forever.

Quinn left right away to board a private plane to Champaign IL, where a house was being built for an Illinois soldier that recently lost both of his legs in Iraq. Guillen hung around for awhile & signed off on some raffle prizes in the VIP tent that was located in straightaway centerfield.

The first thing i noticed about the playing field (White Sox Park), was how small it was. There was a playground near the centerfield area, so any ball hit in that direction was in serious jeopardy of nailing one of the kids that were on the swings. (Luckily only one ball did, but during the HR derby…the kid was OK!)

After the ceremony, it was time to get it on!! We got an early run on offense & played some outstanding defense for the better part of six innings today in Game 1. I made a couple of key grabs at 2nd base with the tying run at 3rd base to keep the shutout alive, and added a double in my 2nd at-bat so that i can stay true to my “Doubles Machine” nickname. 🙂

We had a 1-0 shutout going until the FINAL OUT of the 7th inning. With a man on 1st base, Team Finley nailed a 2-run homer that gave themselves a 2-1 lead. We were able to hold them after that, which gave us a chance to either tie or win it.

We were able to tie it in the bottom of the inning, but i made a dumb baserunning mistake that could’ve gave us a shot to win it in regulation. I knew it right away as i slammed my hat down on the field in disgust, but my teammates were telling me to shake it off.

In extras, Team Finley got a run across which required us to score 2 runs to win it. We got the tying run in with nobody out & eventually scored the game-winning run to pull off a thrilling 4-3 victory.

In Game 2, we played on a lesser attractive field & wound up losing 12-5 to the All-Stars, who wound up beating Caremark One to win the championship.

We battled for awhile after trailing 4-0 & 7-2, but the All-Stars took full advantage of the “ground rule double” that was in effect for outfield fly balls that hit the bushes. While i didn’t reach base in Game 2, i did hit a deep outfield flyout to center and just missed hitting a ground rule double into the bushes out in left field.

To top it off, our team captain Greg put on a show in the final round of the Home Run Derby & wound up winning it. I was telling him before our 1st game that he could easily reach the hill out in left field with his power, which he did several times during the derby. Greg won a trophy and a nice mural of U.S. Cellular Field as prizes.

To sum up the 1st Annual Easter Seals Softball Tournament, it was a very fun experience (with a few kinks from the officiating crew) that i would definitely do again for next summer. I just may have to borrow Dawn’s Budweiser bat as several of my teammates liked swinging with it, myself included. 🙂