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Turkey's Retain President's Cup in Jakarta

By 12 Little Turkeys, 05/07/09, 10:23PM HKT

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Thursday

A little pretourney debate surfaced as the Turks received the option of playing a short River Rats squad at 9am Friday or a full squad at 13:30 on Friday to get things started.  The near consensus decided to socialize a bit more on Thursday evening then step it up against the full River Rats squad on Friday.  Without hesitation, I would say that was the last good decision Coach Lau made on Thursday evening.  Shortly thereafter he led the brigade to clean out flight CX776 of Black Label, Gold Label and made a healthy dent in the Chivas while being cut off by 4 different flight attendants.  When ordering six doubles at a time for “my friends”, I guess it does go a bit quickly.    

 

After thanking the head attendant and the flight staff for the safe arrival and their overflowing support of his fondness for whiskey, Coach Lau nearly fell out of the plane as he passed along his business card.  No sir, the drinking didn’t stop after exiting the plane for our Chairman.  The anti-Einstein decided it would be in our best interest to crack open his duty free fifth of black label and improve the camaraderie of Hong Kong softball’s 3 visiting teams.  No, passing on a swallow wasn’t one of the options Wayno offered up either.  “Lance… ok.  Callo… ok.  Sherwood… ok.  McElroy… ok.  Unertl… ok.  You’re from HK… ok.”  Immigration viewed the behavior of Coach Lau a bit differently, and after a little one on one session with his new found Indonesia friend, Wayno was on his way to paradise, Hotel Atlet. 

       

The rest of the Turks attempted to catch up to Wayne for the next 6 hours but the strict 4am Turkey curfew didn’t allow enough time to reach the Chairman’s post euphoric state.

 

Friday

13:30 Turkey vs. Rats.  Albeit a bit of an early start for the Turks, we managed to field a fairly coherent team.  We began to set the tone defensively by kicking the ball around a bit in the early innings, but the sticks woke up with Hasbun lining ropes, Boyd beginning his march to the All Tournament Team with his stick, and Harrison stabilizing his vision with his catches in the field.  Turks 1-0 and sobering up.

 

17:30 Turkeys vs. Fattboyz Guzzlers.  After a bit of a post game strategy session at the pool, and the arrival of the 11th Turkey, T-Mac, we proceeded to basically not change a thing.  We kicked the ball around, hit some ropes, but ended up leaving a flock of Turkeys on the bases and came up short.  TO continued to heat up his bat, while Elk sat this one out to take care of a stomach flu contracted at Stadium in the wee hours of the morning.  This appeared to be a milder strain of flu than what Wayne contracted 12 hours earlier.  Turks 1-1, sober and ready to open a can of whoop ass on anyone that looked at us crooked.

 

20:30 Turkeys vs. AP Beerhunters.  The Beerhunters were primarily Gweilos working at the US embassy, and the Turks, of course, appreciate all that our compatriots do for us.  But softball is softball and the Beerhunters didn’t exactly get any home cooking from the Turks as Matt Terranova took to the mound to make his tourney pitching debut.  2 pitches, 1K, 6 pitches one inning.  The outfield of Tmac, Elk, Vzal and EH began showing signs of the traditional turkey D as that gaps closed quickly, the dinkers found leather and the arms found the cut.  The infield on the other hand was still trying to loosen up the arms as Boyd, Ford and Playboy all found some Beerhunter skin on lasers to first.  The turkey chemistry was solidifying and the most lopsided game of the tourney ended about an hour later with a 12-1 Turkey thrashing of the Beerhunters.  Turks 2-1, Swarmas in the belly, and ready to celebrate.  TO 1-0, 1.00 ERA and openly stating this is “my town” as he mowed down the Beerhunters from the mound and laced 100 feet singles up the middle.

 

Saturday

11:00 Turkeys vs. Santa Fe.  If 13:30 is early, this start time is complete nonsense for a well lubricated turkey squad.  The 10:50 roll call totaled 10 Turks, with new arrival, Jason Stein, in the house.  Tmac floated in with 5 minutes to spare, but no Vince.  No problem, we’ll saddle up short and put a thumping on these local dudes that were dwarfed by the pipes on Elk and Dirty.  6 painful innings later, as the Turks watched meatball after meatball come in from their 50 something Santa Fe pitcher, we were done.  4 to 5 o-fers, errors around the horn and an embarrassing 7-0 defeat.  Congrats to TO for collecting half the team hits with this 3-3 performance.  Turks 2-2.  We finished as the 3 seed in the round robin.  That left the Turks in a position to defend their ’08 President Cup title.  A 2nd round robin with the Beerhunters and the Gas stood between the Turks and a date in the finals on Sunday.

 

17:00 Turkeys vs. AP Beerhunters.  After commiserating over opportunity lost while pool side, catching some rays and tossing back Bintang, the warm-ups begin precisely at 16:55 and would you believe, we had our first full squad of the tourney with 12 turkeys showing up tanned and looking damn good!!!  One of the ongoing coaching debates of the tourney was who to put between VZal at 3 and Boyd at 5.  Foley took a turn, Hasbun took a turn.  Now it was time for the hottest bat in the tourney, Mr. Jakarta, Matt Terranova, to slide into this slot.  The Turks teased the Beerhunters in a bit of a back and forth game that ended with a Turkey 13-12 victory.  No sweating on the sidelines between innings or between the lines on D, just enough to get us by and keep us well rested for the most anticipated game of the weekend.  The 3-2 Turks vs the Gas.  How can you not be in??  12 Swarmas, a couple celebratory brews and a bit of RR and it will be go time. 

 

 

21:00 Turkeys vs. GHG.  It is factually correct that the Turks haven’t lost under the Jakarta lights.  Prebo wouldn’t let it happen 8 years ago.  The 12 man crew from ’08 started their march to the President’s Cup under the lights against Block Mod on Friday last year.  Yesterday we closed down the Beerhunters after hours, and our friends from King’s Park had agreed to pass on the Sunday 8am start time and play the Turks under the lights. 

 

First batter, Heck sharp grounder to Hasbun, E4.  3 more errors later, and the Turks were staring at a 7 run deficit without smelling the batter’s box.  After one inning 6 Turks still had not said hello to Mr. Plestad behind the plate.  7-0 and although not rattled, the Turks were in a world of %$#@.  Second inning, another Turkey error, but a little life in the bats, 8-1.  Whew Hew!!  We’re on the board.  Third Inning, the Gas kept hitting lasers around the field and went up 12-2.  The beat down continued, but at least all the turkeys had now had a look at the young gun McElroy on the mound.  The score stayed the same thru 4.  After The Gas stretched the lead in the top of the 5th to 13-2, there was a brief look around the Turkey dugout, and without saying a word, the Turks put any thoughts of winning the game with one swing to rest and subconsciously came to consensus.... swallow the pride, take pitches, swing at strikes, go small ball…and crack open some Bintang.  3 outs later the lead had been cut to 13-8 with a combination of singles, doubles and walks as we circled the order.  The game had become respectable, but as we all know from the mantle of hardware, Turks come to close.  Of course, the Gas were aiming at the same target, so there was plenty more work to do.  Between the 3 runs that the Gas threw up and the umps calling the 6th the last inning due to time, the wind could have easily come out of the sails.  An amped up Boyd stepped up to lead off the inning and proceeded to walk his svelte frame back to the dugout within seconds, out #1 in the books.  Thanks for the team ball Boyd!!  Ford single up the middle, followed by Terranova, Lau, and Unertl, and the hit parade was on with the Turks down by 6.  McElroy got leather on a one hopper up the middle from foley.  Two down, the Gas were tasting our President Cup trophy.  Harrison, Hasbun, Zaleski, Elko all hit safely as the Turkey uprising with the sticks pressed forward.  1st and 3rd, with Boyd, the winning run, in the box.  Big Country, two outs in one inning?  Not tonight, not with a Turkey uni on his back.  Booo Yaaahhh!!!  There it went, a bomb to LC that landed about 270 feet from home off the glove of Spider Monkey.  The bases cleared and Boyd, running at less than full speed, stood at 2nd.  After passing the breathalyzer and checking the wheels, TMac high fived Boyd and took his place on second.  Ford hit a single off McElroy’s glove.  1st and 3rd with Mr. Jakarta, Matt Terranova, at the plate.  He’s 3-3 and was easily the Turkey MVP of the tourney thus far.  TO hit a 2 hopper deep in the hole to Callo...  It was just deep enough for Dirty to make it to 2nd and for TO to touch first.  TMac came home and the Turkeys won!!!  A date with Tilac for the championship was next.

 

 

Sunday

      With the 3pm flight schedule, it was checkout time for many of the turkeys Sunday morning and just as EH had proven an inspiration to himself and other Turks on the field, he maintained course at the front desk…  IDR1,000,000 for a new duvet!!  Yup, the wisdom of EH’s roommate, Coach Lau, had been wearing off on him.  6 hours before, that duvet was the perfect table cloth for a sloppy late night snack of Nasi Goreng.  "Are you kidding me??  Are you %$#^ing kidding me??  Get me the manager??  Do you speak English??  Do you know who I am??"  It only got worse from there during the next 30 minute, predominately one sided, conversation.  Although not the negotiation tactic many of us would have chosen, as game time approached, the price of a new duvet at the Hotel Atlet cost a much more reasonable IRD500,000.  With Wayno on the front side and EH on the back side, the hotel staff took a little extra time for their daily prayer to thank the softball gods for limiting tourneys in Jakarta to once a year.

 

11:00 Turkeys vs. Tilac.  Seriously these early games are total crap!!  Last year Tilac finished 3rd in the Super Bracket, but were pinched out this year with an upset victory by Block Mod in the round robin play.  After Tilac fought past the Hog brethren earlier in the morning, it was showtime.  Bangkok vs Hong Kong.  Turkey vs. Tilac.  The land of smiles vs the concrete jungle.  Wayno tossed a 4 batter first and the gloves were on.  Turkey D is back.  Bottom of the first… POW!!  1st turkey swing, 1st turkey run.  That just happened!!  Harrison dropped the ball 260 feet on the other side of the 30 foot net.  3 outs later, the Turks had 3 in and a lead on Tilac.  The disappearing defense returned in the 2nd as a combination of hits and errors put Tilac up 4-3 and the Turks were once again looking up at the score board.  Bottom of the 2nd, E “who’s your mf daddy” H put 11 other Turks on his back with one swing, another HR, this time a 3 run bomb.  2 more runs followed as Hasbun, VZal, Elk and Boyd hit ropes, and the Turks took an 8-4 lead.  Although the bats were fairly quiet the rest of the way, the leather was plain old school, no nonsense, in your face, Turkey D.  Dirty tossed an 80mph laser from the hole at short to first.  Boyd played in the dirt.  Harrison stabilized the vision while fighting gravity.  And the rest of us just squeezed anything that came close and made the routine throws to get a force or hit the cut.  After seven innings, the Turkeys were repeat champions and 14-4 victors over Tilac.  For Elk, at the end he had made bitter sweet amends for last year’s game against Tilac with a robust 4-4 effort from the four spot and perfect D in right.

 

Just 47 hours following the first pitch against the River Rats, the Turkeys had beaten teams from Jakarta, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore.  Along the way they left their mark on the Jakarta nightlife and fought with their leather for most of the day.

As the final preparations for the awards ceremony were made, Foley, Harrison, Hasbun, Stein and Boyd enjoyed a couple celebratory brews while wondering if any of the Turks would take home a little extra hardware of their own… Harrison was money with the leather and had two dongs in the championship game.  TO, VZal, Hasbun and Boyd found holes whenever they stepped to the plate.  Yep, with the exception of the Santa Fe game, the score book would have been a nice souvenir.

President’s Cup MVP – Beerhunters top hitter.  President’s Cup Gold Glove – Tilac shortstop.  All Tournament team President’s Cup… Big Country “with a .615 batting average and .850 slugging percentage”.  The remaining Turks just looked at each other in a bit of disbelief.  Boyd had finally gotten love on the field at a Tourney.  In Jkt ’07, the gold glove somehow slipped away.  That was a shocker!!  In Manila ’08, fellow Turk, Mike McIntyre, trumped Chad’s 3 bombs and a 700 average, by getting a single or walk on every at bat for 3 days with the exception of one at bat Sunday.  That’s a .900+ batting average.  No one can disagree with that, but wholly Toledo Chad made one helluva bridesmaid.  Jakarta ’09, Big Country stood side by side with twitch, the silver slugger, “stay glassy San Diego”, the 314lb bomber, and the best of the best of the best at the best tournament in Asia.

 

Congratulations Big Country and the Jakarta ’09 Turks, the repeat President’s Cup Champions!!