and the Sand Gnats swarm the field!

Yeah, I wish I could lay claim to that line!
But I must give credit where credit is due. My ex coined that phrase when he was the announcer for the Savannah Sand Gnats. Somewhere in that computer, him saying that line may very well still exist.
That would be cool!
Tonight was the first home game! What a night it has been, too!
Bill had the ticket for the game, but no worries! Lauri and Lynn had a box seat with them for me! I never did catch the reason, but that's okay. We all had fun and Bill joined us when he arrived.

While I was waiting for the Englers,
I danced to the ragtime tunes of the Savannah Stompers.
Seriously!
"Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?"
"My Blue Heaven"
"Ain't She Sweet?"
Such fun!

We all moved into the stadium,
they to locate the seats,
me to find Mister Willie.
A few opening game announcements...
then the confetti was loosed!
Blue and red and silver, oh my!
Twinkling down, raining among the red and blue streamers draped on the rafters!

With the boys of summer,
both Sand Gnats and Riverdogs,
on the baselines by their dugouts,
the military band regaled us with
"The Star-Spangled Banner"
with the color guard proudly
flashing the red, white, and blue for us!

Then, literally, the
Sand Gnats swarmed the field!!!

Woohoo!!!

They held the Riverdogs
scoreless for that first inning!

Even better!

Meanwhile, up in the stands,
"situation normal."
Mister Willie Smith, Jr.,
was getting interviewed
by the local FOX station.
(Remind me to find that video,
please.
Thanks!)

Here's Jack!
He had back surgery
late in the season last year,
so it's been a while
since I've seen him.
67 and still smiling Jack!
(Willie only has him beat by ten years.)

Soon enough, the 3rd out had been struck for the Riverdogs.
Bruce, longtime Riverdog fan now working for the Gnats (!!!), had arrived to keep Willie company during the game.
Off I went to sit in F 3, seat 18, with "the ones that brung me."
(smile)

Just in time, too!
John Mora had managed to steal his way from first to second!
Then he stole third, too!!!
Wow!
When Jon Leroux made his hit,
Mora gave us our first run!
Yeah!!!

The next man up was Stefan Sabul.
Home run!!!
Woohoo!!!
He and Leroux dance across home plate -
figuratively only -
to bring our tally to three runs.
Fabulous first inning!

The next couple of innings are a blur.
Truly!
I was catching up with the Englers and, admittedly, was not focusing on the game at hand.
Oops! That's okay, I knew I could catch the play-by-play here.
Plus, any major plays would be caught -
we were two rows behind home plate!

Sure enough,
our first at-bat in the 4th
scores a home run
over left field!
Great hit, Pedro Perez!!!
Woohoo!
The Gnats are on fire!!!

Here's me and Bill Peterson,
living large,
in the boxes!
(I was trying
to snap one of
him with his beer,
for his brother,
but I really like this.
So does he!)

Here's Willie,
giving a rallying cry to the boys!
Why, you ask?
We had just had the 7th inning stretch.
The boys must have stretched, too!
John Leroux was again on base when a ball sailed over the left field wall, this time from the bat of Wuilmer Becerra.
Woohoo!!!
Marvelous, simply marvelous!

Middle of the 8th!
Time for some "Sweet Caroline"!
Lauri and Lynn do their foam finger thing
while Gnate mimes the song.
Neil Diamond would love it!
I just know he would!

End of the game!!!
Final score:
Sand Gnats, victorious, with 8 runs.
Riverdogs, losing, with only 3 runs.
Woohoo!
Time for the fireworks
before calling it a night...
What a great success,
in every way!