The Season :
League Week One, May 1
Symantec Hackers 17-18 Dublin Bay
Packers
Our inaugural game. The Hackers were a new LSL team but with a good bit of experience. This game was actually played at our home ground as Symantec didn't have a home so we swapped fixtures. An exciting, enjoyable game was played with a very enjoyable outcome (for us) accompanied by promises of payback at the rematch (by them).
League Week Two, May 15
Gateway Sioux 14-46 Dublin Bay
Packers
Only our second game and our first rout. To be fair, Gateway were very disorganised. The final score could have been more extreme except that once the result became obvious, the plate umpire (Paul Byrne) decided to keep it interesting by 'encouraging' the Packers to swing at almost anything that was remotely hittable, expanding our strike zone to the limits of credibility. An confidence booster for certain.
League Week Three, May 22
Dublin Bay Packers 16-9 The Oddballs
Ah the Oddballs. An experienced team with some talent. By their own admission, definitely a recreational outfit. Some good individual performances by the Oddballs weren't enough to keep the team in it. An enjoyable game though and a team that we definitely looked forward to playing again.
League Week Four, May 29
Millionaires Club 18-15 Dublin
Bay Packers
I am not going to say much about this one. Ask any '96 Packer and you'll get the full story. Suffice to say that after a last minute change of venue by the home side, several female Millionaires who didn't know what the bat was for, and an early closing ground rule that wasn't mentioned until half way through what became the last (5th) innings, a tight game ended with some rancour.
League Week Five, June 12
Dublin Bay Packers 7-0 Quarterdeck.
Quarterdeck were a late entry team that never materialised. All games against them were awarded as walkovers.
League Week Six, June 19
Axekids 11-9 Dublin Bay Packers
Oh dear. 4 and 1 in the league. We'd played the Axekids in a friendly and beaten them comfortably. Cockiness struck. In a game we should have won if we'd put the effort in, we failed to close an early gap and lost.
League Week Seven, June 26
Dublin Bay Packers 13-23 Digital Dodgers
Another controversial game and we began to worry about attracting a reputation. Our starting pitcher was unavailable and despite her protestations, I put our experienced female player in to pitch. 10 runs later we decided it hadn't worked and we tried to change pitcher only to be told by the umpires that we had to wait till the next innings !! Finally with 20 runs on the board we got them out.
The remainder of the game saw us out score Digital 13 to 3 so we were rather miffed at the outrageous faux pas by the officials. An official complaint was lodged and the result was overturned. The rearranged match was never played and the points were split.
League Week Eight, July 3
Dublin Bay Packers 7-0 Symantec Hackers
The rematch of our opening game. By now the Hackers had a ground but on the night, not a team. With only 9 players, the umpire called a walkover. However as we were there, we lent them a player and played a close friendly, beating them by one run again.
League Week Nine, July 10
Dynamo Dodgers 15-14 Dublin Bay Packers
A nice evening and a very tight game on a good Phoenix Park pitch saw us blow a lead and give up what was otherwise an enjoyable outing.
League Week Ten, July 17
Dublin Bay Packers 8-22 Beachers
I was away for this one, but I'm told they murdered us (as the scoreline suggests). Now we had gone from playoff contenders to a rather concerned outfit.
League Week Eleven, July 24
Oracle Orbits 0-7 Dublin Bay Packers
Oracle couldn't field a team.
League Week Twelve, July 31
Quarterdeck 0-7 Dublin Bay Packers
The 'ghost' team again.
League Week Thirteen, August 14
Dublin Bay Packers 15-22 Axekids
Just to rub salt in the wounds, the Axekids came to our home ground and beat us well this time. This result made our play-off participation unlikely and at the whim of other results.
League Week Fourteen, August 21
Dublin Bay Packers 16-19 Fujitsu Olympians
To finally bury our play-off chances, we played what prior results would have rated as a weak team. It was a good game though, that went to extra innings .... nearly in the dark. An inspired batting performance and two fine last innings outfield catches in poor light by Fujitsu's Dave Nevin, won the game for them. We were so impressed that we brought him to Galway with us where, after some atrocious morning form, he finished the day with 2 homers and about 3 RBI against the 1st division Blazzers in the plate.
Hmmm., a breakeven first season. Not too bad on the whole but disappointing in light of
our excellent start. In retrospect, the problem was lack of practices. We started off the
season with an edge, but as the rest of the league improved we stood still.
