How the West was One
January 31st 1860
As the story goes....It started out as a dismal day for the club nine of Bisbee. Weather was upon them as they left Bisbee by Wagontrain. The skys were dark and heavy as they pulled out of Bisbee with Tucson in thier sights. There they would transfer to Railhead in to Phoenix. After a bite of lunch and the transfer complete, Bisbee headed on . Somewhere about Ajo, the Locomotive out ran the storm. With the storm behind them and good skys in Phoenix, the games were sure to be on.
Phoenix, on the other hand, had just taken on two days of rain. The conditions weren't good yesterday as the Bees rolled in, as they brought the rains of Bisbee with them. There was percipitation late in to the evening. Chances of match play lessened with every raindrop. Somewhere around midnight the sky quit dripping and the ground began to drink up the moisture.
At daybreak, Ol' Moonshine made his way down to the Playing grounds. The fog was raising off the Alfalfa as the sun started to make it's way in to the morning sky. The sky was still a bit dark, but the clouds were raising and the breaks were starting to form. The field was in great shape! It was wet, yet packed and the garden,though heavy in dew, was lively as well. Word got to Bees at breakfast that the matches would indeed be played today.
Moonshine eyeballed in some fresh Lime on the infield and set up the hurlers box. Just as the last bit of chalk was laid the Ballists started arriving at the lot. The Field was soon bustling with the guys stretching and warming up for the double header contest Between the Glendale Gophers and the Bisbee Bees. The Captains met at the dish for the coin toss as the Cranks filled the stands and the players tossed the pill. Bees won the coin toss and opted to begin the match as the Outs Club, Gophers to bat first.
In the first match of the day, the Gophers willows were live as they swatted in 21 aces to the Bees 9 aces. Glendale was spotting the pill in all the open areas and took advantage of the cold blooded Bees. Not much more could be said for the match. The Gophers put forth a solid defensive performance while hitting the pill in the gaps to force the ace.
The second match got interesting real quick as the Bees started off by pushing two tallys across the dish to start the first inning. The Gophers poked the Bees nest enough in the first match to upset the hive and the Bees shut the Gophers out in the first. Inning by inning the tally see sawed back and forth. The Bees pushed an ace around in the seventh inning to tie the match at eight aces each. Again the Bees came back with an outstanding defensive effort to stop the Gophers in thier tracks, forcing extra innings. In the eighth inning, The Bees mounted an attack but were thwarted in the end to no aces tallied. The match came to an end as the Gophers struck thier first two batters to push across the final ace. Gophers win nine aces to eight.
HUZZAH!
