Dexter Daze is an annual community celebration where folks come from near and far to celebrate Dexter; past, present & future. With this for a backdrop, our beloved Union Base Ball Club of Dexter ballists invited their very good friends, the Wahoo Base Ball Club of Royal Oak, to join them for a day of fellowship and a gentlemanly match of vintage base ball. It had even more meaning when you consider that the Wahoo name was borrowed from a Dexter club that existed in 1865.
The day began with the event parade with both clubs walking side by side to the cheers of those who gathered. After the parade, they came together at Brian “Crawdad” Koval’s home where the ballists enjoyed stacks of stove lids, meats, fruits, breads and drinks. Before long they were mounting a caravan of carriages to the Union’s Pine Grove Holler field where the 2:00 PM was to take place.
The sun shared the sky with a bounty of clouds and light winds. The game time temperature was indicated on the frequent sweat being wiped from the ballist’s brows. After the club’s introductions and a coin flip to determine the club striking first, it was match underway! Our Union Ballists were first to
strike against the fielding Wahoos and tallied one before taking their positions in the field. The Wahoos let their presence and striking prowess be felt quickly as they strung together singles, a double and a triple sack for a round total tally of six!
Both clubs settled into their subsequent exchanges with a mix of fine striking and fine fielding. The men from Royal Oak keeping the men from Dexter from making it to first sack through superb catches and fine throws and the men from Dexter returning the favor with clutch toss outs of the Wahoo’s who
safely made their sacks. By the match’s seventh round the tally count was Wahoo’s 10 to Union’s 1. Dexter‘s eighth inning saw some hints of a rally with Sean ‘Dash’ Myint chopping a single sack, and making it to third sack on Donovan ‘Mad Dog’ Hill’s single and Tom ‘Tomahawk’ Coverts’ single to right field. Both Dash and Mad Dog were able to cross home plate adding 2 tallies to Union’s total before Brian ‘Crawdad’ Koval closed the clubs at-bat falling victim to 3 swing and misses. Unable to score any more tallies in the match’s eighth and ninth rounds, the Union invited the Wahoo’s to strike in their ninth at bat in order to prolong the day together just a few more moments even if the match’s winner had already been determined.
The onlookers who attended today’s match were treated to a fine day of fellowship, sportsmanship and fine match play between two of the finest ballists in the area. Hazzah!
Match observation submitted by Ward O. Mouth
www.unionbbc.com
The Union Base Ball Club of Dexter plays their home games at St. Joesph Catholic Church on the corner of Mast and N. Territorial
