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Captain-less Team Walker shelled by Team Smacker in Opener 
Team Smacker 10
Team Walker 2
 by Turd Ferguson
With the first game of the AWBL season comes opening day jitters, and it was quite evident that there were some floating around during this game. Team Walker, short of their captain and former MVP, could not get their bats going as they fell to Team Smacker 10-2 in a game that was never close. 
Team Smacker jumped on Team Walker early as Marc Lantz started the season with a double to left field over the head of Stu White. The double started a four run rally capped by Lantz scoring his second run of the inning off a single by Kyle Means. The inning was finally ended when Team Walker ace Joey Troupe struck out Heath Ellenberger to retire the side. 

Team Walker ace Joey Troupe sends his push pitch towards Heath Ellenberger with Mike Pride of Team Barilar hiding in the trees.

Kyle Means pitched very effeciently and retired the side in five pitches with no threat in the bottom of the first. Team Smacker scored one run in the top of the second when Marc Lantz drove in Kayla McGee on his third consecutive double of the game. Joey Troupe finally put Team Walker on the board in the bottom of the second with a solo homerun.
In the top of the third Lantz hit his first homerun of the year as Team Smacker continued to pound Troupe and Team Walker extending their lead to four runs. After a scoreless bottom of the third for Team Walker, Lantz scored another run in the top of the fourth after reaching base on an error by Dustin Davis. After another scoreless inning for Team Walker in the bottom of the fourth, Kyle Means hit a two-run homerun driving in Lantz in the top of the fifth to make the score 9-1. 

Both teams failed to score in the sixth inning. Lantz added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when he hit his second homerun of the year off of Troupe to make the lead 10-1. Rookie Andy Snyder lead off the bottom of the seventh with a solo homerun, the first of his career. The rally was short-lived though, as a Walker single was followed by two consecutive ground-outs by Troupe and Stu White to complete the game and earn Team Smacker their first victory of the season. 

Means pitched a complete game allowing only two runs on six hits to what was thought to be an offensively strong team. Lantz batted eight for eight with two homeruns for a perfect first game at the plate. Heath Ellenberger struggled at the plate finishing 0 for 7 with three strikeouts. Dustin Davis made his first appearance in the AWBL with two singles in 5 at bats, and Stu White, who looked dominant in 2002, finished the first game of the season 0 for 5 with four groundouts.
 Box Score
T Smack AB R H RBI BB SO LOB
Lantz 8 6 8 3 0 0 0
Means 8 2 6 6 0 0 0
Ellenberger 7 0 0 0 0 3 3
McGee 7 2 2 1 0 0 0
T Walker AB R H RBI BB SO LOB
Snyder 5 1 2 1 0 0 0
Davis 5 0 2 0 0 0 0
Troupe 5 1 2 1 0 0 2
White 5 0 0 0 0 0 2

Turd Ferguson is a regular contributor to AWBL2K3.