FH Starts the 2009 Season Off Right

Fleishman-Hillard began the 2009 softball season in nail-biter fashion yesterday with an 11-10 win over league newcomer Hill & Knowlton. In a technological twist, the game was live-Tweeted for all the FH’ers still at the office diligently working on pressing client deadlines.

Our heroes took the field to an overcast and threatening sky, and immediately showed H&K they were ready to play with two runs in the first inning on a double by Silvio Marcacci and two runs in the second courtesy of triples by Craig Paridy and Mahesh Subramanian. Tensions ran high when the H&K bench erupted with a stream of trash talk directed at the FH fielders after two quick outs in the bottom of the second inning, and H&K’s batters responded to the inspiration with a four-run rally to tie the score at four runs apiece.

The Fleishman squad remained undaunted, however. At times appearing to hit and score at will, FH tacked on six total runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings with an onslaught of timely hits capped off by Coach Marcacci’s triple, a moon-shot off the left field fence by Jon Berke, and RBI hits by Molly Williams, Dave Whiting, Craig Paridy, and Luke Merkel.

Riding high on their offensive output, Fleishman quieted the H&K bats through the fifth inning. A mixture of quality pitching by Coach Marcacci and incredible fielding plays in the infield by Dave Whiting, Jon Berke, and Craig Paridy combined with the seemingly everywhere-at-once outfield coverage of Mahesh Subramanian and Jason Hellman to limit H&K down to only run scored. Smelling blood in the water, Stephanie Slobodian got into the action with merciless taunting of H&K batters from behind the plate. With daylight dimming, it appeared FH was guaranteed their first victory of the young season.

But H&K had something left in the tank, and FH soon learned they had definitely come out to play. The opposition bats erupted for five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, capped off by a three-run blast to deep right field. In mere minutes, H&K had tied the game up, a fact their bench made sure the FH fielders were aware of. Dave Whiting mercifully ended the inning with a running catch in short left field, and FH left the field tied, with only one inning left in the game.

The drama could not have been higher as the FH hitters grabbed their bats in the top of the seventh inning. Score a run, and they had a shot to win. Fail to score a run, and the best they could hope for would be a tie in the record books. With the hitting prowess that H&K had displayed minutes before, an opening day loss loomed menacingly.

Dave Whiting started things off with a ringing single, but an impressive fielding play on Jon Berke’s line drive to third base forced Dave out at second base. Molly Williams wasted no time with a line drive to right field, and Jon raced to third base. Victory was now only 60 feet away. Craig Paridy stepped up to bat and promptly knocked Jon in with the go-ahead run, showing the clutch hitting skills that allowed him to drive in the second-most runs for FH in 2008.

After H&K’s defense clamped down, FH took the field, determined to snatch a win from under their opposition’s noses. Even though their best hitters were up, FH set them down 1-2-3 with shutdown defense and just like that, the game was over. FH was 1-0, euphoric with their win, and ready to face whatever the league threw at them.

But, perennial arch-rivals Edelman loom menacingly on the schedule in week two action. Will FH prevail again? Stay tuned to find out.