This brings me neatly into what I intend to be a tribute to Waverley's LIFE MEMBERS who continue to be massive contributors to our club. Maybe foremost on this occasion is our committeeman and facilities manager TONY PAGE who must have done a mighty job to get our home diamond up and ready to play the day following this incredible deluge. It didn't look promising at all when I left the club late on Saturday, but you would hardly notice any hint of problems by game time on Sunday. Here I must apologise to any others who may have assisted Tony... fantastic job!

And, in no particular order of importance, I will now mention other LIFE MEMBERS who were involved at the club over the weekend. I'll start with current assistant coach and playing great DAVID CLARKSON who flew back from Adelaide after being inducted into the Australian Baseball HALL-OF-FAME at their dinner on Saturday night... Congratulations 'Clarko'! He was joined by his marvellous mother MEG CLARKSON who also came down to the club after flying home but she was unusually unavailable to score for our Firsts game as she has done for so many decades. Watching over all of us from his photograph next to the bar was the beaming face of DOUG CLARKSON.

Deputising as scorer for the Firsts was our tireless Secretary ROBYN KARLSEN who had also scored for the Seconds the previous day... what a marvel she is! Club President ROSS NIELSON was doing the hard yards serving behind the bar as he so often does these days. He was enjoying the flow of cool air enabled by 'Super Sparky' BRAD ORWIN who has started installing our long-awaited air conditioning systems in the clubroom... Thanks mate! Omnipresent KEITH SHELDON-COLLINS was, as usual, manning the microphone as our professional ground announcer, while his son MATTHEW SHELDON-COLLINS has a couple of vital coaching roles with the club.

The "phantom" BRIAN HILL no doubt marked the senior diamonds before anyone else arrived over the weekend and he is still awaiting his pay rise. 'Fabulous PHIL' DALE is our current senior head coach. DAVID WARREN, GEOFF PAICE and WALLY WALDREN were in attendance at the game, while ROD PATON and BARRY KOSKI would usually be there if they can... and GARY McGRADY still comes to games. This is a fair representation of our club LIFE MEMBERS, with apologies to any I should have mentioned. No wonder the 'Waverley Nation' remains in such a healthy state.

Unfortunately this positive opening to our game report this week has only allowed me to stall the slightly negative news that our Wildcats team suffered its fourth defeat from our past eight games in a period of relative struggles that we have rarely experienced over recent seasons. All of a sudden our vice-like grip on top position is in jeopardy unless we can win our last game at Sandringham next Saturday afternoon. Hats off to the sturdy Essendon team who came to Napier Park and who kept alive their claims for top position with a 4-2 road win over our boys.

Special credit must go to Essendon's starting pitcher Dean McIntyre who pretty much shackled our offence with a superb complete game victory. Dean is the son of an old (sorry pal) workmate of mine Leigh McIntyre, who was a fine baseballer himself and one of the really nice guys you will find in Victorian baseball circles. That said, we did out-hit the Bombers 10-8... unfortunately this is no big deal if you don't get timely hitting and you don't apply pressure via rallies at any time.

Our Wildcats' pitching could hardly be blamed for our demise, particularly when you recognise the fact that only one of Essendon's runs was earned as our re-jigged defence coughed up a very uncharacteristic three errors versus our visitor's rock-solid none! As often, the ball seemed to find Waverley players fielding in unfamiliar positions and we paid a high price on this occasion. Even the one earned run allowed by our gallant starter Adam Blackley may not have scored if not for a fairly routine infield error, yet he will realise that it did ensue from a fatal leadoff walk.

In the absence of regular starter Donnie Hendricks, who was on family wedding duties, Blackley was good enough, even if he has been more impressive on other occasions. Typically, he supplied a quality start and you can ask for no more than an opportunity to win which he provided. Brett Flemming was solid for two innings and he was desperately unfortunate that a two out error was to cost him two unearned runs when the game slipped away in the seventh. 'Lights Out Lee' Hogan applied the clamps on the Bombers at the end of the game and he very nearly grabbed a win.

Our magnificent catcher Grant 'Kannon' Karlsen was, as often, the man for the big occasion with his stand-out 3-4 that included a "big fly" over centre-left that breathed life into a stagnant offence to lead off the ninth. Suddenly, the Waverley giant seemed to waken just when it was almost too late. Glenn 'Ferret' Mascoll punched his second hit, a double, for the game with one out to boost the pulse rate and, when Scotty Wearne followed by milking a walk, we had the tying run at the plate.

Who better to have arriving in the batters box with two on and two out than the focussed Andrew 'Rusty' Russell who, ominously, had been subdued throughout the game. In a moment of mild controversy Russell hammered a deep line drive into right-centre field that sent the Essendon outfielder scurrying back to the fence. It was hard to judge where the ball was headed, but fans in the clubhouse were surprised to see it deflect from the outfielder's glove. Two more runs scored then, with the home dugout urging him on, 'Rusty' turned on the after-burners to slide a hand across the plate for a stunning inside-the-park home run and, more importantly, the tying run.

Few in the clubroom could understand the histrionics that followed or, when the dust settled, why Russell had seen his heroics reduced to a ground-rule double. Fans along the right field line later agreed that the ball had struck an overhanging tree on its way to deflecting towards the outfielder. Nobody could be quite certain whether the ball was definitely going to be caught, whether it might have hit the fence on the full or whether it might have been a home run? Whatever, nobody in the 'Waverley Nation' seemed to have much protest and I'm not going to start one here! Maybe the major point of contention here is in the ruling, because we know that when a hit baseball strikes any part of an enclosed roof and falls into fair territory in the US big leagues you must "play it out"... that's baseball I guess... it's just another intriguing part of the game we love!

It does not quash the fact that Essendon and Dean McIntyre were worthy of their victory and that we will need to be sharper in future contests which surely loom against the Bombers. And, we will need to bring everything we have to take on the Royals at Sandringham this coming Saturday at 2:00pm for our last game of the regular season. You won't need me to tell you how tough we have found the Sandy club to beat this season!