By Aaron Short
The Pony Boys are back in the saddle.
After a sluggish start, last year’s Brooklyn Kickball finalists collected three wins on Memorial Day weekend and raising their record above .500 for the first time this season.
The Boys sobered up Booze on First, 7-5, and anointed the Divine Sisterhood, 10-2, while also picking up a win when the no-show Kickey Mouse Club forfeited on Sunday.
Boys co-captain Jason Finkel said his team was “hovering” through the first few weeks of the season because he lacked horses — star shortstop “Iron” Matt Tyson and outfielder Perri “Pip Piri Pembo” Lawrence both missed games for weddings, and Finkel himself missed the first weekend of play.
“People who have been playing for years ease into the season while people who never played before win or steal a couple of games against veteran teams,” said Finkel. “Halfway through the season, the new teams think they’re hot s— and then they get their a— kicked. You know what I f–ing, you m—f—ker! T— and d— to everyone of you g—s.”
The Boys weren’t the only veteran team to restore some order to a muddled kickball season.
The plaid-clad New Frontiersmen continued to navigate their difficult schedule with a 5-1 win over the Pirates before hurting last year’s champs, the John Cougar Mellencamps, 3-2, in the game of the week.
Frontiersman captain Mike “Robert” Altman, who kicked a two-run triple that gave his team the lead in the third inning, credited the suffocating defense from right fielder Jelmer “Fudd” Steenhuis, second baseman Matt “Marquis de” Sadewitz and third baseman Josh “Special Assistant” Moody.
“We’re good friends with the Mellencamps, but we’re happy to beat them,” said Altman. “Our team can beat pretty much any time as long as we’re solid on defense and offense.”
Mellencamp infielder Kristen “All Butter” Baker, whose team unclothed Baywatch for a 1-1 split, blamed herself for a lack of focus on the field.
“I was there only in body,” said Baker, who possesses a sublime one. “I lost my mind on the kickball field that day.”
But People’s Court, one of the league’s longest-running teams, dismissed challenges from Drinkers with a Kicking Problem, 3-1, and Aggression Regression, 8-5, thanks to aggressive base-running and selective hitting from a rookie free agent. They are now 5-2.
“Our team’s effort was 110 percent,” said Court captain Jeremy “Medicinal” Medanich. “Everyone was there, everyone had a great attitude and we celebrated afterward.”
In other games, Brooklyn United stomped on Saved by the Balls by a 10-run mercy rule in the fifth inning — but Saved turned around and stripped Baywatch by two runs.
Brooklyn Kickball at Gilroy Field in McCarren Park (Bedford Avenue at N. 13th Street in Greenpoint), Sundays, 5–11 pm.
