(Parce que deux c'est plus que un, cette année vous avez droit à deux articles sur le tournoi de la Force. On commence avec la petite Gazette de Reg)

Author’s note:  Please remember that all jesting, making fun of, exaggerations, distortions and untruths are purely intentional and should be taken in good humor. Seldom are names changed to protect the innocent.. are there any? Any additional comments, roastings and toastings, feel free to add on.

La Force – July 16 2024 The Gazette will be a new experience for just some of you. Most of you have endured previous editions and so far there have been no major lawsuits or stories of blackmail. So, here we go.

This edition is being produced from memory and with brain cells rapidly depleting, I hope that it will be fairly accurate. No doubt some hilites will be omitted, so feel free to comment or correct.

Just looking back to the first Gazette ever published.. we still have some familiar ‘originals’… Jen, Isa, Elena, Reg.

As usual, the logistics was well handled by the travel committee. there were 1423 emails and whatsapp and messenger communications flowing thru the ether to bring it all together. I understand that it was not so easy to come up with accommodations, but as it turned out, we had a terrific place to stay. The committee deserves a big thanks for their efforts.

So.. on Thursday morning the team was assembled and ready to go early in case we got stuck with the first game. We, in fact, were slotted into the second game so had lots of time to prepare.

The first game did not go so well. Our bats seemed to have been left in Paris and as a result we just could not come up with any runs and went down to defeat. So, we were 0-1 right off the bat.

The second game did not go much better and we lost it too. Our bats were still pretty silent so we put too few runs on the scoreboard. Not a good start for the tournament. 0-2 after day 1 of playing.

All day long it looked like some rain would come, but the rain gods were very accommodating and held off until the last pitch of the final game which was being umpired by our girls.

So.. off to check into our gite.. a cozy little abode with a bunch of rooms, a swimming pool and lots of garden toys out in the French countryside, but close enough to the croissant shop so that we did not go hungry in the morning. 

After that, it was back to the ball park for a few drinks, some food.. and of course to experience Nadia’s Queen performance which is now tradition at La Force after she has consumed several beer in the evening. Fans come from miles away just for that.. even as far away as Switzerland.

Meanwhile the rain gods had been lurking in the background awaiting to cast their fury upon the softball diamond… not one noted for having good drainage.. a few cups of water can make it unplayable.. but overnight it received at least a tanker truck of water on the infield. This in turn played some havoc with the tournament schedule.

Friday morning, Dulce was up bright and early landing a supply of croissants and some other goodies for breakfast. Did I detect that pain au chocolat is called something else in that region.

And, because of the rain, the schedule took on some major modifications dropping us to 1 game per day and no chance to fight our way into the top playoff round. 

We finally started to produce some runs. With a combination of some walks, errors and timely hits we won our game on Friday. We had good defense all round the field and pitching.. so that win lifted our spirits again and made us hungry of course.

The ducks of the region all flocked together for a big cheer when they heard we were not going into Bergerac to diminish the flock. The quacking could be heard from our gite.

However, there were some bovine which did not fare so well, as their ribs ended up on a BBQ under some expert supervision. It was quite interesting to see how the cooking area was prepared. First you have 10 cubic meters of vine cuttings which you light up and then keep adding until you have a bed of coals of .1 cubic meters.. then the cooking begins.

Just the fire lighting ceremony takes the time to consume several bottles of wine and habanera rum and a bunch of snacks.

In addition, as time goes on, the yard games appear and the activity helps to keep everybody relatively sober.

The most popular game seemed to be Mölkky, a Finnish game invented not so long ago. It is the perfect game to play after sundown as you do not have to really see what you are aiming at most of the time. I am not sure if any team actually scored the 50 points to win or not.

Then came the beef and trimmings and of course the 4 am drinking curfew to be met. I do not have a lot of details on that part of the evening as I retired from the party quite early.

Saturday… just one game..and a lot of pool time. Jenny and Laurie entertained from the pool by performing various acrobatic moves.. mostly with a score of 1.. so no Olympics for those girls without a lot more practice.

Roro seemed to come up with some interesting drink combos and kept everybody in tune.

We did play a ball game.. and won it.  Then, in the evening, we ordered in pizza rather than go to the field and find no food to be had. Once again, I skipped out on the party time at the field, but various videos indicate that a good time was had by all.

Our final game on Sunday for position 5 in the standings was kinda anti-climatic. We were expecting a more difficult time of it but as it turned out, we won quite easily. We did not exactly kill the ball, but just putting it into play turned out to be enough to have lots of base runners and then with a couple of timely solid hits, we scored lots of runs. The pitching also went well. Laurie had to throw for 2 innings against the first batter to finally get the out, but it was a good start for the game and Fred and Pouick completed the pitching duties to take the win.

That about covers the various events.. but some other items do come to mind as noted by my fading brain cells over the course of the tournament..

Overall our defense was very solid, very few errors and some nice plays by Jen at second. Seb and Isa pulled in some tricky fly balls. Isa is always such a steady [player.

Roro gobbled up everything coming his way and got himself on base consistently.  Muriel did not play a lot but managed well at the plate and in the field.

Pierre was steady and got some solid hits at the right time. He does need to get a bigger car in order to carry his cigarette making apparatus  and supplies…

Elena had the task of making up the lineups.. not easy.. trying to be fair and trying to win too. Been there, done that.. so know a bit about the mental anquish.

Elodie.. poor girl.. she had to experience one of Reg’s bouncy ball delivery innings.. lots of practice at blocking and no matter how I tried I could not bounce it past her.

We had one really great fan.. Meissane cheering loudly the entire weekend for the team.. and she hit a mean table tennis ball too.

Seb had a good weekend at the bat.. I think he would have won the batting title for us. Pouick and Fred struggled a bit with balls and strikes but got the outs once we got going.

Dulce, besides picking up croissants played well at whatever position Elana put her, including pitching.. in Mexico you can grow up with a softball as a toy.

Nadia, besides doing Queen renditions managed to provide some excitement on the base paths when the ump kinda slipped up on making a call. Worked out for us,

Mathieu was his steady self and doing whatever was needed to help the team.

No doubt I have missed out on various other hilites and plays made.. I guess that I should take a recording of events. So please excuse any omissions.

On my side, it was really nice to join you all.. and you looked after the old guy very nicely too. Would like to have contributed more to the pitching, but it was not meant to be. Next year I might have to do one inning with Elodie to get past the bouncy initiation. We’ll see.

Hope you enjoyed this little summary of La Force 24..

Take care all

Magic