EVENT: The Game Begins! (Pre-game through Inning 3)
After closing ceremonies, there was some scrambling and gnashing of teeth as people with tickets to the Lions game were separated from people without them. The group that was going was pushed towards the shuttle bus, which took off for the park as soon as everyone was safely in place. A representative of the online network stood, distributing tickets and going over the stadium rules once while the drive was in progress.
By the time everyone was filed out of the bus and through the stadium gate, though, they were free to enjoy the excitement in the air before the game without any interruptions by chaperones or pesky things like rule rundowns. There was time to find their friends and get excited - they were going to see a Lions game together, they should be excited.
Section 302 was, as promised in the seating emails, along the third base-line, just above the home dugout. It was an evening game, so the threat of sunburn was absent, leaving very little to counterract the appeal of the location: a common area for fouls and a good vantage point for the action of the game. The Dreamers, as both the email and the representative who'd gone over everything on the bus called the group of kids on the network, were left to find their seats, watch the grounds crew prepare the field for play, and watch members of the home and away teams trickle onto the field to stretch and warm up for the game. By the time the first pitch went out, everyone should've been in great condition - everyone who was happy with their seating partners, anyway.
The first two innings were quick, three up-three down on each side with strike-outs hitting the count around 3-2. There were a lot of balls thrown in the first inning while the teams felt each other out, but in the second Seibu's cleanup made contact three times, fouling the first two and popping it up to get caught on the third. In the third inning, the away team managed to get a base hit and to steal second, but the runner got antsy and lead too far toward third, and was called out after a close pick-off. The Lions got a runner on second with one out, but at the bottom of their batting order they couldn't do much. The pitcher made contact with the count at 1-2, but deft handling by the short-stop and a powerful arm on the first baseman made their possible scoring chance a double-play, instead.
By the time everyone was filed out of the bus and through the stadium gate, though, they were free to enjoy the excitement in the air before the game without any interruptions by chaperones or pesky things like rule rundowns. There was time to find their friends and get excited - they were going to see a Lions game together, they should be excited.
Section 302 was, as promised in the seating emails, along the third base-line, just above the home dugout. It was an evening game, so the threat of sunburn was absent, leaving very little to counterract the appeal of the location: a common area for fouls and a good vantage point for the action of the game. The Dreamers, as both the email and the representative who'd gone over everything on the bus called the group of kids on the network, were left to find their seats, watch the grounds crew prepare the field for play, and watch members of the home and away teams trickle onto the field to stretch and warm up for the game. By the time the first pitch went out, everyone should've been in great condition - everyone who was happy with their seating partners, anyway.
The first two innings were quick, three up-three down on each side with strike-outs hitting the count around 3-2. There were a lot of balls thrown in the first inning while the teams felt each other out, but in the second Seibu's cleanup made contact three times, fouling the first two and popping it up to get caught on the third. In the third inning, the away team managed to get a base hit and to steal second, but the runner got antsy and lead too far toward third, and was called out after a close pick-off. The Lions got a runner on second with one out, but at the bottom of their batting order they couldn't do much. The pitcher made contact with the count at 1-2, but deft handling by the short-stop and a powerful arm on the first baseman made their possible scoring chance a double-play, instead.