As my regular readers may remember, about a month ago we had gone to a Mallards game where we were supposed to get reversible Star Wars bucket hats, but they didn't have them, so we got vouchers for another game. They said they would contact Travalon when the hats came in, but when it had been weeks and we hadn't heard anything, I said maybe he should call. He did, and the hats had long since come in, so he went over and picked them up. For some reason they gave him three, and they don't fit him. I took one, I gave one to Jilly Moose, and we have one more if anyone would like to claim it.
With all the bad news going on where it's sometimes feels like we're living in a poorly written movie, it was a relief to have such unmitigated joy tonight. This was the date we chose for our comp tickets, and I'm surprised they let us have seats right behind home plate on a night with fireworks and a drone show. I wore my reversible bucket hat for the occasion.
The Mallards were playing the Travers City Pit Spitters. This is the bus that brought the Pit Spitters all the way from Michigan.
When we walked in, people were handing out Mallards toothbrushes, so we each took one. For dinner we got a "boot" full of French fries, fried cheese curds, and chicken tenders - so healthy - and then we topped it off with an old-fashioned slushy. I was in a pretty good mood, but the Mallards weren't looking too good. The pitching was off, the fielding was off, and the Pit Spitters were the only ones scoring. Finally in about the fifth inning the Mallards got on the board, and people screamed so much you would have thought they had won the game.
We bought some 50/50 raffle tickets, which is a thing where half the money goes to a good cause and half goes to a stranger, but that stranger could be you. They had said the winning ticket number would be announced at the top of the sixth, but by the bottom of the seventh, we hadn't heard anything. I went to Fan Services, and the guy called someone else and said, "They're about to do the drawing." When they put the number on the Jumbotron, it wasn't even close to any of our tickets. At least they did Techno Chicken again, which made me laugh until I practically cried.
And then... in the bottom of the eighth, the Mallards inexplicably came alive and scored five runs, including a home run that got two guys in. Suddenly the score was 7-4 in the Mallards' favor, and all they had to do was get the next three guys out... then the next two guys out... then the next guy out... and the pitcher walked two guys. But the batter after him hit a pop-up fly ball that they easily caught. Game over! Mallards came from behind to win!! Boy, did that victory taste sweet! And the Pit Spitters are a good team this year, so it meant something. They were really good at stealing bases, that's for sure!
Here's a photo of the fireworks and drones.
The drones are on the right side of the photo, rising up from the ground. Here is a short video.
I didn't make one continuous video of the show; I kept meaning to enjoy it in real life but then would make a short video of every drone picture. I will try to string them together into a movie and put it on YouTube and then link it here. And Travalon took this video of Maverick the Bat Dog retrieving the bat.
Right after the game they let everyone onto the field, and the kids were running around the bases and having so much fun. Watching them be so happy made me feel happy too. There were also some great tunes playing as we waited for the fireworks and drones, so I was dancing around a bit as Travalon checked out the team store but didn't buy anything. We thought we could just watch the fireworks from our seats, but they were behind us, so we went to where we had a perfect view. What a delightful evening! And the weather was just perfect, not too hot and totally clear. I love baseball games! Now we want to see their new sister team, the Madison Nightmares Women's Softball team. We plan to go soon.
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