Spuds win! SPUUUUUUUUDS WIIIIINNN!!!

BALLARD (STN)—Yesterday's Seattle Parks & Rec softball game between the Smiling Potatoes of Death and the Little Frogs resulted in an occurrence as rare as a total solar eclipse: a win for the Spuds.

At the center of the action for the victorious taters was shortstop/OF Chris Eaton, who clubbed three hits from the leadoff spot. Finishing a homer short of a cycle, Eaton also scored three times and drove in one to propel the Spuds to their 7-5 triumph.

"I was seeing the ball well today, what can I tell you," Eaton said. "If my teammates hadn't gone down so fast in the 7th, I would have had the homer too. But they wilted like week-old celery when I was just six spots from coming up again. I mean, come on."

The Spuds got out to an early 1-0 lead in the first. Eaton tripled to lead things off, then C/2B Carly Eberts swung fiercely at a 2-2 pitch, knocking the ball perhaps two feet in front of home plate for a leg-single. OF/IF Mike Plaster followed with an RBI grounder. The team added a run in the second when team captain Stacey Starr singled and came around to score on a two-out hit by OF Greg "Floyd" Bjarko.

The Little Frogs fought back in the home second, with a first-batter home run into deep left-center field off starting pitcher Tim Harrison. "Home runs aren't hit, they're thrown," the southpaw said, "and that one was served right up on a platter." The longball was followed by a base hit, a fielder's choice groundout, another single, and a walk to load the bases. The Frogs plated the tying run on an RBI grounder before ending the frame on a strikeout.

But the tubers still had some mash in their bats. Harrison led off the third with a clean single the opposite way that stayed fair by a matter of inches, then one out later advanced to third on Eaton's double. After Kim Stevens went down on strikes, Plaster chopped one to the infield that was misplayed for an error, allowing both Harrison and Eaton to score and restore the Spuds' two-run lead.

That's where things stood until the sixth, when Harrison led off with a walk and was then safe on a fielder's-choice grounder by Kim Stevens when he slid into second base ahead of the throw. Eaton then singled to score Harrison and advance Stevens, and both runners moved up on KM Crawford's groundout. Plaster then plated Stevens with a ground ball that sent Eaton to third, and Starr capped the scoring off with a base hit to drive in Eaton with the Spuds' 7th run of the game.

The taters went down quietly in the top of the seventh, but were riding a 5-run lead. With Harrison back on the mound after two effective relief innings from Dan Stevens, victory seemed assured, but Harrison had quietly suffered an injury while scoring in the sixth. "I jammed my finger," he said. "I was running hard around third, knowing Chris' hit wasn't that deep, and when I came into the plate I was moving at a good clip. I jumped up against the backstop fence to stop my momentum and hit my left middle finger hard on the chain link."

Not thinking anything of it in the moment, the usually-capable lefty toed the rubber without problem initially; the leadoff batter popped out to Eberts at second base and the next grounded out harmlessly to first-basewoman Leah Schultheis. But according to Harrison, "that was just lucky. I couldn't get a proper grip on the ball with the pain in my finger, but they swung at junk." The next sequence didn't go so well, as Harrison walked the next batter on consecutive pitches, allowed a sharp single to the next Frog to bat, and then served up a mammoth three-run bomb that went nearly all the way to the fence abutting the adjoining field's first-base side.

While attempting to retrieve the home-run ball, LCF Bjarko tweaked a hamstring and had to come out of the game, and during the brief delay Harrison was approached by third-basewoman Starr, who asked if he could continue. After briefly considering turning things back over to Dan Stevens, Harrison told his co-captain he was fine, quietly hoping he had enough dexterity in his fingers to get one more out. It didn't look good initially, as the next Frog batter walked on four pitches to bring up the potential tying run. "I somehow found enough control," Harrison said of his work to the final batter, who struck out looking on a full-count pitch to the lower part of the strike zone. "It was a big relief."

"That was so smart," exuded OF Brian Tschider. "Walking that guy with two outs? Great strategy." When told the walk to the penultimate batter wasn't strategic but because of finger pain, Tschider wasn't buying it. "He said his finger hurt?! Oh, Tim's so full of shit. That was totally purposeful. Great move."

Defense also played a big role, with Starr and Eaton both catching hard liners in the infield and Dan Stevens making a highlight-reel catch while falling down in left-center field.

"I can't remember the last time we won a game," said Crawford, having blanked on the team's triumph of June 11, 2025, a 13-5 defeat of Bat's Amore. Eaton reminded her of that win, claiming that "I remember every one of our wins. Other teams, they don't know when they won or not, but with us, the wins are rare jewels that stand out in the bleakness of otherwise constant rubble. So, yeah, last June 11. Before that we beat Buckner that one time."

In addition to Eaton, three other Smiling Potato batters reached base each time up, Starr (2-for-3, reached on error), Bjarko (2-for-2), and Harrison (1-for-1, BB), and only three of the 13 batters failed to reach in some manner or other without forcing anyone out. "It was a real team game," Starr said. "Everyone did something."

The Spuds next take the field next Wednesday for a doubleheader, with one game against Bat's Amore before again taking on the Little Frogs at Ballard One. Harrison is scheduled as the starting pitcher, though he's currently listed as day-to-day with a grade-1 sprain in collateral ligaments of the left middle finger.