The greatest win in the history of slowpitch softball?
Maybe a slight exaggeration.
But slowpitch softball doesn't have that signature win, like hockey's Miracle on Ice or a defining upset, like Buster Douglas stunning Mike Tyson in the world of boxing.
So one week ago when Nola's Lounge/Pabst Blue Ribbon earned its first win in more than a year, the tremors could be felt throughout the sports world.
Generally, slowpitch softball is defined by old men suffering groin pulls, not achieving milestone victories.
For the most part this team is no different.
The squad is made up mostly of artists, jesters and reprobates - along with one newspaper sports editor who probably fits into at least a couple of those categories.
We specialize in goofing around and having fun, but until recently, not winning softball games.
Last year in our first season together, we won four games - all by forfeit.
But as the new spring blossomed, so did our hopes for earning at least one honest win this season.
After our first doubleheader of the season, it appeared as those hopes may go unfullfilled, as we were soundly beaten in both games.
The same was true for our third game, as we were spanked by 10 runs.
The fourth game started out just like most had - with our team trailing in the early going.
In fact, we had accomplished a nearly impossible task in slowpitch softball - we didn't score a run for the first five innings.
But trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth, I tried to evoke an age-old tradition - waking up the bats.
I booted them and rattled them around, yelling "Wake up, wake up, stop sleeping on the job," with some colorful PG-13 (and maybe just a few R-rated) adjectives mixed in.
It was a lot like what my dad would do to me in high school after I'd hit the snooze button three straight times on a weekday morning. The only difference is that I didn't dump a bucket of water on the bats (That one always guaranteed to get me out of bed in a hurry).
The wake-up call the bats worked. We scored five runs to take a 5-3 lead into the seventh (and final) inning.
But in typical fashion, we let that lead slip away.
After getting the first out, we suffered a costly error at the hands of our first basemen. You'd think he'd be a better player, because he claims to be a real sports know-it-all. You may have read his work.
That blunder sparked a five-run rally for the opposition as they took a 9-5 lead into our final at-bat.
It looked like that would cost us the game as the first two batters quickly made outs. But with two outs we slowly started to get a rally going.
A couple of singles and a couple errors and a couple more singles and soon we had tied the game.
With the bases loaded and two outs, one of our players forced home the winning run by legging out a grounder that an opposing infielder fumbled.
The strangest thing is that no one knew what to do after the win. We'd never celebrated a victory before.
So maybe it wasn't the greatest win ever, but so far for us, it's been the only win. Maybe we just needed some celebration practice.
(Chris Bieri is the sports editor for the Minot Daily News. He can be reached via email at cbieri@minotdai
lynews.com)