Another picture-perfect day greeted the boys this morning. Gray had defended the lead, although slim, for the better part of the past two days. Red was even more determined to at least draw even, and with tonight’s Songs & Cheers activity would come lots of opportunity to do so.
The morning “hype-up” meetings were still quite animated, but not quite as loud as the first couple of days – all in the name of voice conservation (remember tonight’s activity), at least for the moment. Once the games began, the intensity of each event seemed to increase, and with it the decibel level all over camp as well.
The Red Lions came out smokin’, putting up 85 points of offense amidst the shrieks and shrills of our youngest participants in a pair of wins. Alex D and Bennett starred at QB, and little Benny scampered in with a couple of first-ever TDs. Again Gray responded with a strong performance on the Hejduk Pitch and a 4-2 Seniors Soccer win. The Sophomores split the Tennis point and Gray outlasted Red in the always competitive (and very boisterous) Stars Bocce match, played in the Garden, around the Lighthouse and on the Bunkline. Then, after the Gray Freshmen won at the Waterfront, Red broke through with a pair of 4th quarter goals to win Tigers Lacrosse, and inch a bit closer….and even closer when word of their Stars Golf win spread.
The morning’s most dramatic moment took place on the Sky II Baseball Field. The first game of the double-dip was the most well-played at Skylemar this summer. There were web gems all over from both sides, without an error anywhere as both teams fielded flawlessly. Red scored twice in the opening frame, then all goose-eggs on the board til Gray pushed 2 runs across to tie it in the top half of the last inning. Then Red hero Will O hit a two-out, two-strike, walk-off base hit to knock in the game winning run. Red then completed the double-header sweep to close out the morning.
The Red run continued on the Links in the afternoon when their Juniors won 6 of 10 matches to carry Golf. Gray once again countered by winning another extended Bocce match and Sophomores Lacrosse convincingly. On the Hockey courts, Gray took the point with a pair of matching 2-1 victories, then came back from a 5-run deficit with five of their own in their last at-bat to split Freshmen Baseball.
It looked like Gray had weathered another Red storm, but Red finished off the PM contests by winning both Lions Soccer games (5-0, 2-0) as well as both Seniors Hoops games (39-29, 25-15). Back and forth they went…still very close as they headed to the night’s Songs & Cheers competition.
After a few days of rehearsals, it was time for the show. Each team was tasked with performing a Team Cheer (½ point), Camp Cheer (½ point), Team Fight Song (1 point), Old Camp Song (1 point), Original Camp Song (2 points), and a Production Number (3 points). A total of eight huge points were up for grabs in a Color War where so few points separated the teams. The Production Number themes were clever – South Beach for the Red and Retrospect (our annual Banquet night media show) for the Gray. Under the light of a beautiful, star-filled Maine sky, both teams rocked – singing and dancing their way on, around, across and beyond the Rec Hall Porch stage. When it was all over, Gray carried the night and padded their slim lead a little bit more. This one is far from over….
Tomorrow, a morning of sporting contests still left to come before the most exhilarating, emotional traditional finale decides it. Can’t wait to see what happens!
