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Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Cougars and RockHounds

Both Will and Matthew won their games Saturday. Will’s Cougars played the Shaw Park Braves at 9 AM, and won 10 – 7. After falling behind five runs in the top of the first, Mt. Paran came back with an interesting sequence of events.

Leadoff hitter Corey’s fly ball glanced off the centerfielder’s glove for a two-base error. Will then walked on four straight balls. Ball four got away from the catcher, allowing Corey to reach third, and set up the double steal. On the first pitch Will stole second. The pitch got away from the catcher, and Corey scored. Will continued running and took third base on the play. Robbie then drove in Will from third. Cleanup hitter Malcolm then made the second out of the inning.

This same exact sequence repeated itself again in the third inning!

Mt. Paran scored those two in the first, another two in the second, and three more in the third, to take the lead 7 – 6. Will played shortstop in the second and center in the third inning, before pitching the last two innings.

In the top of the fourth Will struck out the side. In the fifth two errors by the third-baseman allowed an unearned run to score, but Will struck out the last batter to end the game. He finished with four strikeouts in two innings, and no walks. Twenty-three of his 39 pitches were strikes.

Will also drove home three runs in the fourth inning when the left-fielder couldn’t catch Will’s fly ball.

Matthew’s game started at 10:30, just as Will’s team was coming up to bat in the bottom of the fourth. For the second straight game Matthew batted second in the order, just like Will. As the visiting team, the RockHounds took an early lead, with the first five batters all scoring.

Matthew hit a hard grounder that the talented third-baseman couldn’t catch, and the ball bounced past into left field. Matthew then scored all the way from first on Scott’s fly to deep left field. In the second Matthew also singled, and again scored from first on Scott’s hit.

His biggest hit came in the fifth. With runners on first and second, Matthew hit a hard grounder past the shortstop into left field, deep enough for both runs to score. The throw went home, and Matthew was able to motor all the way to third on the play.

The play at the plate was exciting…little Lucas was headed home, but he slowed when the ball made it to the catcher first. Lucas realized he was a dead duck, but when the catcher dropped the ball, Lucas made a play for the plate. He slid home under the catcher, who blocked the plate and reached down to tag Lucas…but Lucas’ slide bowled over the catcher. Just before the catcher applied the tag, Lucas stretched out his hand and slapped the plate…safe!

Matthew later scored his third run of game…one of five Hounds to score that many.

Matthew fielded the pitcher position in the first inning, played two innings of third base, and played short field and left field an inning each…fielding a few balls. After the game he wanted to practice hitting and catching fly balls, and he’s really improving with his glove.

The RockHounds scored five runs in three of the innings, and four more runs in each of the other two innings. They played good defense, getting three outs in all but one of the innings, to win the game 23 – 15.

Here's what his coach had to say about the 3 games I missed...
I would not add the batting stats from the Sat. game. My awful pitching should not be held against our boys. Matthew smacked one to the outfield though...Hebdon hit a homer. We had 3 double plays in one game on Saturday...one by Christian and 2 by Lucas. Lucas made 3 or 4 additional putouts. Most outs in one game by one player that I personally have ever seen when pitching strikeouts was not involved or counted.

Thursday we scored 22 or 23 against the Muckdogs. A real barn burner. Put Clint in last inning to see if he could pitch is only reason why we didn't score 25 runs. Probably would have held back though as to not run up score.

We had a real tough loss Tuesday night. Just too many kids struggling to hit like Stephen, Nate, Ellis, Dillon. Josh and Matthew had bad luck popups right to the other players.

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