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Thursday, March 01, 2012

Another Doubleheader Sweep

Will was the winning pitcher in Game One, and again he was the most productive offensive player on his team, as Crown swept their Thursday afternoon doubleheader against South Atlanta. In game two he broke the game open with a stand-up RBI triple to deep centerfield, and also made the defensive play of the evening, an over-the-shoulder diving catch of a fly ball running full speed down the left field foul line with his back to the plate.

Crown started slow and sloppy, falling behind 5-1 in the second inning. Starting pitcher Adam allowed four of the first five baserunners to reach base. Braeden just missed snagging a line drive for a double play: instead the RBI double led to two South Atlanta runs.

When Adam’s arm started hurting Will came on in relief, but the sloppy defense continued. Nathan made an error at second base, then shortstop Perry threw one away, then mishandled a grounder. Still, Will induced seven ground balls to only two balls hit in the air. The defense settled down, and Will struck out five batters in 3-1/3 innings.

After a slow start at the plate, perhaps due to being moved from leadoff to second in the order (and from shortstop to third base), Will collected four straight hits. In the third his line drive to right center drove in Patrick from second. Will then stole second base, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a grounder to third.

In the fourth inning Will singled through the hole into left field. He advanced to third on a double down the left field line, holding up at third since the Crown lead had grown large. He scored on Casey’s infield single.

Between games I encouraged Will to concentrate on hitting the ball up the middle. He appeared to be over-swinging on his fourth-inning single, over-anxiously pulling the ball down into the ground. In the first inning of Game Two, Will lined a 1-0 pitch into left-centerfield for a single. With Braeden up, Will stole second base to get into scoring position.

Sitting next to me, official scorekeeper Tim Nun asked me to consult my old-school scorebook: “How many stolen bases does Will have tonight?” It was his second. Tim was pretty sure that tied the Crown career stolen base record. As we spoke, Will stole third to break the record. Having missed over five weeks of the previous two seasons while on Living Science trips, Will broke the record in fewer games than the previous record-holder. As the first player to be removed from blowouts, Will has stolen most all of his bases while the outcome of the game was still in doubt.

With two out in the second Will launched a line drive over the centerfielder’s head to the deepest part of the plate, for a stand-up RBI triple. He later scored on an error by the catcher.
Will: 4-6, triple, 3 runs, 3 SB, 3 RBI……15/6
Adam: 2-3, 3 runs, RBI, SB……7/3
Braeden: 3-6, double, HR, 5 RBI, BB, 2 runs……15/7
Patrick: 2-4, double, 4 RBI, 5 runs, SB, 3 BB……16/8
Nathan: 1-1, 2 runs, RBI, SB, BB, HBP……6/3
Charlie: 3 runs, 3 BB……6/3
Casey: 2-2, run, 2 RBI……5/2
Perry: 3-6, double, HBP, SB, 2 RBI……8/6
Franklin: 1-4, 3 runs, RBI, 2 BBs……7/6
Ray: 1-4, RBI, HBP, BB, 2 runs……6/6
Eric: 1-2, run, sac fly, RBI……3/3
Sam: 0-1, run, 2 BBs……3/3
Andrew: 0-3, HBP, run……2/4

New Crown shortstop Perry played his first two games for the Knights, and may have suffered from the jitters at the plate and in the field. After his two early miscues in Game One, he finally made a long running catch in Game Two, literally taking the ball away from leftfielder Andrew, who could’ve made a much more routine catch coming in on the ball. At the plate he hit four ground balls in the first game, then two pop flies in Game Two.

After Braeden swung and missed at a second-inning pitch in Game One, on the other side of the grandstand the pitcher’s mother loudly chanted “You can’t hit what you can’t see!” Braeden swung at the next pitch, and sent it far over the centerfield fence. That was the last we heard from the pitcher’s mother.

Later on in Game One Patrick fouled a pitch back high over his head…over the backstop. Next we heard the sound of the glass breaking: the ball had shattered a huge light bulb. Glass showered down into the grandstand. Patrick looked at the spectacle with delight, until I shouted “You’ll get a bill for that!” Sitting next to me, Tim Nun was sure that he indeed would.

Several fans at the game: Mary-Clayton watched Game One. Will and Matthew’s longtime Mt. Paran coach Tracy Ellis sat with me and MC, so we were able to catch up. He goes to church with Patrick. Lucy arrived as Game One ended, and chatted with Mona, Ceil, and Anna during Game Two. Will’s former teammate Josiah George also showed up to watch Game Two. Josiah played his senior season for Crown, and set several records. After the games I played trivia with Josiah’s younger brother Isaac.

During the game a cell phone went off, with a Monday Night Football ring tone. All us guys looked around for the source. It was a teenage girl’s phone, sitting in front of us.

The games were played at East Cobb Baseball. One the smaller field behind us, a much younger ECB team was practicing. Several of us turned when we heard a coach berating the team. I exclaimed “Those seven-year olds better get their act together!”

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