Will's 3/18 game

Will found his cap in the team bat bag. His game started at noon. Since there was more than an hour between Matthew’s game and Will’s, I jumped in my warm car and made a quick run to Wendy’s to get Will (and me) some pre-game ‘nourishment’.

Will’s Cougars were playing the other Mt. Paran Pony team, the Angels. Two weeks ago the two teams had played to a tie, and this time the Cougars would be without long-legged Jared. In the last game Jared had singled, tripled, and homered, really hitting the ball hard.

Will batted leadoff and walked on four pitches. He stole second and third, and scored on a single. Seven of the first eight Cougars scored, but the last time that happened the Angels still came back to tie.

Will was the starting pitcher and struck out the leadoff hitter. He walked the second batter on a 3-1 pitch. With the big lead he didn’t want to give big Chad anything good to hit. Chad was the most dangerous Angel hitter, and would often chase high pitches. This time Chad laid off, and he also walked. But Will struck out big Jack, and got his friend Allen to pop out to third, to end the inning.

Leading off the top of the second, Will was given the bunt sign. He pushed it too hard, and the pitcher was able to throw him out. The Cougars did scored three more in the inning, running the score to 10-0.

After needing 23 pitches in the first, Will retired the side in order in both the second and third, needing only nine pitches in each inning. He struck out David Bartlett on three pitches and also fielded a ground ball, throwing to first for the out. His fielders made all the plays behind him in the field. Will finished with the three strikeouts, threw more strikes than balls, and retired eight batters in a row, allowing no hits in three innings.

Will came up in the fourth with a runner on first, and hit a hard ground ball that the shortstop couldn’t handle. He reached second on a fielder’s choice and went to third on a walk. He later scored on a single. Again the Cougars scored seven runs in the inning. The Angels made six errors in the game, to the Cougars none.

Barrett pitched the fourth inning for the Cougars, getting Chris to pop to short. Then big Chad grounded one hard up the middle. Shortstop Corey dove to knock the ball down, but couldn’t recover to make the out. This turned out to be the only hit of the day for the Angels. Barrett struck out the next two batters to end the game, a 17-0 blowout.

Thursday the Cougars play at far away Hobgood, where they always seem to struggle.