Champions!

The RockHounds upset the big strong Bees Thursday evening 25 – 19, combining a potent offense with timely defense, to win the Mt. Paran Pinto National League Championship.

The game was exciting from the start. Lucas led off the game by beating out a grounder to the pitcher. When the throw to first got away, Lucas hustled to second. Matt doubled home Lucas. But Stephen and Scott were robbed of hits, putting the Hounds in a dangerous two-out hole, with only one run in. Then Matthew got things going with a hit, and they scored four two-out runs.

A key part of the game was the bottom of the first. With two on and two out, the Bees batter hit one to the left field fence. The runners scored the third and fourth runs of the inning, but Dillon fired the ball in from the outfield as quickly as possible. Lucas fielded the throw as the batter had rounded third and headed home. Lucas took off toward home, stopping the runner in his tracks, narrowly missing the tag out at third. When the next batter struck out to end the inning, the stranded fifth run on third was huge. The Hounds led 5 – 4...a lead they would never surrender.

The key to victory at this level of baseball is to score the five run maximum every inning, while stopping your opponent from scoring the five runs more than they stop you. Instead of working on the fundamentals of hitting and throwing, the Bees coaches trained their boys to run the ball in and hold runners, by charging up to the runner on the base and tagging them (the umpire wisely calls time before this happens). The Bees were mostly made up of big older boys that for some reason weren’t put onto Pinto American teams, made up of the older, more experienced part of the age group.

In contrast the RockHounds were mostly made up of younger, smaller boys having just moved up from tee ball. The coaches have concentrated solely on teaching baseball skills that will make the boys better players in the long run, particularly hitting, throwing, and catching. Matthew has gone from being a weak tee ball hitter to being able to hit pitches thrown anywhere in the strike zone…often hard and to the outfield.

Both teams scored the five run limit in each of the next three innings. In the second inning Lucas singled, driving home both Dillon and James. Steven then hit the ball into right field and was held to a single, but Lucas motored all the way around to score from first. The Hounds scored 3 two-out runs in the second.

The next play was also exciting, as Scott socked the ball to the left field fence. As he approached third base, the shortstop caught the throw in and raced to third. Scott won the race to the bag, and the shortstop stopped at the bag. But Scott never slowed down, and rounded third on the inside of the bag, and raced home to score.

In the third Lucas hit the ball up the middle, but the pitcher grabbed the grounder and threw out Lucas at first. But the out drove home James with the fifth run of the inning.

As the fourth inning ended, the Hounds still up by a run, a brief thunderstorm halted play for ten minutes. Then disaster struck…the bottom three batters in the Hounds order struck out, perhaps the first time this happened all year. Now all the Bees had to do was score two runs, and the championship would be all but won.

Even when the first Bee struck out, I had no expectations of grandeur. Then the leadoff hitter hit a grounder to Lucas at second. Coach Tracey had just moved Lucas closer to the plate, but I feared he was taking too much time fielding the ball. But the throw to Christian at first was quick, just beating the runner…two out! But the next hitter popped the ball over Nathan’s at third. Like most of the team, Nathan hadn’t caught a pop all year, and this was a tough chance. He had to retreat away from the plate and to his right. Right-handed, he reached his glove across his body…and caught the ball in the air! Coach Turner Skipped from his spot in the outfield and hugged Coach Tracy…a sight to see.

There was time for one more inning. With the top of our order up, Lucas singled into right field, but Matt Smith’s grounder forced Lucas at second for a quick out. But Scott knocked in Matt, then Matthew knocked in Scott.

Next up, Matthew was involved in an interesting play. Matthew was on third when Josh lined out to the second baseman. Matthew went back to third, but Nathan, the runner on second, had started running to third when the ball was hit. The second baseman could’ve easily stepped on third to end the inning with only two runs scored (indeed, two Bees coaches ran across the outfield to second, hollering at their player). Instead the second baseman did as he had been coached…he charged home to hold Matthew at third. Then the boy circled and headed toward Matthew, standing on third. Only then did he see Nathan still well off second base, and his coaches yelling at him. Then he took off after Nathan, who finally retreated to the safety of second base. This allowed Matthew to scamper home with the fourth run, guaranteeing at least a tie.

Then Christian stepped up and drove the ball to deep center, and Nathan easily scored…game over! Up by six, there was no way the Bees could come back. The RockHounds were champions!

Lucas…in addition to the truly game-saving play in the first inning, and the clutch assist in the fifth inning, Lucas made several more plays in the field to hold runners from extra bases, rotating most innings between second and first base. At the plate, Lucas went 3 – 4, scoring two runs and driving home three.

Josh highlights…his double to left in the first drove home Matt and Matthew. Then Josh scored from second on Christian’s single to center. Josh’s single in the third knocked in Nathan. In the fifth Josh grounded the ball at the second baseman for a single. Matthew ran past the second baseman, rounded the bag and raced to third, having watched Scott run the bases too much. The second-baseman chased Matthew, allowing Josh to advance to second. Both boys scored on Christian’s triple. In the sixth Josh got an RBI when Matthew tagged up and scored when Josh’s fly ball was caught. Josh also finished the game with 3 hits in 4 at bats, and scored 3 runs, with 4 RBIs.

Stephen made several nice plays in the field. My favorite was when a ball was hit out just in front of the plate. Stephen pounced out from behind the plate and grabbed the ball, and the runner at second dared not try for third. He also went 3 – 4, with an RBI, a double, and three runs scored.

In addition to Dillon’s game saving throw, he had a couple of other strong, quick throws in to hold runners. He scored two runs, going 2 – 3 with an RBI.

Matthew played an important role, going 3 – 4 from the fifth spot in the batting order. He scored three runs and knocked in two. His only out came when his hard hit up the middle was speared by the pitcher, robbing Matthew of a sure hit. He didn’t get many balls hit to him in the field, though he did chase down a swinging bunt quickly enough to hold the runners to one base. He played pitcher, shortstop, and outfield.

Notes...I did the RockHounds stats because it was more fun...I was certainly into it, and wanted to see how they were all doing myself. I went to RockHounds games because I thought Matthew needed me there more than Will needs me...Matthew probably won't be playing as many games in his career than Will. I didn't get into Will's games as much, until the end of the year. I do want to compile his stats just to see...he was on a better hitting team than usual (but nothing like the Tigers). I just don't know his average...but I doubt it was as high as Matthew's. Both Josh and Matthew raised their average there at the end of the season.

After every game I write up recap for Matthew's grandparents. Here in the playoffs they've gotten longer due to the excitement. Since Carol is out and Lucas had such a good game, I'm going to add his exploits to Matthew's recap, and send it to her.

One of the big reasons I think the RockHounds beat the Bees last night was coaching. Tim and Tracey (and David and Clint, etc) focused on improvement in baseball skills...hitting, throwing, and catching. TheBees focused instead on holding runners at the base, and this backfired on them two or three times last night.