Longhorns Game Two

Will's Longhorns won their game Monday night 16 - 6. It was a pitching duel the first four innings, as Will and the Powder Springs starting pitcher only allowed one run apiece.

Will doubled home Russell from first to score to Longhorn's run. He drove the ball over the centerfielder's head, and Henry waved short-legged Russell home, and he scored.

Will started the game by throwing two straight strikes before hitting the leadoff hitter. He then settled down and struck out the next three batters.

Will also struck out three batters in the second, the inning only spoiled when Will threw a pitch on the outside corner with two strikes. The leadoff hitter stuck his bat out and poked the pitch to right field for a triple. That runner scored when a batter struck out, but the pitch was dropped. When David threw to first for the out, the runner scored. Then Will eased up a third time, and the hitter grounder the ball to the 3rd-baseman, who fielded the ball cleanly and threw to first. The ball bounced and Jonathan didn't catch it. The slow runner contined to second, and the throw to second easily beat the runner...but John Fulton dropped the ball. No matter...Will struck out the next batter to end the inning. He finished the inning having thrown 25 strikes and 7 balls...and he had only eased up on three pitches.

In the Will got the leadoff batter to ground out to first. The next batter doubled to left center, then Will walked the next 2 batters to load the bases. He got the next batter to pop out, then the next batter grounded back to Will. He flipped the ball to the catcher Christian for the force at home.

In the 4th Will settled back down, again striking out three batters. One batter hit an easy grounder to third, but again the throw to first was off the mark. Will finished with 9 of the 12 outs as strikeouts, walking only the two batters, and allowing only two hits and one run in 4 innings.

In the top of the fifth the first 3 Longhorns walked, loading the bases. Christian grounded to short, but the throw to the plate was off the mark. After a strikeout and a walk, Will also walked on four straight wild pitches. David's grounder forced Christian at home for the second out. The pitcher's pickoff throw to 3rd got away, scoring Russell. Then Will scored on a wild pitch, and when the catcher's toss to the pitcher got away, David came around to score from second...a 6 run inning.

The Longhorns scored 8 the next inning. Will came up with a runner on second and knocked him in with a double down the left field line. He then stole 3rd base, and scored on David's infield hit.

Will also had a pop hit in the first, so he went 3 for 3 with a walk, 2 runs scored, and 3 RBIs. After 2 games Will is 5 - 5 with a walk, 4 runs scored, and 3 RBIs and stolen bases.

This year Will and David Bartlett (Henry's son) are the 2 vets on the team. Paul Lovallo has played with Will in the past, but he's still rusty after taking off two years. Russell and Curtis have played 2 seasons of Pony ball and will have to contibute more, but the rest of the team are like last year's baby Braves...Christian, John Fulton, Bradford, Josiah, Joey, and Michael all just moved up from the younder division, and Jonathan is playing his first year at Mt. Paran after a layoff.