March 24th Afternoon Games

Saturday afternoon the Titans won both games of a doubleheader, twice beating the John’s Creek Jaguars. Will batted cleanup in both games.

In game one he went 3 for 3…two singles and a double over the centerfielder’s head. His single in the third was particularly impressive. With the count was no balls and two strikes, and knowing the umpire liked to call outside pitches strikes, Will swung at an outside pitch...driving it through the hole in the right side of the infield. The runner from first had been stealing second on the pitch, and he continued on to third, drawing a throw. This allowed Will to hustle down to second on the play. The next hitter lined out to the rightfielder, and the runner on third tagged up and scored. When Will saw the throw go to the plate, he advanced to third.

Will caught for three innings, allowing no stolen bases. He made a nice play when a batter grounded a ball straight down...the ball died in the dirt, right in front of the plate. Will popped out from behind the plate, grabbed the ball, and easily threw out the runner at first.

He also played shortstop for three innings. In the 6th inning Will went to his right and backhanded a ball in the hole, and quickly fired a throw to second base to force the runner. Later he caught a line drive to end the inning.

The next inning the batter hit a grounder up the middle. The pitcher got a glove on it, but the ball rolled behind the mound and died. Will raced in, scooped up the ball, and quickly fired to first…barely beating the runner.

In game two Will caught the first part of the 4th inning, but the rest of the defense could not convert several ground balls into outs. With a slow pitcher on the mound, Will still almost threw out a base-stealer at second with a very impressive throw. Then when the coach changed pitchers Will was moved back to shortstop, the position he played the other 4-1/2 innings of the game. There he had a putout and two assists.

At the plate Will had another good game, scoring all three times he batted. In the first Will hit another ball over the center-fielder’s head, and raced around for an RBI triple. In the third, again with two strikes, he singled to center, driving in another runner. He stole second and scored from there on a hit.

In the fourth Will hit a grounder to the third-baseman. Will hustled down the line, and the throw brought the first-baseman off the bag. The first-baseman tried to make a tag, but Will put a move on him and was safe. After advancing to third, he tagged up and scored on a line drive to center.