What was nice about Saturday’s 14 – 10 victory over the Smyrna Nationals was the way we won: coming back every inning to regain the lead, lending our opponents a 9th fielder, having 12 of our 13 players score runs, executing squeeze bunts, etc. We would’ve won by more had we let them play with only two outfielders!
David pitched a scoreless first inning, striking out two. Then second-baseman Thomas patiently stuck with a ground ball and threw to Josiah at first to end the inning.
Corey led off our side with a fly ball over right-fielder Christian’s head, and Corey hustled to second, then took third on a wild pitch. Will walked, then Andrew singled to right, driving in Corey and sending Will to third. Andrew stole second and advanced to third as Will scored on a wild pitch. After David popped out on a 2-2 pitch, Jake’s sacrifice fly to center plated Andrew.
Exciting defensive play in the top of the second. The second batter blooped a single to right. Christian charged the ball and fired to cutoff man Will, who wheeled and fired to third-baseman Joey, who easily tagged out the runner from first…the exact play Joey had practiced Thursday night! Smyrna continued to bloop hits just out of our reach and tied the game, but David struck out two more after the score was tied.
Russell lined a single to right to start a second inning rally. Right-fielder Jake’s throw to first was just late. Michael walked, then Joey belted the first pitch over the centerfielder’s head for a double, driving in Russell. The shortstop couldn’t handle Thomas’ grounder, and Michael scored. Josiah’s sharp grounder was nabbed by the pitcher, who forced Joey at third. Christian sliced a nice single to right. Jake fielded the ball and heard his Smyrna ‘teammates’ hollering to throw it home, so he hit the cutoff man (right?). The relay home nailed Thomas trying to score from second, though Thomas would’ve scored easily had there only been two outfielders.
The top of the third was similar to the top of the second…more seeing-eye hits. David struck out two more, and Josiah ended the inning by fielding a grounder and stepping on first base. David pitched three innings and struck out six batters, only allowing one hard hit ball.
Corey led off the third with a triple to right, and scored on Will’s single. Will stole second, then scored on Andrew’s base hit. Andrew took second on the throw home, and advanced to third when Jake beat out another infield grounder. Jake stole second on the first pitch, then Nick was hit with the second pitch…loading the bases. Curtis reached on a fielder’s choice, then Jake and Nick scored on wild pitches. Russell then singled to right again to drive home Curtis.
Curtis pitched the fourth inning and struck out the first and last batter he faced, and only allowed one opposite-field hit. Andrew made an amazing stop of a hard hit smash to third, and almost threw the batter out at first from a seated position. Will caught a tough fly ball behind Andrew for the other out.
With the score tied going to the bottom of the fourth, time was running short. Joey sliced a line drive to right, where Russell charged and made a valiant sliding attempt to catch the ball in the air to rob Joey of a hit. But the ball was tailing away from Russell, and it nicked off his glove. (I haven’t tracked it, but this could’ve moved Joey ahead of Russell in Batting Average!). Joey took second on a wild pitch, then Thomas and Josiah walked to load the bases. After Christian took a ball and strike, he bunted just out in front of the plate. Joey raced home to score the go-ahead run, and everyone was safe. Corey collected his third hit of the game, a single to right that drove in Thomas and Josiah. Will walked on four pitches and stole second. After a pitching change, Andrew hit a grounder and crossed first before Smyrna could make a play. This drove in Christian, and the game was called.
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