Another Ground-Rule Double

Will’s Titans lost last night 10 – 6 to a good Alpharetta Eagles team. Will reached base all three times.

In the bottom of the first Audi came up to bat and hit a long drive to left-center. The ball bounced once and hit near the top of the fence, and Audi cruised into second with a stand-up double.

I was talking and making the notes of this in my scorebook as Will came to the plate. My head was still down as I heard Will’s bat connect with the first pitch…another long drive to the same spot in left-center. Will’s hit bounced once and hopped over the fence for an RBI ground-rule double, his second of the year. These are the only two ground-rule doubles I’ve ever heard of on this big field by a Pony player.

Will walked on four pitches his next time up, and he stole second base. Then the catcher tried to pick Will off second, but the throw bounced into short centerfield, allowing Will to advance to third. Will scored on a wild pitch.

Later in the game Will walked again on four pitches, and again stole second. Then his fake steal was convincing enough for the catcher to throw to third. The ball glanced off the third-baseman’s glove and rolled toward the shortstop. I heard my breath as Will dashed toward third, knowing the alert shortstop would make a good play. Will was able to slide in headfirst just ahead of the tag.

Will made four key defensive plays in the field. He played the first two innings at third, but didn’t have a ball hit to him. But while a runner was on third, a pitch sailed to the backstop, only to bounce back close to Trey, the catcher. The runner had broken toward home but stopped when he saw the ball bounce back. Trey threw to Will, who threw back to Trey, who threw back to Will. The runner was keeping a good distance from the player with the ball, but Will charged and ran down the runner to apply the tag.

The rest of the game Will played shortstop. With a runner on first the batter hit a high bouncer. Will knew if he charged he would have to field the ball on a very short hop, and would be in no position to throw to second. Instead he quickly backpedaled and caught the ball on a better bounce, though it was still a tough catch. He then fired a quick hard strike to the second-baseman for the force at second. Though it wasn’t much of a double-play ball, little Daniel wheeled and threw to first and barely missed getting the second out. Later Will made a nice low backhanded catch of a sharply hit grounder…one of two batters he threw out at first.

Matthew’s teammate Alex and his dad came to the game just to watch Will play, which was nice.

Last Saturday the Titans won both games of a doubleheader, and Will hit several hard line drives and made a few good plays in the field, including a clutch catch of a foul popup while catching. But he was involved in an interesting play: While on third base the suicide squeeze play was signaled. Will got a good jump and raced home. The pitch was low and outside, but Jared was able to bunt the pitch just foul. Jared took one step toward first and was knocked over by Will’s slide into home plate. Had Jared not fouled the pitch, Will would’ve easily been safe with a steal of home.