Ellijay Bobcat "Classic"

The Titans lost all three games they played this weekend up at the Ellijay tournament,
scoring a total of only six runs. Will played well, accounting for half those runs.

Saturday they lost game one 5 – 3 to Milton. Will reached base all three times he batted, including a double off the right field line. He had the only stolen base of the game, and scored a run. Will played shortstop the entire game and had 2 putouts and 2 assists. One grounder was hit up the middle, and the ball was deflected off the pitcher’s glove toward Will. He had to charge in and barehand the ball, before firing to first to retire the batter.

The results of the first day of the tournament determined the seedings for Sunday’s single elimination games. When the Titans fell behind 4 – 0 in the second inning of Saturday’s second game, that sealed the deal that the best pitchers would be saved for the more important Sunday games. Little Colin game in and pitched well in relief, only allowing two runs in three innings.

Will caught the entire game. In the first inning Cartersville’s faster runner reached first and took off on a steal of second on the first pitch. Will gunned him down to end the inning. Cartersville put 17 more runners on base, but no more stolen bases were attempted the entire game.

In the third inning Cartersville had runners on second and third with no out. Coach Dore pulled the infield in. The next batter grounded to Audi at short. The throw was low and to Will’s right. Blocking the plate, Will caught the ball on the short hop and turned left just in time to tag out the sliding runner. The next better hit a fly ball to left field. Kendle caught the fly and fired home. The runner on third tagged and raced home. The throw was strong and was going to bounce once and come up right to Will’s midsection. But when the ball hit the dirt it bounced off to the side at an angle. Will had to make a quick adjustment to make the catch. The runner came in and did not slide, instead trying to bowl Will over. Will braced himself and took the blow as he tagged out the runner to end the inning, and wasn’t even knocked down.

Will had another putout in the fifth. The runner on second tried to score on a two-out single to left. The left-fielder’s throw beat the runner by a couple of steps. This runner didn’t slide either, and tried to elbow Will as he made the tag. It was a hot day with a cloudless sky, and the occasion mountain breeze only stirred up dust from the all dirt infield.

Afterwards we all ate at a good BBQ place. When we returned home that evening I thought my dark feet were sunburned, but they turned out to only be covered in dust. And all I did was sit for two games! The dust also inflicted me with a mild bout of asthma.

Sunday the Titans played the Mustangs from Adairsville Georgia. In the heat Will pitched another gem: Five innings and only one hit allowed, seven strikeouts against three walks. His only trouble game in the second: the cleanup batter hit the first pitch of the inning for a ground rule double, then Will hit the next batter. Will struck out the next batter, but the runners advanced on a passed ball. Then the umpire called a balk on Will, allowing one runner to score. The other runner scored on a groundout before Will struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Will threw 85 pitches in five innings. The Titans led 3 – 2, thanks to Will’s two-out fifth-inning double down the left-field line that drove in two runners.

Needing only three outs to win, the Titan’s hearts were broken in the bottom of the sixth inning. The leadoff batter grounded out to Will at shortstop. The next batter hit the ball in the air to left field. The left-fielder took two steps in to catch the ball, but then stopped and let the ball bounce, allowing the tying run to reach base. With the runner on second the next batter hit a high fly ball to deep left-center. This time the left-fielder hustled after it. The ball hit off his glove and fell to the ground. The left-fielder did fire the ball to cutoff man Will in short left-field. Will wheeled and fired home, but not in time to nail the runner. Now the winning run was on third base. The next batter hit a weak grounder in the hole that the third-baseman couldn’t get to, and by the time Will gloved it, the winning run had scored.

Will was more quiet than usual on the way home, and he took a long nap that afternoon, instead of going swimming. He thought things would be different on the travel team, where he would be just one of several talented players…but his frustration showed when teammates couldn’t make plays in the field or avoid baserunning mistakes.