14 Strikeouts in 6 Innings!

Will struck out 14 batters in six shutout innings last night. He threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of 25 batters, including the first ten he faced. He only walked one batter, and twice struck out four in a row. 71% of his 95 pitches were strikes. Luckily the coach realized the opposition couldn’t hit his fastball, so he called few curves. The allowed Will to get in a groove, throw more strikes, lower his pitches per batter, and work deeper into the game. Other than the walk, he only reached a ball three count two other times.

The Sandy Plains team he faced was made up mostly of teens that looked like good players, though they had lost 9-0 to another Sandy Plains rec team earlier this fall. Will’s Crown team needed the strikeouts, as the defense wasn’t particularly strong. All six Sandy Plains batters who reached first base stole second, mostly due to inaccurate throws to second by the catcher.

Crown only won 2-0, and only managed one infield hit through the first five innings / 20 batters. Will flew out in his first two at-bats. As he led off the sixth, I told him to hit a ground ball. He promptly drilled a grounder through the hole into left for a single, stole second, continued to third on the errant throw, and scored on Tanner’s similar single.

Three Crown baserunners were picked off third…twice with no outs.

Interesting Hudson chatter today. Nice that he wants to stay, but it’ll be easier to let him walk than to trade Lowe or Kowakami…to free up money to sign a hitter.