Six Hits, Seven RBI's.

Will’s Crown Knights swept their doubleheader down in McDonough Saturday, beating the New Creation Christian Academy Crusaders 15-4 and 9-8. Will had a great day at the plate, collecting six hits and driving in seven runs. Here’s a quick recap of his nine at-bats…

.

Game One…

1. Line drive single to right field.

2. Deep line drive to the fence in left center, where the centerfielder appeared to leap and catch the ball at the fence, robbing Will of a home run.

3. Single through the hole into left field, driving in a run. He later scored from second on Tanner’s single to right.

4. In the fifth Will got down 0-2 in the count, then lined a high & outside pitch right to the first-baseman.

5. In the sixth he again fell behind 0-2, then grounded into a 6-4 fielder’s choice, driving home the runner from third. He then advanced to second on an error.

.

Game Two…

6. Will lined a first-inning 2-2 pitch that sliced away from the centerfielder. On the run, the centerfielder was only able to get a little leather on the ball. The ball had been hit so hard that this deflection scarcely slowed it down. The ball either bounced over the fence or rolled under it, and Will was given second base. I marked GR2B CF RBI in my scorebook. Will then stole third and scored on a groundout.

7. With two out in the 2nd Will doubled down the left-field line, driving home Franklin from second.

8. In the 4th Will drove in the go-ahead run with a two out single, again down the left-field line.

9. Down a run with two out in the 6th, Will lined a 3-1 single well over the shortstop’s head, driving in the tying and go ahead runs.

.

After blowing out the Crusaders in Game One, Crown emptied the bench in Game Two, making for a much closer contest. The teams exchanged leads or tied the game seven times.

.

Will came on to pitch the last two innings with the game tied, pitching well despite having an inconsistent curveball. His first pitch plucked the leadoff hitter in the back, then his second was sliced into right for a single. When the ball rolled under the rightfielder’s glove, the baserunner scored. A nifty relay throw nailed the batter sliding into third. Will then struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

.

Back on the mound for the decisive final inning, Will easily retired the first two batters, then walked NCC’s leadoff hitter on a full count. The next batter hit what looked like a catchable line drive, but the centerfielder let the ball drop in for a single. The late throw to third put the winning run at second. But Will got the next batter to ground weakly to second, securing the victory.

.

Will is growing into his latest position, third base. He made two excellent plays, charging slow rollers to his left and firing to first to get the runner. With the bases loaded in the third he dove to his left to catch a grounder destined for left field. After rising to his feet he dove again, tagging the runner for the third out.

.

In baseball an outstanding play by one fielder can keep another fielder from being charged with an error. In Will’s case the opposite can be true. With a runner on third, Will snagged a hard-hit grounder to his left and threw home, across his body. When the throw bounced, the catcher was unable to hold onto the ball to make the tag. Later in the inning a batter hit a high fly, straight up in front of the plate. No one called for it so Will went after it, but he was unable to catch.

.

Crown committed seven other errors in the doubleheader. There were several other dropped throws that did not result in errors. The better the competition, the more these fielding miscues make a difference in the game.

.

I’m not sure how the dad (Mr. Brooks?) scoring the game on Gamechanger ruled Will’s ground-rule double. He only showed three hits for Will, and just one double…but no errors by NCC. Without digging very deep I noticed several other scorekeeping differences.