Matthew Murphy looked sluggish as I arrived at the batting cages before the May 24th Pinto National Championship Game. He was kneeling near the cage door, and stayed there for a long time. But he hit well in the cage, a good sign. By the time we all made it to the Shetland field I was a nervous wreck, so instead of a friendly seat in the bleachers, I picked out the lone chair behind the plate. Melissa Turner sat next to me for the same reason. I was even worried when I saw Payton in red ribbons, as opposed to the black ones she wore in Saturday’s playoff victory.
Cade opened the game with a line drive to deep centerfield. He raced confidently around the bases and Coach Tim waved him home…but the Defenders throw to the plate was accurate and beat Cade to the plate. Cade slid between the fielder’s legs under the tag, and the umpire correctly called him safe. I don’t know if my cries of “Safe! He got in there!” helped, but it made me feel better. Brandt hit a high pop that the pitcher backhanded in the air, just off the ground.
But Payton got things going, grounding hard just over the first-base bag into the rightfield corner for a triple. She scored when the first-baseman couldn’t handle Josh’s grounder. Adam then lined a pitch into left for a triple, and Joshie motored all the way around to score. Joshua then poked the ball out to the third-baseman for a hit to drive home Adam. Joshua advanced to second on Alex’s grounder to first. Matthew Murphy doubled to left to drive in Joshua for the 5th run of the inning.
The Storm was on the board with five runs, but the difference in the game would be if we could keep the Defenders from scoring. Josh got things started by venturing into foul territory, and made a backhanded catch of a pop off the bat of dangerous leadoff hitter Jack Regitz. Later in the inning Alex caught a grounder at second and tagged out cleanup hitter Nathan McLauren…then Alex almost turned a double play. This out was big, as the next Defenders batter struck out to end the inning, putting the score 5 – 2 Storm.
Ryan led off the 2nd with a base hit and scampered to second, when the throw in bounced past the shortstop. Carson’s single to center drove in Ryan, but although Matthew Gibbs and Cade reached base, we couldn’t drive home any more runs. Coming off his big day Saturday when Cole had a double and triple with two RBIs and runs scored, Cole just missed another extra-base hit when he ripped a line drive foul to the left side. And despite Payton’s force of a runner at second in the bottom of the second, the Defenders took the lead by scoring five runs of their own.
Payton then led off the 3rd with a single to right, and she took second when the ball again got away from the shortstop. She scored on Josh’s big triple to left. Adam’s smash hit to the shortstop plated Turner. Joshua’s grounder to the right side advanced Adam from first to third, and then Alex’s single to right drove home Adam. Alex alertly took second when the shortstop couldn’t catch the throw in from the outfield. Matthew Murphy pulled a line drive down into the left-field corner. The ball bounced twice and hit the fence, one of Cosmo’s best hits ever. As Alex scored Matthew raced around to third.
Ryan produced a swinging bunt that the pitcher fielded. The pitcher held Matthew at third, but when the pitcher looked at Ryan Matthew danced further off third, regaining the pitcher’s attention. This allowed Ryan to advance to second. Then Carson lined a pitch right into the third-baseman’s glove. It fortunately popped out, and as Matthew scored, Ryan ran toward third base. He ran around the third-baseman, seemingly not to avoid a tag but merely to avoid running into the player. Umpire McCarn ruled Ryan out for running out of the baseline, but Matthew’s 5th run ended the inning anyway.
The Storm held the Defenders to only two runs in the third. Matthew Murphy fielded a grounder at second and threw to Adam at first for an out. The next batter singled to right. As he rounded first he ran into Adam, a typical collision that happens all the time in Pinto and Shetland ball. This held the batter at first, though the Defender coaches and parents argued for interference. Had the runner been granted second base, he would have scored…changing the way the entire game turned out!
The Storm extended their lead in the fourth. Matthew Gibbs beat out a grounder to first, took third on Cade’s single to right, and scored on Brandt’s RBI grounder. Payton then hit another triple to right, driving home Cade. Payton scored on josh Turner’s RBI grounder to third. Adam’s single to right drove home Josh, and Adam raced all the way to third when the rightfielder bobbled the ball and then threw home. Joshua then hit for the third straight time, and almost beating out the throw to first.
The bottom of the fourth typified how the Storm won: outfield play. The Storm had 39 batters put the ball into play, and 20 of those were hit to the outfield (51%). Nineteen of those 20 balls were extra base hits…only once was a Storm batter held at first on a hit to the outfield! The Defenders only hit 13 of their 34 balls hit to the outfield (38%), but Storm outfielders held 6 of those 13 at first base. That 12 extra-base hit difference helped Storm fielders to make eight putouts in the field. And it seemed like all twelve Storm players handled the ball, both in the outfield as well as the infield.
Bottom of the fourth: After the leadoff batter reached, Jack Regitz hit a grounder up the middle into the outfield…not a good start of the inning for the Storm. But Adam fielded the ball in center and ran to the infield, tagging out the runner before he reached second…a huge play that directly prevented one run, and indirectly one more. Later the Defenders had runners on first and second when a pop fly headed toward Matthew Murphy in left center. He came close to catching it in the air, but immediately picked the ball up off the ground. As I hollered for him to throw the ball to third, Cosmo instead fired a strike to Alex at second, to force out the runner. Two outfield outs in one inning! The next Defender batter struck out, ending the inning with only three runs scored.
The Storm led 15 – 12, and added five more runs in the fifth. Cosmo hit a one-out double to deep left-center. Ryan reached on a grounder to third, and Carson’s grounder to second knocked in Matthew from second-base. Then Matthew Gibbs had a single to deep right field, driving in both Ryan and Carson. Carson scored all the way from first. Cade singled to right, and took second on the throw home, that held Gibbs at third. Brandt then hit a hard grounder right at the first-baseman. The ball skipped under his glove, hit his left foot, and caromed behind second base. This allowed both Matthew Gibbs and Cade to score.
But the Defenders wouldn’t go away, scoring five in the bottom of the fifth. Adam made two nice plays for outs at first, and Cade almost speared a line drive in centerfield for the third out. With the score 20 – 17, three runs would win the game for the Storm.
Payton led off and smashed a double off the pitcher’s foot. She scored from second on Josh Turner’s single to center. Then another big play: Down two strikes Adam grounded back to the pitcher, and took too many glances as he ran to first. But the throw was off the mark, and Adam was safe. On the hit Josh was running from first, and when the throw was wild Coach Tim waved him home. The pitcher caught the throw home, but Josh slid in safely. The throw home allowed Adam to advance to second, which was key. But before the play had even ended, the Defenders coach was on the field, reminding the umpire that runners get one base on an overthrow. Josh was sent back to third.
The drama grew. The Defenders huddled behind the mound, aware that Adam represented the winning run on second base. With one out Alex fouled off the first two pitches. The thought crossed my mind that my Matthew might come up with two out and the game on the line. Alex was reminded that he had five more pitches, so he watched as the next pitch came in low. The fourth pitch came in lower, and though Alex had been ready to swing, at the last second he wisely held back. Then Alex watched another pitch come in just outside. The tension grew even more…probably not for Alex, but certainly for all the grownups!
Pitch six was perfect, and Alex smashed a rope right up the middle into centerfield. As Coach Conrad waved his arms in the air in victory, both Josh and Adam scored, ending the game. The Storm are the 2007 Pinto National Champions!
