Until the 7th, Game 1 pretty much went like the bottom of the first inning. Matt singled, two Fielders Choices follow, Juan triples home a run and is held at third. Spillane takes a called third strike… In fact there was a FC each of the first four innings, giving us 5 for the game.
After WADY scored 2 in the top of the third, OBI answered with a straight number, again,,, till the bottom of the fourth. Down 3-1 in the bottom of 3, Spillane reached on an FC, of course he did, and scored on John’s double following Michael’s single. Ok, let’s fast forward to the bottom of the seventh with the score 3-2 WADY… Did I mention we were moved to cavernous field 5 with the wind blowing straight in from CF? Was keeping that gem in my back pocket i was,,, but again, I digress.
Spillane collected his first hit of the game, then scored the tying run as the ball was tossed around a bit, including one toss that seemed to glance off his dome,,, giving John his second RBI on his second Double of the game. Once again, with the tying run in scoring position, Nuta was intentionally walked. After Paul safely moved everyone up with an infield (well placed) hit,,, Tom becomes the Game 1 Hero with a Sac Fly to LC field… Easy Peezy 4-3 Victory!
To start Game 2, WADY pushed across 3 runs in the bottom of the first for a 3-0 lead. This did not look good as OBI was not yet rolling,,, till Inning 2. In the inning, 17 batters came to the plate and produced 13 runs giving OBI a 10-run lead they never relinquished…
After Jayse singled and Juan doubled, Spillane pushed across the first run with a Sac Fly to LF. The hit parade began at that point as Michael doubled, followed by a John single. Then back-to-back-to-back Doubles by Nuta, Paul and Tom pushed across 4 more runs. Larry, JR, Matt, Mando, and Jayse singled before Juan doubled home runs 10 and 11. Spillane followed Matts big inning effort from Week 2 (making the second and third outs in our 19 run inning) by making the first and second outs in this inning. Michael followed with a two run single that pushed the final 2 runs across in the inning.
After a quiet third inning at bat, WADY pushed across 4 as the Little Lefty Who Cannot Really Play RF Very Well But Always Seems to Hit Well Against Us, hit a 3-run Big Fly to RF that made the game interesting. But OBI followed suit with our own 4-spot to reclaim the 10 run lead at 17-7.
Larry, JR, Matt singled and with one out, Jayse doubled in the second run of the inning. Spillane followed up a Juan Sac Fly with an RBI Single to cap the inning scoring.
In the 5th inning, Tom singled and scored the only run when Larry and JR followed up with singles. This pushed the lead to 18-7. Two nice defensive plays in the bottom of the 5th inning preserved the run rule and we were like, Done with the Wind, Games, and had collected 2 wins in the process…
Defense was the main theme of the evening. Here are a few highlights, though I am sure to have left some out:
— Larry pitched 12 innings and gave up 10 runs. Including only 3 in the game 1 victory.
— The Outfield was spectacular in the WIND! With the difficulty factor raised exponentially by the howling wind (might have been the motorcycles over near the dam),,, catch after catch was made in seeming heroic fashion by all those who patrolled the night skies over field 5!!! From RFers making all the needful plays, to RC fielders hogging the balls curving back to the RF line, to LC fielders gauging the depth of several hard hit balls, to Nuta’s one hand stab late in the evening on the warning track, it was well played.
— The infield played well most of the night, highlighted by Nuta’s catch in foul ground in game 1, and the aforementioned bottom of the 5th plays by Michael at SS fielding a tough one-hop liner in the hole to get the first out with a bang bang play at first and Juan’s walk off Unassisted PutOut at 2B/Double Play…
Great job and let’s keep Split City away for a little longer. We have 5-1 Midlife Crisis up next this Thursday on Field 6 at 6:15/7:15… Clint will be back in time to reclaim 3B as John is off this week!
No comments:
Post a Comment