Area (Laurinburg) Championship: WR 9U Blue 11, North View 2

West Raleigh 9U Blue took the Area 1 Ripken championship with an 11-2 win over North View under the lights on Monday night. The teams were tied at two after the first three innings, but then the West Raleigh bats came alive to support another stellar pitching effort from the 9U Blue hurlers, as they walked just two in six innings.

Although West Raleigh did commit the first two errors of the weekend in the early innings, they tightened down the defense through the middle and late innings and made several blog-worthy plays (which is really the goal of any baseball player).

Offensively, although the bats weren’t quite as hot as they were yesterday, ten different hitters still reached base, and the baserunning—highlighted by aggressive, stellar plays from Chace and Andrew—was flawless.

“This is the first one,” Coach Sean told the team after the trophy ceremony. “We’ve got two more.”

Also, I would like to point out that as this is being written in the car on the way home, I still have an impressive collection of souvenir Laurinburg bugs flying around me, and I have a strong feeling it may take days before they are finally--if ever--eliminated. 

Championship Blue scoring plays

First inning

JT was hit by a pitch and Gavin’s fielder’s choice put runners on first and second. Chace lifted a fly ball that scored JT all the way from second and put Gavin on third. Brady’s hard shot scored Gavin to give West Raleigh back the lead.

Score after one inning: WR Blue 9U 2, North View 1

Fourth inning

Chace worked a leadoff walk and went to second on Brady’s single. Jake walked to load the bases. Back to back fielder’s choices from Andrew and Joey scored a pair, and then Andrew worked a perfectly executed steal of home.

Score after four innings: WR Blue 9U 5, North View 2

Fifth inning

Asher coaxed a leadoff walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. A fielder’s choice moved him to third, and then JT ripped an RBI single. Gavin crushed an RBI triple, and Chace scored him with a single. Brady reached on a fielder’s choice and Jake singled, setting up Andrew to blast a two-out, two-run triple.


Score after five innings: WR Blue 9U 11, North View 2

Pitching Performances

Gavin started and battled a couple defensive hiccups in his two innings.

Jake struck out the side in the third.

Asher closed it out with three perfect innings of relief.

Championship Web Gems

•    This was North View and not West Raleigh, but hey, you’ve got to give them credit—they turned a triple play in the second inning and even did it off a ground ball rather than the somewhat “easier” method of doing it off a line drive.

•    Asher, Gavin and Chace teamed up on a big rally-killing pickoff in the second that felt like it might have turned the momentum of the game.

•    Elias got a good jump and made a nice running catch in left-center.

•    Joey tossed off the mask and snagged a high popup at catcher in the fourth.

•    Asher caught a bullet of a line drive in self defense leading off the fifth.

•    JT straddled the bag at third base, fielded a grounder, and made a strong throw to a stretching Chace at first to retire the leadoff man in the sixth.

•    Asher ended it by springing off the mound and making a solid play on a jam shot down the third base line for the final out (yes, I just copied and pasted this from yesterday because I am lazy).

Monday's line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
North View	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	5
WR 9U Blue	2	0	0	3	6	0	11	6

Area (Laurinburg) Semifinals: WR 9U Blue 12, Laurinburg 0

Under delightfully shady skies, with a gentle breeze blowing and the grapes freshly picked out of a Sonoma vineyard—at least that’s what it looked like in Suite 1A, where the blogger and various other cool people were located. That was the perfect vantage point to watch Sunday’s 12-0 victory over Laurinburg in a game limited to four innings by the run rule.

How well did West Raleigh 9U Blue play on Sunday? So well that even Coach Sean’s postgame comments consisted mostly of, “You guys were really good today.” That’s a very high compliment.

This picture is not really related to that, I just thought it might be good to have a photographic record of what cool looks like:

Pick which aspect of the game you prefer. If it’s offense, then West Raleigh pounded out 13 hits in only three innings. Ten different players had a hit and eight different players scored a run. A big part of the offense was two-out hitting, as ten of the 12 runs scored with two outs, including seven straight in the decisive bottom of the third inning.

Maybe you prefer pitching, where Chace and Asher teamed up on 9U Blue’s second straight one-hitter (this one was at least a legitimate one-hitter rather than a Coach Sean defensive positioning error). Only one Laurinburg runner reached third base on the afternoon. In fact, you might say that Chace went through the Laurinburg hitters like water:

And then there’s defense, where West Raleigh played a second straight error-free game, making every play and coming within a breath of a gorgeous 6-4-3 double play.

The highlight of the afternoon came after the game, when 9U Blue was able to take a joint team picture with Creed and his Laurinburg squad, and was also able to present Creed with his pair of West Raleigh practice shirts and his white game jersey.

The victory moves 9U Blue into the area tournament championship game on Monday at 7 p.m. A win would make West Raleigh the area champions; a loss would require a meeting between the same two teams on Tuesday. Of course, an extra trip to Laurinburg might not seem so bad for certain members of the traveling party, who have clutchly identified the nearest Cook-Out and had that fine establishment (come on: they have corn dogs AS A SIDE ITEM) cater the postgame meal:

Semifinal Blue scoring plays

First inning

JT singled and moved to second on Gavin’s walk. Chace singled in JT, leaving runners on second and third after the throw. Brady drove in Gavin with a single, then both runners moved up on the throw. Jake walked to load the bases. After a force at the plate, Joey dropped in a two-run single.

Score after one inning: WR Blue 9U 4, Laurinburg 0

Second inning

Bryce walked. With two outs, Gavin cracked a single that eventually scored Bryce after some adventures in the outfield.

Score after two innings: WR Blue 9U 5, Laurinburg 0

Third inning

Three straight singles from Elias, Jake and Ben loaded the bases. Joey’s sacrifice fly scored Eli and put a pair of runners in scoring position. With two outs, Asher singled in Jake, starting a parade of three straight RBI singles from Asher, Bryce and JT. Gavin walked to load the bases again, and then Chace cleared them with a shot to the fence.


Score after three innings: WR Blue 9U 12, Laurinburg 0

Pitching Performances

Chace breezed through the first two innings, allowing just one hit.

Asher entered with the bases loaded and one out in the third and got out of it with no runs, then went 1-2-3 in the fourth to close it out.

Semifinal Web Gems

•    Nice play by Jake on a liner in right in the third.

•    Chace came off the bag at first to grab a slightly errant throw, then slapped the tag on the runner for the first out of the fourth.

•    Asher ended it by springing off the mound and making a solid play on a jam shot down the third base line for the final out.

Sunday's line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Laurinburg	0	0	0	0	X	X	0	1
WR 9U Blue	4	1	7	X	X	X	12	13

Area (Laurinburg) Game 1: WR 9U Blue 17, Hamlet 1

In the opening game of this weekend’s area tournament in Laurinburg, West Raleigh 9U Blue took a 17-1 win over Hamlet in four innings in a game that featured numerous exciting plays such as…zzzzzzzz.

Oh, sorry. In this game, because of a Ripken rule that allows only three dapper pants-wearing coaches to be in the dugout during the game, the blogger had to sit outside the dugout. And by sit outside the dugout, I mean sit in a setup that looked a little something like this:

So my attention might not have been quite as rapt as usual. It turns out there is a lot going on outside the dugout, what with the in-game wine and cheese presentations, the constantly having to remind the personal fan advisor to increase the tempo, and the incredibly difficult choices such as whether to put your feet up and recline or leave them on the ground. With tomorrow’s game being at 5 p.m., I am fully expecting that the setup will include an in-game dinner buffet, possibly including a ribeye steak and a couple of side dishes. Or at least some eastern North Carolina barbecue. I mean, we’re in Laurinburg.

Oh riiiiiight, you want to hear about the game. Until a Coach Sean defensive positioning error in the fourth inning, three West Raleigh pitchers combined on a no-hitter that eventually ended up being a one-hitter. Only one Hamlet runner advanced past second in a game that was also error-free defensively, and that was more than enough pitching and defense to support ten 9U Blue hits in three innings. Every spot in the order scored at least once, and nine different players had hits.

The highlight of the day was getting to catch up with Creed after the game:

The next game of the area tournament is Sunday at 5, with the winner advancing to Monday night’s championship game. Thanks to the Shady Committee (President: John Walsh/Seating Coordinator: Jennifer Dail/Grandfather Emeritus: Jim Lucas) for all their help today.

After the game, some of the day's heroes retired to an area hotel to recharge before Sunday's game. It was great to see all the youngsters having fun together while also taking their suitcases to the swimming pool? remaining very well hydrated and not at all giving in to peer pressure:

OOPS. WRONG PHOTO! HA HA! SCRATCH THAT! YOU KNOW HOW THESE DARN COMPUTERS ARE! MIND OF THEIR OWN!

Oh yeah, here's the right one:

Game 1 Blue scoring plays

Second inning

Jake opened the floodgates by reaching leading off the inning. A wild pitch moved Jake to second, and then Banks put runners at the corners with a hard shot. Jake scored the game’s first run on an error, and then Ben singled home Banks. Asher singled to put runners at the corners, then took second on the throw. A wild pitch scored Ben and moved Asher to third. Elias and Bryce picked up back to back walks. JT ripped a fielder’s choice that eventually scored two. Gavin singled home JT, then moved to second on a wild pitch. Chace singled home Gavin and took second on the throw. Brady reached on a hard grounder, then Chace scored and Brady moved up on an error. A wild pitch scored Brady with the inning’s final run.

Score after two innings: WR Blue 9U 8, Hamlet 0

Third inning

Elias walked and moved to third on a pair of wild pitches. Joey walked. JT singled home Eli. Andrew singled home Joey. Chace’s single eventually brought in a pair. After a stolen base, Chace moved to third on Brady’s single and scored on an error. Jake advanced Brady to third. Banks dropped in a perfectly placed ball that scored Brady. With two outs, Asher walked, and then Eli’s single scored Jake. Joey finished the day’s scoring with an RBI single, and Coach Sean eventually ended the inning by finally running down Asher down the third base line and touching him to commit an egregious infraction for the third out of the inning.

Score after three innings: WR Blue 9U 17, Hamlet 1




Pitching Performances

Banks cruised through the first two innings, striking out five.

Jake hurled a hitless third.

Brady closed it out in a scoreless fourth.

Game 1 Web Gems

•    Banks and Chace worked the rare pickoff on a walk and nabbed the unsuspecting leadoff man in the second.

•    Probably a few too many throws, but West Raleigh eventually executed a rundown between first and second to end the third.

•    Brady sprinted off the mound towards the third base line and made a nice whirling throw to Jake at first to retire the leadoff man in the fourth.

•    Ben threw a laser to Andrew at second to cut down the final out of the game trying to steal second.

Saturday's line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Hamlet	0	0	1	0	X	X	1	1
WR 9U Blue	0	8	9	X	X	X	17	10