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 |
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