Top Gun Summer State Championship: Rivercats 9, WR 10U Blue 7

A long, hot day came to an end with a 9-7 loss to the Rivercats in the championship game. West Raleigh played from behind for much of the game, climbing back from down 3-1 to take a 4-3 lead in the top of the third. The spark for the rally seemed to be some timely dugout sniping. Not sniping as in arguing, but sniping as in sniping:

But then the Rivercats scored six straight runs before Blue put together a three-run rally in the top of the sixth, eventually bringing the potential tying run to the plate before succumbing.

Monday is an off day before returning to the practice field on Tuesday.

Championship WR 10U Blue scoring plays

First inning

Bryce led off with a single. An error by the pitcher put him on third, and he scored on Gavin’s fielder’s choice.

Score after one-half inning: WR 10U Blue 1, Rivercats 0

Third inning

Joe singled and stole second. Bryce singled him home. Gavin crushed a two-run home run.

Score after two and a half innings: WR 10U Blue 4, Rivercats 3

Sixth inning

Gavin drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Chace’s fielder’s choice moved him to third. Banks hit an RBI single. Ben hit what Coach Sean correctly described as a “no-doubter,” a two-run home run deep over the left-center field fence.

Score after five and a half innings: Rivercats 9, WR 10U Blue 7




Pitching Performances

Banks started and took the game into the second.

Bryce got a big out in relief, stranding a runner, and then pitched through the third.

Gavin got the leadoff man in the fourth.

Colin got two huge outs with a pair of bases-loaded strikeouts in the fourth.

Championship Web Gems

•   Gavin made a diving stop from his shortstop position to end the second.

•   Ben threw out a runner stealing third in the third.

•   With runners on second and third in the fifth, Gavin fielded a grounder and threw to Asher at the plate, who applied the tag to cut down the run.

Championship line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
WR 10U Blue	1	0	3	0	0	3	7	10
Rivercats	1	2	2	1	3	X	9	10

Top Gun Summer State Championship Semifinal: WR 10U Blue 14, WR 10U Red 3

Some very familiar faces showed up in the day’s second game, as the opponent was the second-seeded West Raleigh Red team. But first, Blue had to kill a little time between games. The object of this game was very simple: the goal was not to move. Really, that’s the complete set of rules. Coach Regan is a very harsh referee.

The game also marked the debut of 10U Blue’s very own fan, a Hardy-Built creation that was the envy of opposing teams and umpires alike.

“Does that fan shoot mist?” asked one opposing coach. “Not yet,” felt like the appropriate answer, since there’s no telling what might happen between now and next weekend.

Blue put three quick first-inning runs on the board, then led 4-1 going into the fourth. Coach Sean asked for seven runs. They decided to score ten instead. Fourteen hitters came to the plate in the fourth, putting together four hits to go with four walks and a handful of errors as Blue broke the game wide open.

The victory sent 10U Blue on to the championship game, a third straight game on a sweltering day.

Semifinal WR 10U Blue scoring plays

First inning

Gavin worked a one-out walk, then stole second. He went to third on a fielder’s choice, then scored on a wild pitch. Andrew smacked a two-out double, stole third, and scored on an error by the catcher. Banks singled, stole second and third, then scored on an error by the catcher.  

Score after one-half inning: WR 10U Blue 3, WR 10U Red 0

Third inning

Some really complex scoring in this inning: Gavin homered.

Score after two and a half innings: WR 10U Blue 4, WR 10U Red 0

Fourth inning

The second-biggest offensive inning of the summer started with one out, as Ben walked. He stole second, then hustled around to score on Brady’s fielder’s choice. JT walked and stole second. Colin went through the right side to score Brady. Joe singled home a pair. A wild pitch moved him to third, and he scored on Asher’s single. Asher stole second, went to third on Bryce’s single, and scored on a wild pitch. Bryce stole second and scored on a pair of wild pitches. Gavin and Chace walked. A fielder’s choice from Andrew scored a pair. Andrew stole second, then hustled all the way home on a fielder’s choice from Banks.

Score after three and a half innings: WR 10U Blue 14, WR 10U Red 1




Pitching Performances

Chace started and fired two scoreless innings, including a pair of strikeouts.

Andrew tossed a hitless third.

Joe fought through the fourth and left the bases loaded with some big pitches.

Semifinal Web Gems

•   In a first and third situation, Asher made a snap throw to Chace on the mound, who made a quick relay to Bryce at third base, who slapped on the tag to get a big momentum-killing out.

•   Gavin dashed in to make the catch on a pop up that looked like it might fall just over the pitcher’s mound.

•   Andrew, Colin and Ben teamed up on a sweet double play in the third. With runners on first and second, the hitter dropped down a bunt. Andrew came off the mound to field it and threw to Colin covering first, where the out was recorded. But the overambitious runner tried to round third and score, not counting on the fact that Colin was going to fire to Ben at the plate for the rare 1-4-2 double play.

Semifinal line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
WR 10U Blue	3	0	1	10	X	X	14	8
WR 10U Red	0	0	1	2	X	X	3	5

Top Gun Summer State Championship Quarterfinal: WR 10U Blue 6, Longhorns 3

In a game that was about as exciting as the 8:30 a.m. start time would indicate, 10U Blue outlasted the Longhorns, 6-3, in a game that went the full six innings. As J.T. observed late in the game, “Are we going to play the sixth inning? We never play the sixth inning!”

They did indeed play all six innings in this one, because the offense was still a little groggy. The West Raleigh bats managed just six hits, a tournament low, but still turned that into six runs with some timely hitting and some aggressive baserunning.

Despite some of the on-field (and possibly off-field) sleepiness, the game did mark the debut of a very exciting moment: the cream uniforms.

What’s even more exciting was that everyone actually had cream pants that fit, or came close to fitting. This is more exciting than some people might think.

A special word of recognition for the Shady Committee, which had to operate without Capt. John, but still managed some bi-level tent shenanigans:

Quarterfinal WR 10U Blue scoring plays

First inning

Bryce led off with a single, stole second and third, and then scored on Chace’s sacrifice fly.

Score after one inning: WR 10U Blue 1, Longhorns 0

Second inning

Two consecutive shots through the right side scored Banks and put Brady on second. Brady stole third, then scored on a one-out double from Elias. A passed ball advanced Elias to third, and then a wild pitch scored him.

Score after two innings: WR 10U Blue 4, Longhorns 0

Fourth inning

Brady walked, stole second, and scored on another one-out double from Elias.

Score after three innings: WR 10U Blue 5, Longhorns 1

Fifth inning

Asher led off with a double, advanced to third on Ben’s fly ball to right, then hustled home when the catcher made an errant return throw to the pitcher.

Score after five innings: WR 10U Blue 6, Longhorns 2




Pitching Performances

Bryce started and fired a 1-2-3 first inning, needing just 11 pitches.

Banks threw a hitless inning of relief in the second.

Ben breezed through two innings with just 12 pitches.

Asher had a nine-pitch inning.

Colin closed it out by recording the save in the sixth.

Quarterfinal Web Gems

•   Joe made a sliding catch in left field against the leadoff man in the second.

•   Colin hustled over behind first base in the third inning to grab a pop up.

•   When the leadoff man smoked a would-be single to right in the fourth, Asher came up throwing and gunned out the hitter at first. However, the umpire called him safe. He was incorrect.

•   With a runner on second in the fifth, the hitter smacked a single to right. The runner scored, but Elias fired in a bullet from right to Asher as the cutoff man. Asher cut off the throw, then turned and fired to Banks at first to get the hitter taking too wide a turn. This time, the umpire correctly called him out, even after the opposing coach called “absolute time,” which is a much different stoppage of play than just calling timeout.

•   Andrew ended the game by making a running catch of a pop up behind first base.

Quarterfinal line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Longhorns	0	0	0	1	1	1	3	4
WR 10U Blue	1	3	0	1	1	X	6	6