In front of eastern North Carolina’s finest
security force, West Raleigh took a 10-0 five-inning victory over the Outer Banks in the opening
game of the area tournament.
Perhaps still adjusting to their surroundings at
scenic Otis “Dicey” King Field (motto: plenty of parking available as long as
you have a sticker), 10U Blue managed just four hits, but took advantage of
five walks and a couple of hit batters to plate the ten runs.
“That was not our best game,” Coach Sean told the
team before they went out to enjoy the Roanoke Rapids nightlife. “We need to
have a better approach at the plate.”
Despite the lack of offensive fireworks, three 10U
Blue pitchers still combined for the third West Raleigh shutout of the summer.
And in this one, the pitchers combined with a solid defensive effort to never
allow an OBX runner to reach third base.
The win advances West Raleigh to Friday’s 3 p.m.
game on the same field, assuming 10U Blue hasn't been kicked out of Roanoke Rapids by then for moves like these:
Game 1 WR 10U Blue scoring plays
Second inning
Chace was intentionally walked leading off the inning, presumably because the kind folks from the OBX knew Coach Eric was out
of town and didn’t want him to miss anything. Ben singled. A walk to Andrew
loaded the bases. Brady cleared them with a three-run double. He went to second
on a fielder’s choice from Elias, and scored on a fielder’s choice from Asher.
Score after two innings: WR 10U Blue 4, OBX 0
Fourth inning
10U Blue did it with two
outs, as Brady reached on a fielder’s choice. He went to second on a passed
ball. Colin walked. JT smoked a two-run double.
Score after four innings: WR 10U Blue 6, OBX 0
Fifth inning
Bryce cracked a leadoff
double and went to third on a wild pitch. He scored on a fielder’s choice from “Outer”
Banks, who then moved up to second on a wild pitch. He tagged and went to third
on Gavin’s fly ball. Chace was hit by a pitch to earn fish and chips some ice cream and then stole second. Ben
walked. Joe’s fielder’s choice scored Banks. Brady’s shot to the outfield
scored Chace. Colin did a great job of getting the stand-up walk-off by, well,
standing there and letting some OBX defensive issues score Ben with the tenth
run.
Score after five innings: WR 10U Blue 10, OBX 0
Pitching Performances
Andrew started and fired two hitless innings,
facing the minimum.
Joe threw a scoreless two innings in the middle of
the game.
Asher closed it out with a hitless fifth.
Game 1 Web Gems
•
With a runner on second and no outs in the second,
Asher blocked a ball in the dirt, then fired to third to get the unwise runner
trying to advance.
•
Asher and Chace teamed up to pick the leadoff man
off first in the third.
•
With the runner attempting to steal second, Asher
threw to Gavin, who made a nice tag around the bag to end the third.
•
Joe did a good job of hustling over from the mound
(PFP!) to cover first and take the toss from Chace to get the leadoff man in
the fourth.
•
Bryce threw off the mask and caught a pop-up at
catcher to end the fifth.
|
Game 1 line score
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
R
|
H
|
|
OBX
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
X
|
0
|
2
|
|
WR 10U Blue
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
X
|
10
|
4
|
