Top Gun Diamond Wars Game 2: WR 10U Blue 13, Carolina Pirates 1

You know it's hot when the creative Frogg Togg wearing begins. That's JT under there somewhere:

And no, Bryce doesn't have a toothache:

If Saturday's first game was about consistency, the second game was more about timely (and big) hits. 10U Blue got just nine hits but got them at the right time, and a trio of pitchers combined on a three-hitter. 

The highlight of the game was Coach Kevin's amazing display of his razor-sharp predictive abilities, made even more impressive by the fact that Jennifer is out of town, meaning he is having to think for two. In the fourth inning, with West Raleigh holding an 8-0 lead, Asher began asking everyone in the dugout, "What time is it?" The answer, of course, is "Game time," despite the fact that the actual game time had been about 90 minutes before. Those tiny details are not really important.

Coach Kevin, however, responded to Asher's question by saying, "Time to get two runs." Literally, on the very next pitch, Gavin hit a two-run home run, leading to the obvious question: COACH KEVIN, WHAT KIND OF WIZARD ARE YOU?

West Raleigh finished the day 2-0 in pool play and awaits seeding and times for tomorrow, when the Gold bracket has craftily been scheduled for mid-afternoon so as to take advantage of the mild North Carolina summers. There may be some tricky seeding issues, because late afternoon and evening games were canceled due to a cloudburst that left the field looking like this:

Hopefully maybe it washed home plate over in line with second base.

Game 2 10U Blue scoring plays

First inning

Banks was hit by a pitch and stole second. Chace walked. Both runners stole a base, and then Banks came home after an error by the catcher. Chace moved to third, where he scored easily on Ben's double.

Score after one-half inning: WR 10U Blue 2, Pirates 0

Second inning
JT singled and stole second and third. Colin's fielder's choice scored him.
Score after one and a half innings: WR 10U Blue 3, Pirates 0

Third inning
With one out, Banks singled and stole second. Gavin singled. The runners worked a double steal, and then Chace drove them both in with a two-run triple. Ben's fielder's choice scored Chace.
Score after two and a half innings: WR 10U Blue 6, Pirates 0

Fourth inning
Joe walked. Asher went to second on an error, with Joe going to third. Andrew drove in Joe. Banks lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Asher. Gavin went deep to left for a two-run home run. Chace singled, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Ben walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Brady singled in Chace. JT lined a two-run single to finish the day's scoring.
Score after three and a half innings: WR 10U Blue 13, Pirates 0

Pitching Performances
Colin started and threw two scoreless frames, facing just one over the minimum.

Brady cruised through a hitless third.

Chace entered in relief in the fourth and got out of a jam with no further runs allowed.

Game 2 Web Gems

• Asher fired to second to nail a runner trying to steal second in the second, with Bryce applying the tag.
• 10U Blue put together a nifty double play in the fourth. With a runner on second, the hitter smoked a grounder to Gavin, who came up and threw to Brady to retire the hitter. The overeager runner went to third and never stopped. But Brady was too smart for that play, and immediately fired to Ben at the plate, who made a nice catch and slapped on the tag for the 6-3-2 double play.

Game 2 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
WR 10U Blue	2	1	3	7	X	X	13	9
Pirates	0	0	0	1	X	X	1	3