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