Madsports outscrapped 10U Blue in the championship game, as West Raleigh held a 6-4 edge in base hits but still fell 4-2.
Blue put up two quick first inning runs, but then what had been a potent offense dried up, and they mustered just two hits over the final five innings and put just two runners in scoring position over that stretch. Madsports, meanwhile, made the most of their four hits. They cobbled together their go-ahead run in the fifth without hitting the ball out of the infield, and two of their other three runs, including the game-tying run, were unearned.
The Blue offense, meanwhile, didn't do a very good job of forcing Madsports to make plays, lifting nine pop-outs to go with three strikeouts, meaning two-thirds of the outs were via strikeout or fly out.
The loss perhaps overshadows what was a very strong weekend performance in a tournament played with the entire team practicing together just once before taking the field. Every player on the team who was available to play pitched, every player got at least one hit, and every player played a variety of positions. Oh, and every player got ice cream.
The most telling photo of the weekend, though, came from Saturday's game. It was during a pitching change, so the defense had a little free time. Now, over the weekend, we saw defenders on other teams use this team in a variety of ways. Some of them sat on the ground. Some of them lay down on the ground. Some of them had their mothers come out of the stands and yell at them. Sometimes all the infielders got together, and sometimes all the outfielders got together.
But 10U Blue, though, used it differently. While the pitcher threw his warmup tosses to the catcher, suddenly there was all seven of the remaining defenders having a chat, as if they hadn't seen each other in days.
First inning
Elias led off with a single. Colin swatted an RBI triple, and then Gavin followed with an RBI triple of his own.
Score after one inning: WR 10U Blue 2, Madsports 1
Pitching Performances
Chace started and went two strong innings, allowing just one runner past first base.
Gavin threw an effective middle two innings and struck out a pair.
Andrew pitched well in two innings and struck out the side in the sixth.
- Colin made a tremendous stop in the hole on the right side to nab a hot shot by the leadoff man in the second inning, then threw to first for the out.
- Taking advantage of some confusion on the base paths, Ben threw to Andrew at second to eliminate a runner from scoring position in the fourth.
| Championship line score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H |
| Madsports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| WR 10U Blue | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
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