The Thunder showed up in their sharp black uniforms ready to go Friday night. Relegated to a smaller field, more like our home field at Medlock, the boys were anxious to get started and see what they could do against Winston Baseball from Douglas County. James Huey, fresh off the DL, was not in the starting lineup, but was ready to come off the bench to pinch-hit. Once again, Coach Phil won the coin toss and chose to be the home team. Ryan Murray took the "mound" and threw the first pitch of the game at 8:05. The temperature was 78˚ and dropping on a swell night at Kennworth Park. Ryan had some control trouble early, but settled in and overcame a lead off walk and shaky fielding with just 2 runs scored. In the bottom frame, Jack Purdy got things going with a shot that would have been an easy double on Field 3, but was held to a long single. Max walked and Ryan reached on an error and the bases were loaded with Thunder. JJ was the victim of some high strike calls and the inning ended with no runs scored for the Thunder.
In the top of the 2nd, the Thunder gave Winston an extra out and the team in blue pushed across one more run to extend their lead to 3-0. Beek led off the bottom of the second, stole 2nd and 3rd, and was stranded there as the Winston hurler struck out the side. Still no runs for the Thunder.
Coach Phil made a pitching change in the third and rookie Mercer Buechner took the mound looking to hold Winston right where they were. A fielding error and a solid double put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no out. A tapper back to the mound caused some confusion and Winston pushed across two runs. Mercer got out of the inning with some solid pitching and the score was 5-0. The Thunder could not get anything going in the bottom of the third and a chill began to set in for the kids from in-town.
Things got interesting in the fourth. A fly-out to right by Winston was followed by a base-on-balls. The runner took second, but Kenzilla was not impressed. The confident baserunner tried to swipe third, but was out from me to you on a perfect throw to third. Two down. The next batter hit what appeared to be an easy grounder to short, but took a "Medlock" hop and ricocheted off Jack's forehead. Momentarily stunned, he stayed in the game with the imprint of baseball stitches right over his eyes. After play resumed Mercer struck out #34 to end the inning and for the first time of the night, Winston was held scoreless.
It was getting late and it looked bleak for the Thunder after two quick outs. Beek hustling down the line reached on an error by the shortstop and Ben followed with a single and the Thunder were threatening with runners on the corners. James Huey pinch-hit for Mashman and lined a single up the middle. Ben moved to third and Mercer scored. The Thunder had finally broken through. Connor came back in to pinch-run for Huey and attempted to steal second. The catcher sailed the ball into center allowing Ben and Connor to score. Suddenly, we had a ball game. Heading to the final inning, the Thunder had pulled within 2 runs.
Coach Phil, confident in Mercer's arm, kept #18 on the mound to face the top of the order for Winston. The first batter grounded out to short. The #2 hitter, who already had a single and a double on the night reached on an error. The next batter hit a single to Kenny in left. The runner had his eyes on third and so did Kenny, who threw him out by 5 feet. The next batter hit a come-backer to the mound and the top of the fifth was done.
Kenny led of the bottom half with a solid single and stole second. Noah and Jack could not advance the runner and the Thunder were down to their last out. Max walked on four pitches and that brought Ryan Murray to the plate. Ryan hit a towering double to left center that plated Kenny and Max and the game was tied! Jarret hit a sharp grounder to 3rd and hustled down the line, but was thrown out to end the game. The Thunder stayed together and played the whole game to avoid a loss and really seem to be coming together as a solid team. Thunder parents, all in black, were happy to have Dr. Mashman around, as it looks like they will need heart monitoring throughout the summer. The seeding games are over. Let's play some tournament ball!
Interesting Stats:
- Freshmen Mercer and Ryan continue to contribute with bats and arms.
- James Huey stayed loose in the dugout and had a huge hit to get the Thunder on the board.
- Coach Phil picked out really cool uniforms!
-Jack Hammond and Steve Jones are brilliantly keeping score for the Thunder, analog and digital, respectively.
-Mercer's Uncle Thomas, who enjoyed the heartburn so much from game 1, decided to have additional hot dogs on Friday.
-152 miles logged so far.
So long everybody.
Winston at DHYS Thunder Box Score
WP: -, LP: -, SV: -
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E L Winston 2 1 2 0 0 5 8 4 8 DHYS Thunder 0 0 0 3 2 5 6 3 6
Great write up Chris.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as a coach and, more importantly, as a father I would be remiss if I didn't point out that it was actually Kenny who was catching in the fourth and threw out the runner trying to steal third. :^)
Phil,
ReplyDeleteDuly noted and edited. Thanks for correcting!
Chris
Chris,
ReplyDeleteJust for a correction on the ground ball that hit my head, I was not stunned but more like amazed at how hard the ball hit my forehead. While I was kneeling I was just talking to myself saying, "Wow!. Man that hit me hard."
For anyone that is worried about my head, it is just fine and the hump is less than half the size it was last night. Those stitches are still there. It hasn't hurt whatsoever ever since I got in the car to leave the ballpark.
Jack