Game #10 Flames vs Leanna Indians

5/17/2008 Game Date

Our second rematch of the season came on rival territory on the ball field at Leanna. We would be playing against Leanna’s top team, the Indians. Our first game against the Indians ended up as a 21-6 contest. This game showed that our defense has come a long way as we managed three outs in every inning, and prevented them from sending their maximum of 10 batters an inning to the plate in all but one inning.

Before I get into the recap, the most impressive part of the game that took place off the field was the amazing work by Dorothy in the book keeping. I managed to leave both my primary and back-up score books in the wrong vehicle, so Dorothy tracked the entire game with hand written notes that were really impressive and a great help in maintaining the consisitency of information I’ve been able to pull on for these recaps, for the game balls, and for the player statistics that I’ll be publishing in the future.

Inning 1
Isaac started things off on a positive note with a solid hit and blazing speed to beat the throw to first base. Chris advanced Isaac with a sacrifice hit to the right side of the field. With two-outs Noah ripped a hit into left field for a double, which also allowed Isaac to score. Mike moved Noah over to third with a single of his own. With runners at the corners, Bubba drilled a shot into left field that was enough to bring home Noah, however Mike had to hold up at third. Bubba was safe at second with a double. We’d leave Mike and Bubba on base as a strike out closed out the top of the inning.

The Indians best inning for them was their first inning. It is the one inning they sent up their maximum of 10 batters, and the managed to score 7 runs, before we nailed down our third out. The first of their outs came from a strike out. The second was a hit to our shortstop, where Chris made a play and tagged the runner that was advancing from second. The last one came with a soft roller that Josh fielded at the pitchers mound. With the team trying to send their last hitter all the way around the bases, Josh simply positioned himself over by third, and made the tag when the runner advanced from second.

Inning 2
The second inning could have been missed if you blinked. Between both teams, only eight batters came up to the plate, four Flames and four Indians. Each team had one hit to three outs. Our hit game from a sharp grounder from Josh to lead things off. Unfortunately we left him stranded.

Much the same way, the Indians first batter landed herself a single. Then a strikeout, grounder to Pearson at first base, grounder to Josh who threw to Pearson for the out ended the inning.

Inning 3
Our third inning had flashes of potential, with Madi starting things off with a single. With one out on the score board, Pearson poked a double into left field. The Indians got the ball in quickly and prevented Madi from scoring. We’d leave our baserunners there as a ground out to first and a strike out brought our inning to a close.

The Indians bats were working in this inning. We still did a good job of shutting down anything major, but the Indians still managed to squeeze out five runs. One real nice play was a ball that Mike recovered while playing out in left-center. In trusting his arm he gunned the ball past the cut-off man electing instead to throw for home. Josh was playing a little short of home, and received the throw and successfully made a tag to catch the Indian trying to score. The Indians brought the rest of the inning to a close themselves with a pair of strike outs.

Inning 4
Our forth inning started off difficult, with some clean hit balls being gathered up and the Indians making nice defensive plays to make the outs. So, it was with two outs that Bubba came up to bat and with a mighty swing, caught only a piece the ball and it bounced a couple of times and landed just a few feet away from home plate, along the third base line. It seemed that everyone paused for a brief second as certainly the ball didn’t stop just inside the foul line – in fair territory. Then there was a flurry of action as Bubba raced for first base and the pitcher and catcher charged the ball. The end result was Bubba safe at first base, and our inning still alive. Tony followed up with a single to the left side of the field, that also moved Bubba up to second base. Josh came up and hit his second single of the game, scoring Bubba and moving Tony over to second base. We ended up leaving Tony and Josh stranded as our next batted grounded out to the first baseman for the last out in the top of the inning.

The Indians continued to play hard, and our Flames did their best to match the effort. Noah fielded a ground ball at first base and stepped on the bag for a force out. Mike was fielding second base, and successfully tracked down a high fly ball for an amazing catch that had both fans and teammates cheering. And Isaac tossed a ball to Chris who in turn threw it into Gray at home, where Gray was able to make the third and final out tagging the runner who was trying to score.

Inning 5
We found ourselves in a situation where we needed to score at least five runs in order to keep the game going and give ourselves a chance for a comeback. Alas it wasn’t meant to be, although there was a very impressive hit that deserves noting. With one out and nobody on, Dylan ripped a line drive that made its way past the second baseman, and into the outfield. Dylan ended up safe at second base with a double, and our only hit of the inning.

Flames: 3 Indians: 18

Game Ball
The first game ball that was awarded this evening went to Josh for a pair of hits, one which drove in a run, and nice fielding and throws from his position at pitcher.

The second game ball was provided to Mike for his great catch on a fly ball that was floating and required him to catch it on a run. An really impressive feat, and one that helped bring an inning to a close.

Thanks
To Perry and David Lee for the base coaching. To Dorothy with her amazing scorebook capabilities on a couple of sheets of paper. To Brian who started out assisting in the dugout, and to the parent who stepped in when Brian had to leave for another commitment half-way through the game.

Updated 2008 Schedule

Here is our remaining schedule as of 05/29/2008

Friday, May 30th – @Kittrell – 7:15 PM
Tuesday, June 3rd – Home – 7:15 PM on field #1 (Concessions 7:15 PM: Gray, Noah, Pearson)
Friday, June 6th – Home – 6:00 PM on field #1 (Concessions 7:15 PM: Michael, Isaac, Tony)
Saturday, June 7th – @Kittrell – Noon

Playoffs are projected for the week of June 16th

After Game Snack Responsibilities
Friday, May 30th – Madisyn
Tuesday, June 3rd – Joshua
Friday, June 6th – Faith
Saturday, June 7th – Michael

Game #8 Lascassas Cardinals vs Flames

5/10/2008 Game Date

This game was going to be an interesting measure of how well the kids progressed, as it was a rematch of our first game of the season, where the Cardinals won 19-6. Games like this are always interesting in themselves, as half the team is pointing and waving at friends and classmates in the other dugout, a clear reminder that this is a game with a focus on fun and enjoyment for them.

Inning 1
The game opened with some outstanding defensive play that had parents, players, and even the umpires excited. The lead-off batter got on base with a single. He didn’t advance beyond first though, as the second batter hit a sharp grounder to shortstop that Chris fielded cleanly and tossed to Faith at second base for the out. The next batter hit the ball up the middle, where Chris showed his range at shortstop and made an impressive stop. Chris was close enough to second that he stepped on the bag, and got the force out for the second out of the game. The Cardinals then managed a couple runs before having their inning finished when their seventh batter hit a ground ball to Josh on the pitcher mound, who in turn made a good throw to Noah at first base.

Isaac got things rolling for us with an opening single. Isaac flashed his speed on the basepaths when he went from first base to scoring at home on the hit that Chris put out in right-center field, which ended with Chris at second with a double. Noah then moved Chris over to third base with a double that he hit into left field. Bubba hit a ground ball to the first base man, who stepped on the base for the out, however, Chris showed hustle as he raced home for the score, and Noah advanced to thirdbase. We ended up leaving Noah stranded at third base, with Tony making a nice hit, but one that the Cardinals shortstop played cleanly and fired to firstbase, just in time for the inning ending out.

Inning 2
The second inning was one of the quickest of the year. The Cardinals first batter of the inning managed to get on base with a single. The second batter struck out for the first out. Another single placed runners on first and second. A pop-up to short, was caught cleanly by Chris for the second out. In a rare display of control, none of the Cardinals base runners attempted to advance on the pop-up. The next batter hit a strong shot that went straight down the third base line, where it was fielded by Bubba. Bubba stepped on third to get the force out, and end the top of the inning – preventing the Cardinals from scoring any runs in the inning.

Our second inning went quickly as well, with a pair of strikeouts (I was really wild for some reason in my pitching to Madi and she never really had a fair chance in that at bat) and a grounder to the first base man for an out. Faith managed our only hit of the inning with a two-out single that she used hustle and determination on in beating out the throw.

Inning 3
The Cardinals rebounded from a couple of sub-par innings for them offensively, and just exploded with some of the most impressive hitting we’ve seen this year. The Cardinals sent up the maximum ten batters for an inning, and eight of them scored. We got the other two batters out, however, we had to go back four games since we’ve not obtained all three outs for an inning. The two outs though were nice plays. We juggled things around a bit, moving Bubba to catcher, and Gray to third base. The move worked well for us, with Gray making one of the outs at third base on a grounder that was hit to him and he applied a tag on an advancing runner. Our other out was obtained by Faith at second base, where she fielded a ground ball and beat the runner to second base for the force out.

It appeared briefly as though the offensive explosion by the Cardinals may have cooled the Flames fire. Dylan led the inning off with a single. Isaac followed with a pop-up that was caught and the Cardinals managed to double Dylan, as he took a few steps of the base before realizing the ball was caught. Pearson tried to keep things rolling with a two-out single. Chris popped-up a ball that was caught by the third baseman to end the inning, leaving one runner on base.

Inning 4
My beliefs that the Flames may have been cooling appeared to be more my interpretation, as they seemed to take the field with an extra bounce in their step. Of course that could have been because we juggled some more of the kids defensive locations, giving a couple of them opportunities to play in postions they never did previously. While some may not agree with such a move, the fact that the players were excited about the opportunities made it a sound choice. As luck would have it, it even turned out rather decent too. Our first out of the inning came when Noah fielded a ground ball at third base, and fired it across the diamond to Pearson at firstbase. Pearson then had the opportunity to field a ball hit his direction where he simply stepped on first for the force out. Gray adjusted well to his move to left center field and fielded a ground ball that he tossed in to Faith at second, where she held onto the throw for a force out that ended the top of the inning. The Cardinals did manage four runs, but the Flames didn’t give them freely.

Noah was our first batter and led off with a shot into the outfield that ended with him standing safely at second base with a double. Bubba came up next and hit a shot to deep right that brought Noah home and allowed Bubba to get his own double. Tony hit a sharp grounder to the third base side, which allowed him to reach first base safely. Bubba stood pat at second base, as the Cardinals third baseman held the ball to prevent Bubba from advancing. Josh hit his pitch back up the middle to the pitcher, who turned and fired to third base, opting to get Bubba out at third base instead of going for Josh. Gray then hit a bouncing ground ball that made it past the Cardinals second baseman. Tony turned on his wheels and scored, while Josh advanced to second. Faith had another hit that left her safe at first base, however, the hit went to the shortstop who managed to tag Josh as he was advancing to third. Our inning ended with a strike out and runners on first and second.

Inning 5
The Cardinals flexed some offensive muscle again, scoring six more runs, however, our players held fast and obtained three outs to finish off the inning properly. One of the Cardinals fell to a strike out for the first out. The other two outs came from a force out at third base by Noah on a ground ball that he fielded, and the final out came from a tag that Chris applied on an advancing runner on a ground ball that he fielded at shortstop.

Dylan started the inning off for us with a single that he bounced down the third baseline. Isaac followed up with a single of his own that advanced Dylan to second. Pearson smashed a bomb to straight away center, driving in both Dylan and Isaac and leaving Pearson standing safe at third base with a triple. Chris hit a ball up the middle into shallow center, scoring Pearson and leaving himself with a single. A couple of rough at bats latter, we had two-outs with Chris standing on first. Tony kept things alive with a ground ball between short and third that had him safe at first and allowed Chris to advance to second. Josh then hit a ball to the second base side, where Tony narrowly beat out a race to second, while Chris scored in the confusion. Gray laid down a strong grounder up the middle, but this time the Cardinals won the foot race to second, getting there just in time to get Josh out as he was advancing from first. A hard fought inning, that netted us an additional four runs.

Cardinals: 20 Flames: 8

Game Ball
Gray received this game ball. In addition to his hit in the forth that brought home a run, Gray flashed his skills at both third base and in left-center in contributing to two key outs.

Notes: Our first rematch of the season went well. While the Cardinals managed to score 1 more run than our initial meeting, we scored 3 more, and we were neck and neck with them the first couple of innings. Over all a positive sign of improvement for the team.

Thanks
To Perry and David Lee for the help coaching the bases. To Dorothy for the help with the score book. To Brian for the help with the batting order and dugout management.

Game #7 Kittrell Giants vs Flames

5/9/2008 game date

Game seven came on a Friday that held cooler temperatures and a slight breeze that remained from the rain that happened the previous day and earlier that morning. As it turned out though, our Commissioner Wayne Wood did an amazing job of having the fields servicable and ready to play. We were the home team for this game, and the Flames seemed eager to take the field against their Kittrell opponents.

Inning 1
Kittrell got off to a rocky start, with two of their first three batters going down on strikes. They calmed down some then and managed to generate a pair of runs before a grounder to Josh, who made a nice throw and Noah a nice catch at first base to get the third and final out of the inning.

Pearson obtained our first hit in the game with a solid hit into deep left-center that had him standing safely at second base with a double. Chris followed up with a rocket to straight away center, which brought home Pearson and was good enough to have Chris standing at third base with a triple. With two outs against us, Mike kept things going by not giving up as he beat the throw to first base, which was enough to keep the inning alive and it allowed Chris to score as well. Bubba kept the game going with a single down the third base line, and Mike advanced to second. Tony made solid contact and put a ball into shallow left center. The Giants got the ball into second, but Tony was safe with a single, Bubba moved over to third, and Mike scored. Faith hit a gound ball to the shortstop, who had difficulty making a play. Faith was safe at first, Tony advanced to second and Bubba came home for our forth run on the inning. Josh hit a ball just over the pitcher’s head, and Tony and Faith were quick enough to advance, leaving the bases loaded. Gray hit a sharp line drive that the pitcher somehow knocked down. A heads-up throw home, and Tony was tagged out advancing to home.

Inning 2
The second inning had one of those moments that you hate to see in 7-8 year old ball, even when it happens to the other team. The Giants bats just weren’t clicking, and other than a couple foul tips, three consecutive batters ended up striking out.

Dylan obtained the first hit of the second inning for us with a groundball that just remained fair, but enough to have him safe at first with a single. Isaac followed it up with a sharp hit that allowed Dylan to advance to second with Isaac standing safe at first. Pearson loaded up the bases when he too hit an infield single. With the bases loaded and some of the Flames yelling words of support form the dugout, Chris kept the cycle running with a pop-up that fell just between infielders. It was enough to advance everyone a base – scoring Dylan and leaving the bases loaded. Noah caught part of a horrible pitch that I threw, but it was enough for a weak grounder that rolled into no-man’s land between the pitcher and the third base line. Noah was safe at first, Isaac scored, and both Pearson and Chris advanced. Our rally ended there, with the bases loaded, although we had a near game breaker with an amazing shot from Mike, that we were all shocked to see caught by the opposing team’s second baseman.

Inning 3
The Giants recovered from their rough second inning and managed to spray a few hits around enough to where they scored another run. Our Flames were on the ball though defensively, with Chris making stop at short and applying a tag on an advancing runner for out number one. Out number two was a strike out. Out number three came with a stop in right by Dylan, Bubba recovered Dylan’s throw and hustled to catch a runner that was heading home.

Our third inning wasn’t as action packed as the others in this game. Faith and Josh tried to get things rolling with a pair of singles, but nothing developed.

Inning 4
This time it was the Giants turn to struggle some more, with the first two batters striking out. Their forth batter hit a ball to Mike at second, where he was able to apply a tag on an advancing runner for the third out of the inning.

Our players were noticably excited. It quickly spread that it was the bottom of the forth inning, and our beloved Flames still held onto the lead. With energy bubbling from the seems, the Flames executed their best inning at the plate so far this year. Dylan obtained our first hit, a single that he hustled to beat out. Isaac followed suit, slapping the ball down and racing to first base for a single. Pearson came up to bat and hit a slow roller that allowed him to load up the bases with a single. With the bases loaded, Chris belted a bases clearing shot into left field, that rewarded him with a double. Noah hit a searing line drive that reached the fence in right-center. Noah made it safely to third and knocking in Chris. Mike hit a single up the middle that brought Noah home. Bubba moved Mike over to second with a single of his own. Tony hit a ground ball to the short stop, who elected to race Bubba to second base for the force out. The short stop lost sight of Mike, who made his away around the field to score. Tony was left on first base as our third out came with a strike out.

Inning 5
The Giants reached the point where they needed to score 9 runs to force the game to continue. Things started well, with a lead-off single, but then a pair of strike outs, followed by Josh fielding a ground ball and throwing to Pearson for the final out at first base brough the inning and game to a close.

Giants: 3 Flames: 12

Game Ball
Dylan received the first game ball, for his solid play in right field, and for getting our first hit of the second and forth inning, scoring twice, and for being so upbeat.

Bubba received the second game ball for a pair of key hits and a couple solid defensive plays, one of them being the tag that killed a Giants rally.

Thanks
To Mike and David Lee for the base coaching. To Dorothy for the score book assistance. To Brian for managing the chaos in the dugout and ensuring the right kids got up to bat.

Game #6 Flames vs Leanna Cardinals

5/5/2008

The storm that brought a premature end to our Friday night game ended up pouring enough rain that our Saturday game against Leanna was canceled as well. We didn’t have to wait long though, as a make-up game was scheduled a couple days later for Monday the 5th.

Inning 1
As the visiting team, we had the first opportunity to bat for the evening. Pearson obtained the first hit of the evening with a strong ground ball to the third base side. Chris moved Pearson over to third with a sharp hit that had Chris standing safely at first base. Noah then knocked in both Chris and Pearson with a shot into shallow right-center, and finished standing safely at second with a double. Mike followed with a hard grounder that got past the shortstop. The hit was good enough for Noah to score, and with some heads-up running, Noah found himself safe at second with a double. Bubba ended up moving Mike over to third with a bouncing grounder to first base. Unfortunately Mike wouldn’t advance beyond third as our last batter struck out swinging. A strong inning with three runs scored.

The Cardinals came strong out of the gate, with their lead-off batter belting a ball deep into the outfield that allowed him to round the bases for a homerun. Things settled down some with the Cardinals helping our cause by striking out twice, and Chris making a play on a ground ball at shortstop – allowing him to then tag the runner that was heading towards third base. With heads-up play by our outfielders as well (Madi, Tony, Isaac, and Dylan) baserunners were held to minimal advancement and even though they brought eight batters up to the plate, only four runs were scored.

Inning 2
The second inning was a frustrating inning for our batters. We sent up three batters with all three getting out. Faith had a good hit that went straight at the first baseman. Josh had a sharp shot that went made its way into right field with a good double. Then Gray had one of his best hits of the season in a nice fly ball that the second baseman made a remarkable grab on. Josh didn’t expect the ball to be caught and ended up getting doubled-up to end our half of the inning.

The Cardinals were very active in the inning, sending 10 batters to the plate, with seven of them scoring with the help of a triple and homerun. The defensive highlight came with the final out of the inning, where Bubba fielded a bouncing shot down the third base line, and made the tag on an advancing runner.

Inning 3
Madi led off the third inning for us with a grounder to the third baseman, but through hustle she beat the throw to first and was safe with a single. My pitching got a little wild and even through Dylan and Isaac fouled off a couple pitches, they both struck out on pitches that were outside of their reach. Pearson tried to keep things going with a nice hit up the middle, but the second baseman was able to cover it, and stepped on the base to get the force out, ending our half of the inning.

The Cardinals managed to send 10 batters to the plate again, although with less success this time around as the Flames refused to give up any more big hits. Our outfield rotation this time was Madi, Bubba (his first time in the outfield), Mike, and Dylan. They all had the opportunity to field a ball, with none of them allowing the ball to get by them, and making heads-up plays by making throws to the correct bases. Our first out of the inning came from a ground ball fielded by Faith at second, with a nice throw to Noah at first base. The second out came with one of the nice out field throws as Bubba got the ball into the infield, where Josh scooped it up and made a tag on a runner that was heading for home. The last out on the inning came from a Cardinal striking out.

Inning 4
With what was looking like our last at bat for the game, the Flames decided that they wouldn’t go quietly. Chris led things off with a hard grounder that turned out to be to much to handle for the opposing shortstop, rewarding Chris with a single. Noah followed that up with his second hit of the game, a nice hit to shallow right that ended with Chris on third and Noah safe at first. Mike came up next and caught just a piece of the ball, causing a slow roller that the pitcher had trouble with. Mike ended up being safe at first, and we had the bases loaded. After another wild streak that brought back-to-back strikeouts, Faith was determined to keep things going. Faith slapped down a hit between the pitcher and first baseman. The pitcher struggled with the grounder and made a bad throw before the first baseman was set. The ball went wide and Faith was safe at first. In the confusion, Chris, Noah and Mike displayed some good base running, with Chris and Noah scoring and Mike standing at third base. Josh then came up and hit a high shot that looked like it was going to fall between third and short, until the Cardinals third baseman made the catch on the fly ball for the third and final out of the game.

Flames: 5 Cardinals: 17

Game Ball
Noah received the game ball for some nice defensive play, as well as key hits and heads-up base running that resulted in two of our five runs.

Thanks
To Mike and David Lee for help coaching the base paths. To Dorothy for the score keeping assistance. To Brian for the batting order and dugout help.