Softball+06-17-2012

=Chalices Earn First Win, 8-4=

The Community Church softball combined clutch hitting and clutch defense to prevail over St. Paul AME in a close-fought game, 8-4. Two big innings provided all the scoring we needed, and then the defense delivered 3 double plays to snuff out any opposition attempts at overcoming our lead. Before the game, I was worried that we would not have enough players. Fortunately, we had surprise (to me, anyway) appearances from Mark Bruhn, Julie Tucker and newcomer Sara McCaw. That gave us a full team plus 2 subs. Thanks to all of you who showed up on a beautiful mild Sunday afternoon, and contributed to our first win of the season. The game did not start out auspiciously, as we committed 2 errors in the first inning, allowing St. Paul to score 2 runs. Meanwhile, we went through the top 8 of our batting order and only collected 2 hits and no runs in 2 innings. In the top of the 3rd, AME scored another run on a home run, to take a 3-0 lead. Things began to turn our way in the bottom half of the inning. With one out, DH Lennon Mehrbach hit a bad hop single through the second baseman. I followed with a soft fly ball to short right field which was dropped by the fielder for an error. SS Sara McCaw followed with a lined single through the left side of the infield to load the bases. CF Nick Bailey hit a ground ball back to the pitcher, who wanted to throw home for the forceout, but the AME catcher did not cover the plate, so the pitcher held the ball, all runners were safe, and a run scored. 3B Julie Tucker followed with a big single to left that drove in me and Sara, to tie the game at 3-3. LF Matt Nelson followed suit with another single to left, this one scoring Nick and sending Julie to 3rd. 1B Glenn Mehrbach grounded out to the second baseman, but Julie scored on the play, which gave us the maximum 5 runs in the inning, and a 5-3 lead. We nursed that lead playing good defense over the next 3 innings. In the top of the 4th, St. Paul got a baserunner with one out, but with the manager's wife batting, she rolled a ball to Julie at 3rd, who fired to 2B Jean Genova for the forceout at 2nd. Jean managed to turn and make a perfect throw over the oncoming runner's head to me at 1st to beat the batter by 2 steps and complete the double play, our first of the year. Great play by Julie and Jean. In the 6th, AME again threatened, getting runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. One of their hitters lofted a high fly to pretty deep left field. Matt backpedaled several feet to get under the ball and make the catch. He threw into 2nd base, where the ball temporarily got away. The runner on 2nd tried to take advantage of the loose ball to score, but the relay from Sara to Terri nipped him at the plate for the 3rd out. In the bottom half of the 6th, Julie led off with another single and Matt followed with a towering drive to center field well over the outfielder's head. He chased Julie all the way around the bases to score a 2-run home run, our first team home run of the season. Watching Matt hit those kind of balls in practice, I've been waiting for him to launch one of them in a game. It couldn't have come at a better time. We scored another insurance run later in the inning courtesy of Jean Genova, who smacked a base hit up the middle with 2 outs to drive in OF Mark Bruhn from 2nd base. We went into the final inning with a nice 5-run cushion. At the beginning, it seemed like we would need that cushion. Three Chalices errors led to a run, and we were facing bases loaded, no outs, and their best hitter was up. Perhaps over eager, he swung at a bad pitch and grounded back to the pitcher (Jeff), who forced out the runner at home. Now there was one out. Next batter hit a fly ball to left field. Matt made the routine catch, but the runner on 3rd had inexplicably run home before the ball was caught. Matt fired the ball into Julie at 3rd who completed the double play for the 3rd out and the win. In summary, the Flaming Chalices collected 15 hits today, a season high, and for the first time we had at least one hit in every inning. Besides his home run, Matt collected 2 other hits for a perfect 3-for-3, and a team-leading 3 RBI. Mark Bruhn, after not playing for 4 weeks, came back with a 3-for-3 day also. Julie Tucker and Mark Smith each had 2 hits. Nine of our 12 hitters had at least one hit. Runs were very evenly distributed as well, with 7 different players scoring at least one run. On defense, we made 13 assists, also a season high. Most of the assists were recorded by our talented infield of P Jeff Nelson, 2B Jean Genova, SS Sara McCaw, and 3B Julie Tucker, throwing to their capable receivers, C Terri Houston, 1B Glenn Mehrbach and Nils Brubaker. Sara led the team with 4 assists; she was terrific at handling tough chances and making strong throws to first base. Matt led the team in putouts with 5, playing at SS and LF, and started 2 double plays from the outfield.