Softball+06-16-2013

=Chalices Overcome Injuries But Not Union Grove, 12-10=

The Flaming Chalices overcame a bee sting and 2 pulled leg muscles, and held a late inning lead, but could not overcome the powerful hitting of Union Grove Methodist Church, who came away with a come from behind victory, 12-10. Although the game was our third straight loss, I can see the progress the team is making each week. Our run total the last 3 weeks has been 3-5-10, our hit total 8-12-18, and team errors 3-2-0. Continual improvement!

It was a see-saw game from the get-go, as Union Grove took an early 2-0 lead, only to have Community Church leap frog with 4 unanswered runs in the 1st through 3rd innings. In the first, OF Matt Nelson singled, OF Will Bara doubled, and 1B Jim Morris singled to drive in Matt. In the 2nd, with the bases loaded and 1 out, OF Nils Brubaker drove a single up the middle to score 2B Julie Tucker and P Steve McCaw, who had earlier singled. And in the third, Matt scored again, this time from 1st base on a single by Will followed by an error on the throw to 3rd base.

In the 4th, UG scored 4 runs to take a 2-run lead, but we came right back and scored 5 runs to reclaim the lead, by 9-6. In that frame, OF Mark Smith reached first on an error, advanced to 2nd on a single by Steve McCaw, took third on a fielder's choice ground out from C Vera Smith, then scored on a dribbler to the pitcher by Nils. SS Sara McCaw then lined a single to left the load the bases for Matt and Will, or #2 and 3 hitters. They both delivered clutch 2-out hits: Matt cracked a single to right that scored Vera and Nils; Will followed with a booming double to deep center, to score Sara and Matt, completing the 5-run inning.

Neither team scored in the 5th, but in the 6th, Union Grove exploded for 5 runs, as they hit 3 balls over our heads in left center as well as dumping a couple half swing hits into the vacant short outfield. Down by 3 we tried valiantly to come back. Matt and Will led off the bottom of the 7th with a single and triple, bringing us one run closer. However, that was all we could muster, as the remainder of the lineup went hitless to close out the game.

Matt and Will led our team offensively, each 4-for-4 at the plate. Matt also scored every team he reached base, and drove in 2 more runs. Will had a breakout game, notching a single, 2 doubles and a triple, to drive in 3 runs. Jim Morris, Steve McCaw and Nils also had multiple hits, 2 apiece. Nils also knocked in 3 runs. 9 of our 10 players had at least one hit in the game. The only downside to our game today was baserunning. We were not attentive and got doubled off base once, and had 2 runners cut down trying to stretch an extra base.

On defense, we had a tough time running down all the hard, high and long hit balls from the Union Grove bashers. Seems like their hitters really liked left center. Their longest hits went there; all 6 outfield putouts were made by the left center fielder. The infield play was very solid: P Steve McCaw threw out 3 batters; 3B Pete Siragusa caught a couple line drives and threw out a runner; SS Sara McCaw caught line drives, popups and fielded ground balls without error; 2B Julie Tucker, limping on a pulled quadriceps, nonetheless led the infield with 2 putouts and 4 assists; and 1B Jim Morris caught every ball thrown his way. Great job.