Softball+2016-08-20

=Holy Family Outlasts Community Church, 8-7=

With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Holy Family's 2nd hitter drove a ball into the gap in left center that LF Matt Nelson could not quite reach. The ball bounced past Matt, allowing the HF baserunner on 1st base to score with the game-winning run. That run marked the 7th lead change in a very close, competitive contest.

We would never have reached that point in the game without Matt's stellar play at the plate and in the field. Matt drove in our last 2 runs, a sacrifice fly in the 5th and and a 2-out run-scoring single in the 8th. In the field, he threw out 2 runners from left field, in the 8th and 9th innings. In the 8th, HF had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, when Matt caught a sinking line drive, then threw to 2nd base to double up the runner, who was sure the ball would drop in. In the 9th, HF's last place hitter hit a soft liner over the infield; Matt played it on the bounce in shallow left and made a perfect strike throw to first base to get the batter by a half step.

Community Church started out with a 4-run outburst in the 1st inning, all with 2 outs. After the first 2 hitters popped out to 2nd base, the next 5 batters all hit safely: Will Bara double, Pete Siragusa single, Mark Bruhn single to drive in Will, Brian Moyer single, and then the big blow by Quinton Adams. He lined a ball to left center, straight at the HF outfielder. The ball's flight froze the outfielder who didn't know how hart it was hit. It carried over his head, and when the dust settled, Quinton was standing at 3rd with a bases clearing triple!

Holy Family came back to tie the game 4-4 after their next 2 at-bats. The Chalices reclaimed the lead in the 3rd when Will hit a towering fly ball to the base of the fence in right center field. He raced around the bases and drew a throw to 3rd base, which got past the 3rd baseman. So, Will continued to home and scored ahead of the final throw. In the 4th, Holy Family scored 2 more runs and claimed their first lead in the game. It did not last long as we got that run back in the top of the 5th. Three singles by Jeff Nelson, Nils Brubaker and Nick Bailey loaded the bases with 1 out and our two most dangerous hitters coming to the plate. Matt drove a ball into right center field, but the kid playing there (probably their best outfielder) made the catch and attempted to throw home to get Jeff trying to score. Jeff scored easily, while Nick and I also advanced one base. Runners at 2nd and 3rd, two outs, for Will. He hit another towering fly ball to deep right center, but not quite as far as the last time, and the same young outfielder made the catch to retire the side. Our defense held strong, shutting out Holy Family for next 3 innings. But we also could not score the necessary run to take a lead. In the top of the 7th, Bruce Paden hit a lead-off triple, but got caught in a rundown 2 batters later when he attempted to score on a fly out by Jeff. Finally, we got a run in the 8th, again after 2 outs. Nick doubled to center field, then scored on Matt's line drive into right field. Bottom of the 8th, Holy Family broke their string of scoreless innings and got the first 2 batters on base, 2nd and 3rd, no outs. It looked pretty dire, but then Matt came through with the catch described above, and caught one of their runners too far off base to get a double play. Unfortunately, with 2 outs, the next batter hit safely and the tying run scored from third. In the top of the 9th our 5-6-7 hitters all went down 1-2-3, on fly balls or popups.That was the first inning of the game we did not have at least one baserunner. Maybe our bats were tired after playing for almost 2 hours. In the bottom half, we retired the first 2 HF batters (one on the great throw from Matt to first base). But the next 2 hitters (top of the HF batting order), made 2 solid hits, enough to score a run and end the dramatic contest. As a team we collected 16 hits over 9 innings. Every batter in the line-up had at least one hit. Will led the team with 3 hits, Nick and Mark had two. Defensively we played very well. Mark Bruhn was a monster in the outfield and at 2nd base, leading the team with 6 putouts. The ball was drawn to Mark's glove like a magnet. Overall, our outfielders caught something like 10 or 11 fly balls, with not one dropped ball. Every outfielder caught at least one fly ball. Excellent play.