Softball+07-21-2013

=Holy Family Crushes Community Church, 21-1=

Holy Family brought their A-team today and gave the Flaming Chalices a shellacking on both offense and defense, ending the afternoon with a 21-1 victory after 5-1/2 innings of play. Hitter after hitter pounded line drives or hard ground balls that we had no chance to field. Holy Family scored the maximum 5 runs in 3 of the 5 innings in which they batted. I didn't keep strict count, but it seemed like most of their runs were scored with 2 outs, making it all the more frustrating that we could not get the final out to stop the bleeding. When the Flaming Chalices batted, Holy Family played very solid defense, making all the routine plays and some tough ones as well. When we got runners on base, they were able to often get the lead runner on a ground ball forceout. Not that we didn't have chances. We got a runner as far as 3rd base two or three times, but only scored on one of those occasions. Our lone run came on a strange play with 2 outs and a runner on third, Glenn Mehrbach hit a high popup in the infield. The first baseman muffed the ball and it rolled towards the area between the mound and first base. Normally, Glenn would have easily been safe, but he stumbled while running to first, and before he could recover, the pitcher picked up the ball and tagged him out. Although it was the 3rd out, because the out was recorded as a tag play and not a forceout, it was ruled that the run counted. Not much else to write about on offense, as that was our only run. On defense, we had some "web gems" (for those who watch ESPN Baseball Tonight, you know that that means). 2B Vera Smith handled a sharply hit ground ball that bounced off her chest: she stayed on the ball, picked it up and threw out the runner. Outstanding play. 3B Will Bara looked like a pro when he handled a foul popup that went back of 3rd base, turning his back to the plate to run to the spot where the ball would come, facing back to the ball and making the grab. Nice catch. Finally, the Chalices pulled off their first double play of the season, in a most unusual fashion. A high popup into short right field. OF Doug Adams camped under it, but when he raised his mitt to catch it, the ball bounced off the tip of the webbing. It ricocheted in the air behind him, where OF Steve McCaw alertly reached out and caught it, about knee high, before it could hit the ground. One out. The runner on 3rd, seeing the first miff on the ball, charged home. He tried to reverse his tracks when he saw Steve catch the rebound, but Steve's relay to 3B Pete Siragusa caught the runner before he could get back safely. Two outs, double play. Kudos to Steve for backing up Doug and making an outstanding, heads up play.