Softball+2016-07-31

=Chalices Come From Behind and Hold on to Win, 10-9=

Community Church eked out a close victory against St. Thomas More today. We trailed early in the game, but clawed our way to tie by the 4th inning, scoring 3 in the 2nd and 2 in the 4th. In the 2nd, we benefited from 2 STM errors and had 2-out RBI singles from P Jeff Nelson and 1B Nils Brubaker. In the 4th, we scored 2 more thanks to 3 straight hits by OF Quinton Adams, Jeff and C Doug Adams. The runs were driven in by me on a bases loaded fielder's choice groundout, and by OF Nick Bailey on a sacrifice fly to center field. Community Church grabbed a commanding 4-run lead in the 5th, thanks again to 2 more STM errors, plus hits by SS Matt Nelson, 2B Pete Siragusa, Quinton and Jeff. The Catholics came back with 3 runs of their own in the 6th, to make it a 9-8 game. In the bottom half, our first 2 hitters were retired, but the next 3 batters (Matt, Pete, OF Mark Bruhn) hit safely to give us a valuable insurance run. That run turned out to be crucial.

In the 7th inning, STM had the bottom of the order batting, but they got 4 straight hits with no outs to load the bases and come within 1 run. Next batter hit a line drive to Jeff, at pitcher, who caught and threw to first to double one of the runners. That left runners at 2nd and 3rd, the tying and go-ahead runs, with 2 outs. The final batter hit a grounder that eluded Jeff's glove, but Matt came from behind, scooped and glove-flipped the ball to me at first, barely in time for the out, to preserve the win.

We benefitted somewhat from the fact that we only had 10 players show up, and our better hitters were able to bat 4 times during the game; while St. Thomas More had at least 15 players, so their better hits only got to bat 3 times.

As a team we collected 15 hits -- all singles -- which is only our 4th highest team total this season. And the fact we scored 10 runs is a testament to our efficiency and some inconsistent fielding by STM, which committed 4 errors, all leading to Chalices' runs. Our top hitters today were Pete and Jeff, each with 3 base hits. Jeff also scored every time he reached base, and drove in 2 more runs, so he produced 5 of our 10 runs. Quinton also scored 3 times today, while Matt scored twice. Matt, Mark and Quinton each had 2 base hits.

Defensively, we made 21 put-outs, 11 assists, and committed 5 errors. Jeff Nelson made some critical outs, including the huge double play in the 7th to preserve our 1-run lead, and throwing out a runner at the plate to end one of the earlier STM innings. Son Matt was equally prolific playing at shortstop for only the 1st or 2nd time this year: he handled 5 ground balls successfully, many of which he threw to Pete to get valuable force-outs at 2nd base. Nearly all the infielders caught line drives for outs: 3B Brian Moyer, Matt, Nils and Jeff (twice). The outfield caught 4 fly balls, 2 by Nick, one each by Quinton and Mark. Nick successfully threw out a runner trying to stretch a single to 2nd base.