Now that I've blamed everyone else, West Raleigh 8U Blue took a 15-0 three-inning victory in the opener of the AAU Summer Championship in Clemmons. The most exciting part of the game happened about ten minutes before first pitch--or about one hour and 30 minutes before the first pitch according to the schedule we had been given. As I leisurely pulled up to the field and began my pregame ritual, Coach Sean called. The call went something like this:
Coach Sean: "Where are you?"
Me: "Pulling up in the parking lot."
CS: "They say we're supposed to play in 10 minutes."
Me: "No we're not."
CS: "Yes we are."
Me: "No we're not."
CS: "Yes we are."
We now move forward three minutes later in the conversation, when I determined that he wasn't kidding. As it turns out, the tournament director had decided around lunchtime to make a change in the schedule. He alertly let everyone in the 8U field know about the change...except for good ol' West Raleigh Blue. Our 4:15 game had now become a 3:00 game, and it was approximately 2:50.
This turned out to be a very helpful lesson: warmups are actually overrated. Because with about ten minutes of light throwing and five minutes of infield (not more or less than five minutes, per the strict instructions of the umpire), Blue 8U went out and posted a mercy rule 15-run win. It's hard to provide many highlights from a three-inning game, but suffice it to say that 11 West Raleigh hitters had base hits, 10 different batters scored runs, and half the lineup had a multiple-hit game--again, this was in a three-inning game.
The victory moved 8U Blue to 1-0 in pool play and set up their second game, to be played at, uh, whatever time they told us to be there. Needless to say, no one went very far, just in case they suddenly decided to start the game.
Game 1 8U Blue scoring plays
First inning
Bryce and JT led off with back-to-back singles, putting runners on first and second. Gavin doubled to right-center, scoring Bryce. Chace singled home JT, and then Jake's bullet to right wasn't handled, with Gavin racing home.
Score after one inning: 8U Blue 3, Red Sox 0
Second inning
An impressive two-out rally led to the first run-limit inning of the weekend. Mason led off with a double to right and moved to third on a single by Elias. Asher's fielder's choice scored Mason. Then, with two outs, the offense really kicked into gear. Andrew beat out a fielder's choice to put runners on first and second. Bryce's single loaded the bases, and then JT drove in a pair with a single to right-center--and when the Red Sox threw home, JT aggressively took second. That put two runners in scoring position for Gavin, who promptly singled them both home and also hustled to second on the throw to the plate. Chace singled in Gavin, and then Jake ended the inning by blasting a triple to right-center that scored Chace and enacted the seven-run rule (at some point we will have a test on the various run rules and mercy rules in eight-year-old baseball tournaments).
Score after two innings: 8U Blue 10, Red Sox 0
Third inning
Joey and Ben went back-to-back with singles to open the inning. Mason came through with his second double of the day, scoring a pair and then taking third on the throw. With one out, Asher singled in Mason. Carter ripped a single to left that slipped through the left fielder, with Asher coming around to score and Carter racing all the way to third. With two outs, Bryce singled in Carter to end the game--the rare 15-0 walk-off--because of the mercy rule.
Score after three innings: 8U Blue 15, Red Sox 0
Game 1 Web Gems
- Despite the game being just three innings, Blue 8U still found time to turn in a web gem. In the top of the third, with just the third Red Sox runner of the game on first, Gavin went up the middle to grab a sinking liner that was headed for shallow center. Once he made the catch, he completed the double play with a solid throw to Chace at first.
| Game 1 line score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H |
| Red Sox | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | X | X | 0 | 2 |
| WR 8U Blue | 3 | 7 | 5 | X | X | X | 15 | 17 |
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