Regionals Game 3: WR 8U Blue 13, Glen Allen (Va.) 3

Friday morning began with opening ceremonies, which featured a dancing mascot with a baseball head who was inexplicably wearing boat shoes. Luckily, things improved from there, and West Raleigh took a 13-3 win over Glen Allen (Va.) in five innings.

The victory made it apparent that the 8U Blue bats were heating up (this is called foreshadowing…stay tuned), as they pounded out six extra-base hits in the game—double the three extra-base hits they had amassed in two combined games on Thursday. Ten different West Raleigh batters had a hit.

The victory moved 8U Blue to 3-0 in pool play and set up a game against Giles County for the right to earn the top seed in the pool.

Game 3 8U Blue scoring plays

First inning

Bryce led off with a single that turned into a three-bagger when it slipped past the outfielder. JT scored him with a single, and then Gavin blasted an RBI double. With one out, Chace singled and moved to third on Jake’s double. With two outs, Andrew came through with a ball past third base that scored both runners.

Score after one inning: 8U Blue 4, Glen Allen 1

Second inning

Ben, Asher and Bryce went back-to-back-to-back with singles, scoring Ben. With two outs and runners on second and third, Chace scored Asher with an RBI single, and then Jake scored a pair with his second double and moved up to third on the throw. He scored on Joey’s single, and 8U Blue had pushed across four two-out runs.

Score after two and a half innings: 8U Blue 9, Glen Allen 1

Fourth inning

JT led off with a double. Chace put runners at the corners with a shot to third, and then Jake mashed a two-run triple to finish his four-RBI day. Joey scored Jake with an RBI single.

Score after four innings: 8U Blue 12, Glen Allen 3

Fifth inning

Carter singled and moved to second on Asher’s sacrifice, then Bryce went walk-off with a deep double to invoke the ten-run rule.

Score after five innings: 8U Blue 13, Glen Allen 3

Game 3 Web Gems

• When a Glen Allen runner tried to take an extra base on a loose ball in the infield in the second, Bryce fired to JT at third, who slapped on the tag for the out.
• Good communication between infielders and outfielders on the first batter of the third, as Joey raced in, called off Gavin, and hauled in a fly ball for the first out.
• After Gavin took a bad hop off the side of his face off the beaches of Varina infield dirt, he proceeded to make the next two outs—fielding a grounder and throwing to Bryce at second for the force, then grabbing a pop fly.
• Eli ran down a fly ball in deep left-center for the first out of the fourth.
• Bryce ended the fourth with a double play, as he fielded a grounder with a runner on first, tagged the runner, then threw to Chace to end the inning.

Game 3 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Glen Allen	1	0	0	2	0	X	3	6
WR 8U Blue	4	5	0	3	1	X	13	18