State Game 3: WR 8U Blue 21, Hamlet 1

West Raleigh began the second day of pool play in chilly Laurinburg with a 21-1 win over Hamlet in a game shortened to four innings by the mercy rule. As with Friday's pool play, the story was the 8U Blue offense. For the third straight game, they set a season high for runs in an inning. After scoring eight in Friday's first game, then ten in Friday's second game, they exploded for 18 runs in the second inning against Hamlet, blowing open what had been a 3-1 game.

The victory moved West Raleigh to 3-0 in pool play, with a chance to complete the perfect pool mark on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 against Topsail Beach.

As most everyone knows, West Raleigh baseball has a certain reputation wherever they go. No matter what you think that reputation might be, it indisputably includes this: people think we can eat. How else would you explain this Domino's coupon we were given in Laurinburg?

OK, there's a minimum of two, that makes sense. But there's a "limit of 254 per order"? Not wanting to push our luck, we cut our lunch order from 255 pizzas to just 20 and spent the afternoon by the pool and in the hotel lobby (the Hampton Inn loves us) waiting for this afternoon's game.

Game 3 8U Blue scoring plays
First inning
Bryce led off with a double to left and moved to third when the ball wasn't handled cleanly. That put him in position to score on JT's sacrifice fly. Gavin started the rally again with a double, and moved to third on Chace's single. With two outs, Elias drove in Gavin, and then Carter singled home Chace.
Score after one inning: 8U Blue 3, Hamlet 1

Second inning
The biggest inning of the summer featured 21 at-bats, 14 hits and 18 runs. None of those runs were scored with no outs, meaning 8U Blue put 18 runners across the plate while making just two outs--and even those two outs were essentially intentional outs. It began with Ben on third and one down. Asher's grounder to pitcher wasn't handled, and Ben scored. Bryce singled Asher to third. JT smacked an RBI single. Gavin tripled home two. Chace singled in Gavin. Jake singled and moved to second on an error. Andrew's shot to third wasn't fielded and Chace scored. Carter singled home Jake. Batting for the second time in the inning, Ben singled. Joey drove in a run with a single off the machine, as he continues to inflict major damage on pitching machines across Eastern North Carolina. Keep in mind that at this point the scoring was not even half finished. Asher singled in two and took second on an error. Bryce singled. JT singled home Asher. Gavin lifted a double to deep center, scoring Bryce. Chace's fly ball on the right side fell safely, scoring JT. Jake hit an almost identical fly ball that also fell safely. Andrew smacked an RBI single to left-center. Carter reached on a fielder's choice. And finally, Ben--batting for the third time in the inning--singled to center, but some adventures on the bases mercifully ended the frame.
Score after two innings: 8U Blue 21, Hamlet 1

Game 3 Web Gems

• West Raleigh picked up its third inning-ending double play in three games in the top of the first. With runners on first and second and one out, the batter grounded to Ben at pitcher. He fielded and threw to JT to get the lead runner. JT snapped a throw to Gavin at second, but the runner beat the throw...and then continued out into shallow right-center field. After a prolonged chase, Gavin tagged him out to complete the double play.
• Carter made a sliding catch of a fly ball in right-center in the second.

Game 3 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Hamlet	1	0	0	0	X	X	1	2
WR 8U Blue	3	18	0	X	X	X	21	22