State Semifinals: WR 8U Blue 9, North View Gold 2

Something unusual happened in the state tournament semifinals: 8U Blue had to play the full six innings. The opponent was North View Gold, and West Raleigh could never quite apply the knockout punch on the way to a 9-2 win.

The six-inning win was the only one in seven West Raleigh state tournament games that went the full distance, a combination of North View's scrappy play and the 8U Blue bats going temporarily chilly. Still, they did string together enough offense to post nine runs in the 88-degree, 85 percent humidity conditions in Laurinburg, so maybe we shouldn't be greedy.

Most importantly, the win moved West Raleigh into the state championship game against the cowbell-brandishing team from Supper Optimist (Wilmington).

Semifinal 8U Blue scoring plays
Second inning
Andrew led off with a sharp double to left. Elias beat out a bunt, sending Andrew to third. Joey singled home Andrew. After a fielder's choice put Joey on third, Asher scored him with a fielder's choice.
Score after one and a half innings: 8U Blue 2, NVG 0

Third inning
Gavin smacked a one-out single. Chace singled him to second. With two outs, Andrew singled in Gavin, and then Elias's single scored Chace. Joey's single to center plated Andrew.
Score after two and a half innings: 8U Blue 5, NVG 0

Fourth inning
Asher and Bryce led off with back-to-back singles. After a fielder's choice, Gavin crushed a triple to left that scored a pair. Chace's sacrifice fly scored Gavin.
Score after three and a half innings: 8U Blue 8, NVG 1

Fifth inning
Andrew led off with a single. Elias singled. Andrew tagged up and alertly moved to third on Joey's fly ball to left-center, which put him in position to score easily on Asher's two-out single.
Score after four and a half innings: 8U Blue 9, NVG 1

Semifinal Web Gems

• Look, we all know JT and Gavin have good chemistry on the left side of the infield, but this is getting a little ridiculous. With two outs in the fourth, the batter slapped a grounder to JT's left. However, JT had just made the previous play on an easy (for him) third-to-first putout, so he wanted to try something with a higher degree of difficulty. He achieved this by back-heeling the ball to Gavin, who was racing to his right to back up the play. Gavin scooped the ball out of the air, found the handle, and fired across the diamond for your basic 5-6-3 putout. 
• With one out and a runner on third in the fifth, Chace gobbled up a grounder to first, tagged the bag, and then stared down the runner to keep him from scoring.
• Joey ended the game by racing over almost to the left field line to snag a line drive.

Semifinal line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
WR 8U Blue	0	2	3	3	1	0	9	14
North View Gold	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	7