Mudcats win over the Bulls - Guest article by John Stewart

It was a perfect evening for baseball as the Mudcats took the field. The weather was beautiful and they were squaring off against the Bulls who they last defeated in the Fall Championship game.

The Bulls were not intimidated though as they started off hot with 4 runs in the first inning. Cade made a nice play ranging to his left to throw out the lead-off hitter but then the Bulls scored 4 runs before Joseph made an unassisted put-out at first base and a strike-out ended the inning. The Mudcats struck back in the bottom of the first with a huge 2 out rally! After Dane and Ryan grounded out and popped-up, Joseph lined sharply to left field for a double. Matt reached on an error then Cade hit a line-drive to left-center for single and RBI scoring Joseph. Bags then lifted a fly ball over the center fielder’s head scoring 2 more runs. Luke reached on an error then Adam had an infield hit scoring Luke all the way from first displaying some aggressive base running skills! Jacob also had an infield hit then Tyler singled to right knocking in Adam. Leighton ended the inning with a long drive that the center fielder caught over his shoulder robbing him of what would have been at least a double. When the dust settled the Mudcats had clawed back to lead the Bulls 6-4.

In the top of the 2nd, the Bulls went 3 up 3 down as Bags made a nice play on a spinning ground ball for the first out, Ryan made a routine ground out look easy then a strike-out ended the inning. The Mudcats then exploded for 6 more runs in the bottom of the 2nd to extend their lead to 12-4. Jacob led off with an extremely hard-hit ground out to short – great contact!!. Dane reached on an error, Ryan had an infield hit and Joseph popped to short for the second out. Then the double barrage started – Matt lined to left scoring Dane, Cade traded places with Matt as he doubled over the right-fielder’s head scoring 2 runs. Bags doubled to center scoring Cade, Luke doubled scoring Bags, Adam doubled down the 3rd base line scoring Luke pushing the score to 12-4.

The 3rd inning was uneventful for both team as the Bulls went 3 up 3 down (K, ground out and pop-up to Joseph) and the Mudcats failed to score as well – Leighton sharply singled to right field but Jacob popped-up to the pitcher, Dane popped-up to the second baseman and Ryan hit soft line drive to the shortstop who made a nice diving play. At the end of 3 it was still Mudcats 12 Bulls 4.

Top of the 4th started the same for the Bulls as they went down in order again – 2 pop-ups to Cade and a strike out. It was a different story for the Mudcats however as they scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 4th. Joseph led off with a base knock to center, matt hit a hard smash down the 3rd base line then Cade brought both Joseph and Matt home with a sharp single to left. Bags reached on an error by the 3rd baseman then Luke hit a line drive which almost took the glove off the 3rd baseman's hand! Adam had a long single to right-center (over the fielder’s head), Jacob and Tyler reached on infield singles. The inning ended with the Mudcats leading 17-4.

The Bulls started the 5th inning with a couple of doubles scoring a run. Matt then caught a pop-up at 3rd before another double by the Bulls caused Vaughn to call a momentum-ending time-out effectively icing the Bulls and ending their run as Cade recorded the 2nd out of the inning and Ryan the 3rd on a bang-bang play at first. Good inning by the Bulls but the Mudcats were still up 17-6. In the bottom of the 5th, Leighton led off with another sharply hit ball to left for a double, Jacob hit a hard ground ball to the second basemen for the first out then Dane hit a soft liner to the pitcher who made a nice play for the second out of the inning. Ryan then doubled scoring Leighton, Joseph had an RBI single to center, Matt singled to left, Cade singled over the right fielder’s head then Bags singled to left which put the Mudcats up 20-6.

The Mudcats closed out the game in the top of the 6th inning. It wasn’t pretty but in the end Joseph caught a pop-up, Bags made a nice play to force the runner at second and then a line-out to Cade at 3rd base ended the game. Mudcats beat a tough Bulls team – final score was 20-11! Way to go guys!!