October 10th: Mudcats at Thunder

It was a beautiful fall day. The Mudcats were ready to take the diamond and play some baseball. The 1^st inning started with Lead-Off Leyton at the plate getting the Mudcats started with “just a little single”. T-Rex then hit into a fielder’s choice and before they knew it the top of the inning was over.

The bottom of the 1^st, the Thunder brought their bats. Luke made a diving catch at pitcher and the throw to Adam at first, to turn the double play and end the 1^st inning with the bases loaded. The Thunder were on the board first 2-0.

The top of the 2^nd inning, Sticks started the Mudcats off with a single. Smiley hit getting to first but the fielder got Sticks at second out. Colby singled to left field moving Smiley around the diamond. Sotell hit the ball to the pitcher loading the bases. Luke hit a grounder to 1^st and scored Smiley from 3^rd. Tex hit a single to score Colby which tied the score 2-2. Lil Papi hit a hard one to the pitcher and hustled to 1^st safe and scoring Sotell. Logan singled to load the bases and give the Mudcats a 3-2 lead.

The bottom of the 2^nd inning started when Luke fielded a grounder making the play for the first out. Jacob fielded a grounder and tagged the runner heading to 3^rd and threw to Sticks at 2^nd to make the double play happen.

T-Rex started the 3^rd inning off with a single to left. Adam hit a triple that hopped to the fence which scored T-Rex. Jacob continued the hitting rally with another single. Sticks hit to short and all the runners where safe. Colby reached 1^st base, loading the bases. Sotell hit a hard grounder to the pitcher and a run scored. The inning ended with the Mudcats taking the lead 6-2.

The bottom of the 3^rd, Adam caught a pop-up and stepped on 1^st to get the first 2 outs of the inning and the third double play for the game. The inning ends with a strike out and the Mudcats leading 6-2.

The 4^th inning was a quiet one for the Mudcats bats expect for Logan who decided to use old faithful who did not let him down with a rip to left field.

The bottom of the 4^th started with a liner to 1^st and Adam getting the first out. The inning ended with Smiley fielding a grounder at 3^rd and making a spot on throw to Adam to end the inning.

T-Rex started the 5^th inning off with a single. Adam rips one to left for a double and scoring T-Rex. Jacob advances Adam to 3^rd, while being called out at 1^st. Smiley reaches 1^st and Adam scores. After the Mudcats hitting the score is 8-2.

The Thunder started a bottom of the 5^th inning rally scoring 4 runs. At the end of 5 innings the Mudcats have a 2 run advantage, 8-6.

The Mudcats were not ready to give up nor were they ready to quit playing baseball. Luke started out with a single. Tex followed suit with a single up the middle. Lil Papi got on to load the bases. Logan had a solid hit to right, scoring two runners. T-Rex continued the hitting tradition to load the bases again this time with one out. Adam single and brought in a run. Jacob hit in to a fielder’s choice but scored a runner. Sticks gets on to the load the bases for a third time this inning. Smiley get a big single to left and two runners score making the score 14-6. Colby rips a double and two more runners score. Sotell, unstopped by a Carolina Blue cast, gets his single loading the bases. However, the top of the 6^th comes to an end due to the “10 Run Rule.” The Mudcats had a great hitting inning tacking on insurance runs, 16-6.

The bottom of the 6^th started with a motivational speech by the Mudcats Head Coach urging the Mudcats to play great defense. Luke took coach’s advice fielding the ball and throwing to Adam at first for the first out. Luke was ready once again catching a pop up at pitcher for the second out. The third and final out of the game came from Adam. He fielded a grounder to first for the out.

The game ended right at 1:00 PM, with a final of 16-6. After ten games played the Mudcats are 6-4-0, sitting in a tie at 3^rd with the Lookouts.

Notes by Jim Sotell

Write-up by Jenn DiMeo

Pictures by Tonya Proctor