April 14: Bees at Mudcats

It was a cold, windy overcast Wednesday evening. The Mudcats were ready to swing their bats after a great batting practice the night before. Down one umpire the game started three minutes ahead of schedule.

The top of the first inning Charley had a near catch in left field. Smiley did a great job backing him up and getting the quick throw into 2^nd. Bees scored one. Luke showed he was ready to get the outs started by grabbing a pop up at pitcher for the first out of the inning. Continuing the trend Luke grabbed a one hopper, throwing to Adam at first for the second out. Zach wanting to get in on the action grabbed the third out of the inning in centerfield. End of the top of one score Bees 1, Mudcats 0.

The bottom of the first the Mudcats remembered to wear their hitting shoes (Thanks to Coach Joe for the reminder!). Lead-off Leyton got the Mudcats started with a nice rip to the outfield. T-Rex hit towards 2^nd base, advancing Leyton to 2^nd. Sticks had a bomb to left field making it to 2^nd and scoring Leyton and advancing T-Rex to 3^rd. Adam hit to towards 2^nd making the second baseman jump up to nab the ball before it made it to the outfield and catching Sticks off second base. J-Mac was not ready to close the inning out. He hit to the right field scoring T-Rex. Zach had a hard hit single advancing J-Mac to 2^nd.Luke singled to load the bases. Chris ripped one to the second baseman for the last out of the inning. End of the first Bees 1, Mudcats 2.

The top of the second inning a ball to the dug out advanced the first Bees batter to second. Luke continued his solid play at pitcher with a caught pop up for the first out of the inning. Chris to Adam for the second out while the Bees runner scored. A Luke to Adam finished the inning stranding Bees on 2^nd and 3^rd.

The bottom of the second was quick. Three up, three down even with solid swings from Smiley, Charley, and Ben. After two Bees 1, Mudcats 2.

The third inning Leyton hustled to grab a foul ball by the left line for the first out of the inning. With a few miss throws, lack of focus and hustle on the in field Coach Andrew called a meeting at the pitchers mound to refocus the team. This seemed to settle the team down and Luke grabbed the second out in the outfield. The ball was slow to get in to the infield for time to be called resulting in the Bees scoring a run. Smiley ended the inning with a catch at pitcher and tagging the runner going to first. Bees 3, Mudcats 2.

The bottom of the third Gabe was thrown out at first. Leyton hit one down the third base line to making it safe to first. T-Rex singled and the Bees got the force at 2^nd. Sticks battled a full count, fought off the 7 pitch to finally hit right to third base and the Bees once again got the out at second. After three innings Bees 3, Mudcats 2.

The fourth inning started with an out at second by Chris. Followed by a long throw from the out field from Ben to J-Mac for the out at second. Another Bee scored before Adam got the last out at first from Smiley.

The bottom of the fourth started with Adam at the plate. He singled from a hit to center. J-Mac moved Adam to second but was out at first. Zach doubled to right center scoring Adam. Luke singled and moved Zach to third. Chris hit a sacrifice fly that scored Zach.  Smiley had a long at bat working hard to stay at the plate for a good pitch. Unfortunately, Coach Andrew will take that out for his 11^th pitch to Smiley was junk. After four it was all tied up Bees 4, Mudcats 4.

The top of the fifth started very slow on defense for the Mudcats allowing one run before J-Mac was able to grab a ball and tag the runner for the first out. Tyler fielded a ball well to throw to J-Mac at second base for the force out. However, another Bee run scored. The last out of the inning came from J-Mac at short to Tyler at second base.

The bottom of the fifth started with the Mudcats wanting to unleash their bats. Charley started off with a hard hit ball right to the shortstop for the first out. Ben then singled. Gabe singled. Leyton continued the single trend to load the bases. T-Rex scored Ben and Gabe. With Leyton on third Sticks hit was caught by a running shortstop. Adam singled scoring Leyton and moving T-Rex to second. J-Mac singled to score T-Rex and move Adam. The inning ended with a strike out. Bees 6, Mudcats 8.

The top of the sixth the Bees were motivated to not go down with out a fight. Former Mudcat Evan doubled. The first out came at first base. Evan scored before the second out could be made at first. Fall Mudcat Colby hit a bomb to left field and would eventually score, tying the game.  A grounder to third was the last out of the inning as Sticks made the play and throw to Adam.  It was knotted at 8 going into the bottom of six.

The Mudcats were not going to settle for a tie. Luke started the bottom of the sixth with a hit to the shortstop which was caught by the third baseman. Chris singled. Smiley moved Chris but was out at first. So with two outs and a runner on second Charley singled and hustled to first. With runners now on first and third Ben came to the plate, he out ran the throw to first to score Chris winning the game for the Mudcats. At the end of six Bees 8, Mudcats 9.

The Mudcats where excited to get the first win of the season. The Coaches noted the win was possible because no one gave up and the boys battled all game. To celebrate an Amedeo’s dinner was in order.

Mudcats take the field next Saturday, April 17 hoping to build on this victory.

Write-up by Jenn
Pictures by Tonya and Scott