"We've been talking about teamwork," Coach Andrew told the team in a shortened postgame meeting intended to allow plenty of time for all the festivities. "That game was the epitome of teamwork."
A juggled batting order produced right away, as hot-hitting Hayes (the real Triple H) led off with one of his three hits and ignited a six-run first inning. The six-spot marked the second-biggest inning of the season, eclipsed only by seven runs in the third in the previous meeting with the Lookouts. The Mudcats would never trail in the game, breaking it open in the top of the fifth when Hayes once again led off and sparked a four-run outburst. The team's 21 hits tied a season high set previously in the 13-3 win over the Riverdogs.
The big offensive fifth followed a pivotal defensive bottom of the fourth. After the Lookouts opened the frame with back-to-back singles, Big Ben came up firing in right-center on a third straight single and zipped the ball to Drew for an outfield assist at second base. That play turned what would have been a bases-loaded, no-outs situation into just a two-on, one-out spot. One batter after a nice snag by Gabe at pitcher on an infield pop, the Mudcats picked up another outfield assist to end the inning as Charley nipped a Lookout runner at second for an inning-ended force.
The inning illustrated the difference between most of the Mudcat victories and losses this season. In the losses, two- or three-run innings from the opposition have sometimes snowballed into five- or six-run innings. In the wins--like Wednesday--timely team-wide defense has cut down those potential extra runs to save the victory.
"I'm going to take this game ball," Coach Andrew told the team as he held up the ball that made the final out of the night. "I'm going to write, 'Teamwork,' across it and I'm going to have the entire team sign it at the next practice." And I'm going to put it on my mantel so I can remember this win when we played very much like a team."
Around the same time that Roy Halladay was nailing down the second-ever no-hitter in major league postseason history, the Mudcats were celebrating their win with an off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday" and very on-key cupcakes for Chris's birthday. It was the perfect intersection of real life and our life. In that moment, the sports world was staggered by something that had only happened once before. All most of us gathered around the Mudcats knew was that those cupcakes were really, really good. Besides, a postseason no-hitter had already happened in history. A 2010 fall Mudcat weeknight victory? This was the first time for that. Let the other guys celebrate with a dogpile on the field or celebratory bear hugs. There was wall ball to be played.
Wednesday's Mudcat scoring plays
First inning
Hayes led off with a single and scored on Smiley's double. After a fielder's choice, Anthony picked up an RBI double to make it 2-0. Chris followed with an RBI single, then moved to third on Charley's single. J.J. notched the inning's big blow with a two-run rocket that scored Chris and Charley. LB completed the scoring with a single that scored J.J.
Score after one-half inning: Mudcats 6, Lookouts 0
Second inning
With one out, the Mudcats got four straight singles from Tyler, Asher, Hayes and Smiley to push across another run, with Tyler--who had just celebrated scoring a run at practice the previous night--crossing the plate.
Score after one and a half innings: Mudcats 7, Lookouts 3
Fifth inning
Once again, it was Hayes starting the offense with a line-drive single. Smiley doubled, then Drew scored Hayes with an RBI single. Anthony and Chris ripped back-to-back singles, and then LB earned an RBI with a fielder's choice that scored Anthony.
Score after four and a half innings: Mudcats 11, Lookouts 4
Wednesday's Web Gems
- The Mudcats picked up four outfield assists, with two from Charley, one from Gabe and one from Hayes.
- Gabe made a tough play on an infield popup at pitcher.
- Anthony alertly covered second base even when it wasn't necessarily his play, helping out his teammate and helping get an important force out.
- Christopher made a diving play on a popup just in front of first base.
| Wednesday's line score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H |
| Mudcats | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 21 |
| Doesn't Matter/Lookouts | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 18 |
No comments:
Post a Comment