With a pregame dance party like the above, it's not hard to see how the Mudcats once again rallied for a big win, pushing the winning run across in the top of the sixth to beat the Bats, 6-5, on Saturday morning.
Before we get to the game description, a couple notes on the above photos, in which you will notice that Asher has to take his batting helmet off in order to really break it down. First, if you'll remember Coach Sean's postgame description to the parents, he said they should all want to see "Asher's dance." If you look at the top picture, it sure looks like there is someone other than Asher--a big guy who kind of looks like a coach--dancing also. And second, the best part of the second picture is the look on Colin's face, as he wonders if it's too late to go back into the draft and find a team that is slightly less crazy.
Fortunately, he decided to stay with the All Blacks, because the Mudcats needed contributions from up and down the lineup to get Saturday's win. It was the third straight game in which the 'Cats have had to come back to get the win, and the second straight game when the winning run crossed the plate in the sixth.
"That," Coach Sean told the team afterwards, "was a really good baseball game."
This time, the solid Mudcat play was largely attributable to defense, as the 'Cats have gotten more confident in the field and have made almost the same amount of errors in the last three games combined (all wins) that they made in the first game alone (a loss). In three different innings on Saturday, the All Black defense allowed just four Bats hitters to come to the plate. Even on plays when the Bats picked up a hit, the Mudcat outfield was able to limit them to just one base, instead of allowing the ball to get by and turn into extra bases.
Everyone received stickers for the win, and offensive stickers went to Gavin (who casually just happened to hit a game-tying home run right after Coach Sean had urged the team to get the runs back they'd just handed the Bats) and Brayden (who had a game-tying RBI single in the fifth). Defensive stickers went to Gavin for his solid play at short and to Quenten for his terrific sixth-inning catch that preserved the Mudcat win.
First inning
Luke led off with a single. Asher reached on a fielder's choice, then moved to second on Gavin's single. Colin blasted a double deep to left-center that scored both runners. Quenten capped the scoring with a double down the right-field line that scored Colin.
Score after one-half inning: Mudcats 3, Bats 0
Fourth inning
The scoring description won't take long on this one: down 4-3, Gavin stepped to the plate as the leadoff man and bombed a home run deeeeeeeeep to center for the first Mudcat homer of the season.
Score after three and a half innings: Mudcats 4, Bats 4
Fifth inning
Jackson reached on a grounder to the left side, then moved to second on Will's infield single. The Bats picked up two straight fielder's choices at third to get two outs, but then Brayden lined a single to center that scored Will.
Score after four and a half innings: Mudcats 5, Bats 4
Sixth inning
Asher led off with a double to right-center. With two outs, he was still on second base, but then some adventurous base-running advanced him to third on Quenten's grounder. With runners on the corners, Cameron smacked a hot shot to the left side that scored Asher with the eventual game-winning run.
Score after five and a half innings: Mudcats 6, Bats 5
Saturday’s Web Gems
- On the first Bats hitter of the game, Luke made a nice play backing up and hauling in a popup behind second.
- With the Bats cleanup man at the plate and a runner in scoring position in the first, Luke knocked down a hot grounder at second. He threw a little wide of first, but Asher came off the bag and then got back to the bag for the force that retired the side.
- Gavin made a leaping play of a line drive at shortstop in the fifth that robbed the Bats leadoff hitter of at least a single.
- Coach Rob made a sweet play on Asher's foul ball in the sixth, casually reaching up to snag it over the fence down the left-field line...with a baby in the fan's arms right next to him.
- Quenten made a potential game-saving play in the sixth, running in to catch a hard drive by the Bats cleanup hitter that looked ticketed for extra bases.
| Saturday's line score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H |
| Mudcats | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 10 |
| Bats | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9 |
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