Top Gun Batting Helmet Championship: 919 Nationals 13, Carolina Quick Strike 6

The 919 Nationals claimed their first-ever 10U tournament with a 13-6 win over the Carolina Quick Strike.

 In a game that started out feeling like a tense, one-run type of game that actually ended up stretching well into the Angier night, the Nationals were actually outhit 9-7, but managed to take advantage of nine walks and two hit batters to generate the 13 runs. 919 pitchers, in contrast, walked just three on the way to the title.

Cumulatively, 919 outscored four opponents 52-14 in the four games in Sunni Skyville Angier and scored in every inning except three.

As expected, Coach Sean was thrilled with the victory...by his fantasy football team. Oh, he was also happy about the baseball. So happy, in fact, that he informed the boys they get to practice tomorrow at 5 at Ephesus. 

Championship Nationals scoring plays

First inning

With one out, JT singled and went to second on a balk. Gavin's fielder's choice moved him to third, and Chace drove him in with a single.

Score after one-half inning: 919 Nationals 1, Quick Strike 0

Second inning

With one out, Banks was hit by a pitch and stole second. Andrew singled and stole second. Ben was hit by a pitch, loading the bases, or, in the vernacular of the 919 dugout, putting "ducks on the pond, frogs on the lilypad, sharks in the water, teeth on the gums and waffles on the plate." Elias beat out a run-scoring fielder's choice. Joey drew an RBI walk, and then Ben scored on a passed ball. Asher's fielder's choice scored Eli.

Score after one and a half innings: 919 Nationals 5, Quick Strike 0

Fourth inning

Andrew blasted a double. Then Ben hit a fielder's choice to the right side, and Andrew never slowed down hustling around third base and scored the game's sixth run.

Score after four innings: 919 Nationals 6, Quick Strike 1

Fifth inning

Joey and Asher led off with back to back walks. Bryce singled, scoring Joey. Bryce stole second, then Asher scored on a wild pitch, which moved Bryce to third. After JT walked and stole second, Chace's fielder's choice scored Bryce and put JT at third, where he scored on a wild pitch. Chace stole second, then scored on a single by Brady. Brady moved to second on a throwing error, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch.

Score after four and a half innings: 919 Nationals 12, Quick Strike 3

Sixth inning

Joey drew a one-out walk, stole second, and went to third on a wild pitch, where he scored on Asher's single.

Score after five and a half innings: 919 Nationals 13, Quick Strike 5

Pitching Performances

Banks shut out the Quick Strike over the first two innings.

Bryce worked two strong frames.

Asher got the Nats out of some trouble in the fourth.

Gavin closed it out.

Championship Web Gems

•    With a runner on second in the third inning, JT fielded a hot shot to third, then caught the napping runner in a rundown that ended with him being tagged out at second.

•    With a runner on first in the fourth, Banks had to race over to the fence to field a pop foul near first. Despite a fan yelling "I got it" in an attempt to distract a 10-year-old who was running near a brick wall, Banks made the catch and retired the side. 

•    With a runner on second in the sixth, Chace fielded a ground ball at third and not only froze the runner, he had him diving back into the bag. Chace then made a strong throw to first to retire the hitter.

Championship line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
919 Nationals	1	4	0	1	6	1	13	7
Quick Strike	0	0	1	2	2	1	6	9

Top Gun Batting Helmet Semifinals: 919 Nationals 8, Granville Storm 0

In one of the strongest and deepest pitching performances of the young 10U season, five 919 pitchers combined on a one-hit shutout, propelling the Nationals into the championship game with an 8-0 win over the Granville Storm. The game was shortened to five innings due to the run rule.

Only two Storm runners reached third base all afternoon, and both were erased by solid defensive plays. It was a prototypical example of 919 pitching and defense, as the defense made just two inconsequential errors.

The victory put the Nationals in the championship game for the second straight tournament, this time with a matchup against the Carolina Quick Strike.

Semifinal Nationals scoring plays

First inning

Bryce led off with a single, stole second, went to third on a passed ball, and scored on Chace’s one-out double. Chace went to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a wild pitch.

Score after one inning: 919 Nationals 2, Storm 0

Second inning

Ben drew a two-out walk and went to second on a throwing error by the pitcher. Elias beat out a ball to shortstop and Ben came all the way around to score.

Score after two innings: 919 Nationals 3, Storm 0

Fourth inning

Banks reached leading off, then stole second. Andrew reached on a shot to second, and a wild pitch moved up both runners. JT walked to load the bases. Brady crushed a two-run double, and then JT scored on a wild pitch. Ben walked and stole second. A fielder’s choice from Eli scored Brady and moved Ben to third, and then Ben scored on a wild pitch.

Score after four innings: 919 Nationals 8, Storm 0

Pitching Performances

Banks threw a 1-2-3 first.

Andrew fanned a pair in a scoreless second.

Brady had the Brady Inning (see below) in the third.

Chace threw a scoreless fourth.

Asher closed it out with a scoreless fifth.

Semifinal Web Gems

•    Gavin made a leaping catch going up the middle in the first inning.

•    Brady showed extreme selfishness in the third inning by getting every out. Two of those were great plays off the mound, as he raced over to the third base line to field a swinging bunt and throw to first, then speared a line drive up the middle. He finished off the Brady Inning by fielding a pop fly. The rest of the defense then took a lap to stay loose.

•    The game ended on a heads-up play by Banks, who chased down a ball that had been thrown past first and threw to Joey at the plate, who tagged the runner for the final out.

Semifinal line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Granville Storm	0	0	0	0	0	X	0	1
919 Nationals	2	1	0	5	X	X	8	5

Top Gun Batting Helmet Game 2: 919 Nationals 15, Going Pro Trojans 8, Sunni Sky triple scoop

With the appetizing smell of rotten eggs in the air—seriously, what was that?—919 took a 15-8 win in five innings over the Going Pro Trojans.

In a somewhat sleepy game, the Nationals scored in every inning and eventually simply outslugged the Trojans. Every hitter in the 919 order reached base at least once.

Nat pitchers finished up a great day of pool play and cumulatively walked just four in eight innings of work (as compared to 15 walks in the same span for the opponents).

After what seemed like an interminable postgame speech from the overzealous 919 coaching staff, the true competition of the day began: who would be the first to the parking lot, and therefore the first in line at Sunni Sky. Suspiciously, Jennifer might have left a little early before the postgame breakdown and led the way. Video replay will be consulted later tonight to determine if she left early.

The biggest win of the day came because of standing in line waiting for ice cream, as it was determined that adding a third scoop to a two-scoop order added just 25 cents to the cost. This led to a crucial world lesson for the boys in “economy of scale,” which I plan to teach as soon as I finish this third scoop of chocolate nut brownie. In addition, Coach Kevin’s intense scouting routine, plus some advice from Ashlee, determined that the meat store next door to Sunni Sky is a must-stop, leading to multiple purchases of bacon burgers for Saturday evening meals. In essence, you can start eating at that one block of Angier and not have to go anywhere else for days.

As a reminder, Sunni Sky does not close until 11 p.m. on Sunday nights. The win left 919 2-0 in pool play. Seedings and times will be available later today. If I by chance happen to forget to send out times, uniform information, or feed or clothe the children, there's a good reason why:

Also, this is how you know you've really made it:

Game 2 Nationals scoring plays

First inning

Asher led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and stole third. JT walked and stole second. Gavin’s rip to right scored Asher. Banks hit a sacrifice fly that scored JT and sent Gavin to third. Andrew’s shot to third scored Gavin. Andrew stole second and scored on Ben’s single.

Score after one-half inning: 919 Nationals 2, Trojans 0

Second inning

Elias was “hit” by a pitch. He stole second and went to third on Brady’s fielder’s choice, then scored on a passed ball.

Score after one and a half innings: 919 Nationals 5, Trojans 3

Third inning

In the biggest inning of the day, Gavin led off with a single. He stole second and moved to third on a single by Banks, then scored when the defense tossed it around. With one out, Bryce reached on a play in the infield and scored Banks. Bryce stole second, and then Ben reached on catcher’s interference. Bryce and Ben each stole a base before Joey laced a two-run single. Elias reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second. Brady thumped an RBI triple. Chace reached on a play in the infield that scored Brady.

Score after two and a half innings: 919 Nationals 11, Trojans 5

Fourth inning

With one out, Banks reached on an error, then stole second and went to third on a passed ball. Andrew singled. Bryce brought home a pair with a single. After moving up on a throwing error by the pitcher, Bryce went to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on Eli’s single.

Score after three and a half innings: 919 Nationals 15, Trojans 8

Pitching Performances

JT battled through some defensive issues in the first.

Joey needed just 15 pitches in the second.

Gavin allowed just a pair of hits in his two innings.

Asher closed it out with a scoreless fifth.

Game 2 Web Gems

•    With a runner on second in the first inning, Asher made a nice block behind the plate of a pitch in the dirt, then hopped up and threw to Ben at third to get the runner trying to advance.

•    With a runner on first, Bryce made a diving play going up the middle in the fourth, then flipped to second to get the force.

Game 2 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
919 Nationals	4	1	6	3	1	X	15	11
Going Pro Trojans	3	2	2	1	0	X	8	8

Top Gun Batting Helmet Game 1: 919 Nationals 16, Holly Springs Rage 0

The Nationals began tournament play in Angier (whoo hoo!) with a 16-0 three-inning victory over the Holly Springs Rage in the first ever meeting between those two teams.

Everyone in the 919 order scored at least once, as the Nationals got a relatively paltry seven hits but waited out ten walks to post the 16 runs. Three 919 pitchers threw an inning each to combine for the first shutout of 10U play.

The quick victory left the Nationals and their fan club with plenty of time to kill before the second game of the scheduled doubleheader. With Neill’s Creek Park evidently located in a flood zone, several players stole Baker’s soccer ball and created some sort of combination volleyball/soccer/creek jumping game. The rules were a little dubious but most definitely involved lots of going in the mud to get the ball:

 Luckily, Baker and Emily did eventually find someone who was more in line with their athletic ability:

Game 1 Nationals scoring plays

First inning

Bryce led off with a single, stole second and third, and scored on JT’s sacrifice fly. Gavin reached on a shot to third, stole second and third, and scored on Brady’s fielder’s choice.

Score after one-half inning: 919 Nationals 2, Rage 0

Second inning

In perhaps the least exciting 14-run inning in baseball history, the Nationals drew nine walks in the inning. Put together with hits from Andrew, Asher, Elias, Bryce and a three-run double from JT, that equated to the 14-run frame that saw everyone in the order score at least one run.

Score after one and a half innings: 919 Nationals 16, Rage 0

Pitching Performances

Elias pitched a hitless first.

Ben went 1-2-3 in the second.

Bryce finished it out with a scoreless third.

Game 1 Web Gems

•    Coach Adam began the day with a web gem by remembering to pack a cooler with ice. No, not in case of injury. In case of Sunni Sky.

•    Gavin ended the game in the third inning with a web gem by making a pop fly to shortstop look extremely exciting, waiting until the last second to back up and then making a sprawling catch for the final out.

Game 1 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
919 Nationals	2	14	0	X	X	X	16	7
Holly Springs Rage	0	0	0	X	X	X	0	1