Top Gun Battle for the Bats finals: Elite Gone Mad 5, 919 Nationals 1

On a frustrating afternoon in Rocky Mount, the 919 Nationals fell, 5-1, to Elite Gone Mad in the championship game of the Battle for the Bats. 

Four pitchers combined to throw the ball very well for the Nats, but the offense never got on track and the defense was uncharacteristically porous. Offensively, only three runners went as far as third base, and for what might be the first time in this group's history, they failed to get back-to-back hits at any point during the game. That was a rough combination with a few defensive hiccups, as five errors led to four unearned EGM runs.

"We have a lot of work to do," Coach Sean after the game, while also reminding the Nationals of a similar outcome in the first tournament of last fall--in a year that turned out pretty well indeed.

Practice this week is Wednesday at 919 and Friday at Ephesus.

Championship Nationals scoring play

Fourth inning

Gavin ripped a one-out single and stole second. A fielder's choice moved him to third, and Andrew collected the only 919 RBI of the game with a two-out double.

Score after four innings: Elite Gone Mad 3, 919 Nationals 1

Pitching Performances

Banks threw three strong innings to start the game, including striking out the side in the third.

Gavin struck out a pair in his one inning.

Chace threw only four pitches out of the strike zone in 21 tosses in the fifth.

Asher entered with a man on first in the sixth and went 1-2-3 to end the inning.

Championship Web Gems

• Elias craftily waited until his parents arrived to turn in the day's first web gem. With a runner on second and one out, the hitter lofted a sinking liner to center. Eli came racing in, scooped it off his shoelaces in a diving catch, and then threw to second to double off the runner and retire the side, even before John could set up Adam's chair settle into his seat.
• Another timely double play in the second. With a runner on second and one out, Bryce fielded a pop fly near second and then doubled off the runner to end the inning.
• Even after a scary collision in right-center in the fourth, Elias still turned in another Web Gem in the fifth. This time it was a running, diving catch in right-center that ended the fifth.

Championship line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Elite Gone Mad	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	3
919 Nationals	0	0	3	1	2	X	6	7

Top Gun Battle for the Bats semifinals: 919 Nationals 6, Carolina Elite 2

919 rode a trio of solid pitchers and stellar defense to a 6-2 win over the Carolina Elite in the Top Gun semifinals in Rocky Mount.

Elite took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first after manufacturing a run without hitting the ball out of the infield. The Nationals battled through some frustrating early offensive moments, including leaving three runners in scoring position in the first two innings, before finally breaking through in a three-run third. That was enough offense to support the pitching of JT, Bryce and Asher, who walked just one in six innings and allowed only three hits. Just two Elite runners reached as far as third base on the afternoon.

The game was most noteworthy for featuring one of the best mound visits in 10U history, as Elite’s coach went out in the bottom of the fifth to remove his starting pitcher, who had thrown almost 90 pitches at that point and limited the usually potent 919 offense to a scant six runs.

"You were pretty good," his coach told him. "Not great. And not bad. And that's because you're not a great player, and not a bad player, but a pretty good player."

Yes, that really did happen. Suitably inspired, the kid left the mound and then called the nearest depression hotline.

Semifinal Nationals scoring plays

Third inning

Elias led off with a walk and stole second. A balk put him on third, and Asher walked. Asher stole second, and then a wild pitch scored Eli. Bryce’s fielder’s choice moved Asher to third, and then he hustled all the way around to the plate on the play. JT singled and stole second. Gavin’s fielder’s choice put JT on third, and a wild pitch scored him, giving 919 three runs on just one hit.

Score after three innings: 919 Nationals 3, Carolina Elite 1

Fourth inning

With one out, Banks doubled and then went to third on a wild pitch. Ben doubled him home.

Score after four innings: 919 Nationals 4, Carolina Elite 2

Fifth inning

Asher led off with a single and stole second. A wild pitch moved him to third, and Bryce cracked an RBI groundout. With two outs, Gavin singled, stole second, and went to third on a throwing error. Chace smacked the two-out RBI single to score him.

Score after three and a half innings: 919 Nationals 6, Carolina Elite 2

Pitching Performances

JT pitched a hitless first two innings.

Bryce followed that with two innings of one-hit, zero-walk pitching.

Asher closed it with a pair of scoreless frames.

Semifinal Web Gems

•    Gavin went up the middle to rob the leadoff man in the second and threw him out at first.

•    With a runner on first, Elias came in charging hard from center on a two-hopper, scooped it up, and rifled it to Gavin covering second for the force.

Semifinal line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Carolina Elite	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	3
919 Nationals	0	0	3	1	2	X	6	7

Top Gun Battle for the Bats Game 2: 919 Nationals 16, Granville Storm 2

919 finished off a perfect first day of 10U competition with a 16-2 victory in the first-ever meeting with the Granville Storm. The Nationals got just enough offense to take advantage of seven walks and a hit batter. They paired that productivity with stingy pitching (just three walks allowed) and solid defense (error-free and five different web gems) in a game that was shortened to four innings due to the run rule.

The first day saw seven different pitchers throw in the nine innings played, as the Nationals showed off some impressive depth on the mound.

The win left the Nats 2-0 in pool play, with seedings and times (most likely 2 p.m. on Sunday) coming later tonight. With multiple 919 teams playing in Rocky Mount, the 10Us (still seems weird to call them that) caught up with the 9Us (still seems weird to call them that, too) after the game:

Game 2 Nationals scoring plays

First inning

Bryce drew a leadoff walk and stole second and third. JT walked and stole second. Gavin’s single scored Bryce and sent JT to third. Chace walked. After an out at the plate, Brady singled. Banks reached on a fielder’s choice. Joey sliced a two-run double. Elias beat out a ball to the left side. Andrew blasted a two-run double.

Score after one inning: 919 Nationals 7, Storm 2

Second inning

Bryce singled and stole second. A wild pitch moved him to third. JT walked and stole second. Chace singled home Bryce. Brady collected an RBI groundout. Banks walked. Joey walked. A wild pitch scored Chace. Elias walked. A pair of wild pitches, plus a throwing error by the catcher, scored three more 919 runs in the rare seven-run inning that included only three hits.

Score after two innings: 919 Nationals 14, Storm 2

Third inning

Bryce, JT and Gavin put together three straight singles to score a run. Chace’s fielder’s choice moved JT to third, where a wild pitch scored him.

Score after three innings: 919 Nationals 16, Storm 2

Pitching Performances

Asher started and threw well.

Brady pitched a scoreless second.

Andrew struck out the side in the third.

Gavin finished it out by setting down the side in order in the fourth.

Game 2 Web Gems

•    Bryce went up the middle from second to cut off a potential single

•    With the bases loaded in the second, Bryce raced over to field a pop fly and doubled the runner off first.

•    Now over at shortstop, Bryce continued his Day Of Web Gems by fielding a ball almost on the edge of the outfield glass, then gunning across to first to get the out.

•    On the next hitter, Asher made a diving, sprawling catch in right.

•    Bryce finished off the Inning Of Web Gems on the next hitter by backing up on a pop fly over his head and making the play.

Game 2 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Granville Storm	2	0	0	0	X	X	2	4
919 Nationals	7	7	2	X	X	X	16	10

Top Gun Battle for the Bats Game 1: 919 Nationals 15, Elite Gone Mad 8

The 10U era began bright and early in Rocky Mount, with a 9 a.m. game against Elite Gone Mad. Everyone must have slept well, because 919 put ten first inning runs on the scoreboard on the way to a 15-8 victory.

The ten-run first turned out to be plenty, as the Nationals offense showed little ill effect from going nearly two months between games. All eleven players reached base at least once, and ten different players scored a run.

Although 919 took a slight mid-game slumber, they woke back up in time to tack on three insurance runs in the top of the fifth, providing a little cushion for a game that had quietly gotten much tighter, with EGM outscoring the visiting Nationals 8-2 between the second and the fourth.

Game 1 Nationals scoring plays

First inning

Bryce and JT led off with back to back singles. Gavin’s single scored Bryce, and then an error on the same play scored JT. With Gavin on second, Chace went through shortstop to score Gavin. A fielder’s choice moved Chace to third, and then he scored on a single by Banks. Ben singled. Joey reached on a fielder’s choice, and an error scored Banks. Elias walked. A passed ball scored Ben. Elias stole second to put two in scoring position, and then Andrew singled home Joey, with Asher’s fielder’s choice scoring Elias. Bryce reached on an error by the shortstop that scored Andrew. After Bryce stole second, JT singled him home to complete the ten-run inning.

Score after one-half inning: 919 Nationals 10, Elite Gone Mad 0

Second inning

With two outs, Banks walked. Ben reached on a ball to short, putting runners at first and third, and then Ben and Banks worked the first and third play to perfection to score Banks.

Score after one and a half innings: 919 Nationals 11, Elite Gone Mad 0

Fourth inning

Gavin reached on a ball to the left side of the infield and stole second. Chace walked. Brady reached on a fielder’s choice that featured great hustle by Chace to beat the play at second, and then turned into a run when Gavin motored hard into third and kept going, crossing the plate before the defense could react.

Score after three and a half innings: 919 Nationals 12, Elite Gone Mad 6

Fifth inning

With one out, Andrew singled and stole second. Asher scored him with an RBI single and took second on the throw. A fielder’s choice moved Asher to third with two outs, and a wild pitch scored him. JT walked, stole second and scored on Gavin’s double.

Score after four and a half innings: 919 Nationals 15, Elite Gone Mad 8

Pitching Performances

Joey worked a scoreless first.

Banks pitched the Nats out of some trouble in the second.

Chace cruised through two innings of solid work.

Asher closed it with a 1-2-3 fifth.

Game 1 Web Gems

•    On a single to right field in the first, Ben came up throwing from right trying to get the hitter at first. His throw skipped by the bag, but Asher was there backing up from catcher to save the extra base.

•    Banks and Brady had good communication on a dribbler down the right field line in the second. Banks ran all the way over to the foul line, picked up the ball, and flipped to Brady to end the inning.

•    Bryce made a nice play on a grounder up the middle in the third, retiring the hitter with a strong throw.

•    Later in the third, the Nats made another play on a hard hit ball to right. This time, it was Andrew in right, and he came up throwing and fired to Banks at first for the out.

•    With a runner on third and nobody out in the fourth, Elias camped under a fly ball to center, then made a strong throw to the plate to prevent the runner from advancing.

Game 1 Book Gems

• ·      Coach Adam was summoned from the dugout to review the scorebook after a discrepancy in the 919 half of the fourth. After an in-depth conversation between the respective scorekeepers and the home plate umpire, 919 emerged victorious, thereby marking the first productive thing Coach Adam has done on a baseball field since approximately 1989.

Game 1 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
919 Nationals	10	1	0	1	3	X	15	11
Elite Gone Mad	0	5	1	2	0	X	8	4