Battle of the Bats Game 2: 919 Nationals 8, Clippers 3

After a sleepy first inning that saw the Clippers take a 3-2 lead at the end of the frame, 919 responded by outscoring them 6-0 the rest of the way to earn an 8-3 victory in the second game of pool play Saturday at Walnut Creek.

The Clippers got four of their five hits in the first inning, quickly erasing what had been a 2-0 Nationals lead. But Andrew and Asher combined to retire 13 of the final 14 batters to slam the door and allow the offense to work.

Once again, the story offensively was two-out hitting. This time, seven of the eight runs scored with two outs. The victory moved 919 to 2-0 in pool play and they now await Sunday game times, which will likely be in the morning.

Game 2 919 Nationals scoring plays

First inning

Banks doubled, stole third and scored on an error. Andrew walked, stole second and scored on an error.

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

Third inning

Banks singled and stole second and third before scoring on a wild pitch.

Score after two and a half innings: 919 Nationals 3, Clippers 3

Fourth inning

Ben crushed a one-out double. He moved to third on a wild pitch, then scored on Asher’s two-out single. Asher went to second on a wild pitch, then scored on Eli’s single.

Score after three and a half innings: 919 Nationals 5, Clippers 3

Fifth inning

Bryce led off with a single. Gavin coaxed a one-out walk. Both runners stole a base. Andrew walked. Brady plated a pair with an RBI fielder’s choice, as Gavin hustled all the way around from second. Ben reached on an error, scoring Brady.

Score after four and a half innings: 919 Nationals 8, Clippers 3




Pitching Performances

Ben started and got a couple of outs in the middle infield.

Andrew struck out the side in the second and retired seven of the eight batters he faced.

Asher closed it out with two perfect innings.

Dugout wisdom

This one once again involved Gavin. He was hitting in the fifth inning and facing a pitcher who dropped in the occasional curveball. With a 1-2 count, the pitcher delivered a curve clearly high. The Clipper catcher and coaches chirped a little about the call, apparently believing the umpire’s clearly infallible strike zone had made a mistake. While digging in and getting ready for the next pitch—and still in the batter’s box—Gavin laughed and said, “It’s where it crosses the plate, guys.” He eventually walked.

Game 2 Web Gems

•   It was yet another solid defensive game, as for the second straight contest 919 had a completely error-free performance.

•   The highlight came with two outs in the fourth. The batter lined a grounder to the right side. Brady ranged to his right and deflected it…where it went straight to Colin, who picked it out of the air and fired to first…where Asher was covering first base (“RIGHT SIDE GET OVER”) to receive the throw and step on the bag.

Game 2 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
919 Nationals	2	0	1	2	3	X	8	6
Clippers	3	0	0	0	0	X	3	5

Battle of the Bats Game 1: 919 Nationals 9, Madsports 3

The fall 2015 season began with the annual season opener against Madsports. Coach Kevin signed a three-year deal with Madsports in the summer of 2013, and the teams have since met to begin the 2013, 2014 and now 2015 seasons. The squads really went all-out in this one, as Colin graciously provided pregame fireworks to start the season.

This being the first game of new season, the Nationals are always looking for new players. After a significant free agent expenditure, Coach Kevin and Coach Fred were able to sign one new kid. He’s big for an 11U player and talks a lot about hitting, but didn’t get a single hit on Saturday. Here’s a photo of him warming up:

Even without production from the big kid, the 919 offense plated all nine runs with two outs on the way to a 9-3 victory. Three pitchers combined to allow Madsports just one hit in a game that was limited to five innings by the time limit.

The National offense showed some rust, as eight of the 15 offensive outs were recorded by strikeout. But they were opportunistic enough to capitalize on three walks, a hit batter and an error to get some baserunners, and then got timely two-out hits in every inning except the first.

Game 1 919 Nationals scoring plays

Second inning

Andrew walked and stole second. He went to third on Ben’s fly ball to right, then scored on a wild pitch.

Score after one and a half innings: 919 Nationals 1, Madsports 0

Third inning

Asher worked a one-out walk. Elias was hit by a pitch. Banks lined a single. Gavin laced a two-run, two-out single. Chace scored Banks with a single.

Score after two and a half innings: 919 Nationals 4, Madsports 1

Fourth inning

Ben singled. Brady reached on an error, with Ben going to third. Colin lined a sacrifice fly. Asher lined an RBI single. Elias singled home Asher. Bryce’s double scored Elias.

Score after three and a half innings: 919 Nationals 8, Madsports 2

Fifth inning

Chace reached on a long fly ball, then scored on Brady’s shot to the right side.

Score after four and a half innings: 919 Nationals 9, Madsports 2




Pitching Performances

Chace fired two hitless innings to start the season.

Banks worked through the third even without his best stuff.

Colin threw a perfect fourth.

Andrew closed it out in the fifth.

Dugout wisdom

That’s right, a new category in the blog. It doesn’t seem fair that the coaches get to hear all the tremendous insight provided by the players in the dugout. So, each game (that I actually remember to write it down) we’ll put the day’s best wisdom in this space.

In game one, it came from Andrew. With 919 in the lead and still batting, Gavin worked a 2-0 count. He then proceeded to take a tremendous hack and swing straight through the pitch. As usual, when Gavin swings and misses, which is rarely, the dugout went completely silent. Then Andrew’s voice came from the far end of the dugout: “Um, yeah. That never happened, OK?”

Game 1 Web Gems

•   Gavin made a nice play deep in the hole at shortstop and then made the long throw across to get the first out in the first inning.

•   Chace stopped a hard grounder back through the middle in the second, then threw to second to get the lead runner.

•   With the bases loaded in the third, Andrew stopped a grounder back to pitcher and threw to Ben on the plate to get the force and cut down the run.

Game 1 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
919 Nationals	0	1	3	4	1	X	9	10
Madsports	0	1	1	0	1	X	3	1