Dateline: FC 2

It looked like rain all day and there was a light rain at the start of the first inning but the Cards looked sharp as they continued their home stand. It was the first match of the year against the Cubs. Curtis went to the mound and threw heat. He struck out the side on just 12 pitches. The Cards offense jumped on the Cubs starter. With one out, Curtis and Michael singled. A wild pitch moved Curtis to third. Matthew was hit by the pitch to load the bases. Troy singled to score Curtis. Nima grounded out the first but picked up a huge RBI as Michael scored. As the top of the second was about to start the umpires detected lightning and the game was suspended for thiry minutes. Play resumed with Curtis resuming on the mound. He got the first batter to ground back to the mound where he threw to Michael at first for out one. The Cubs put runners on at first and third but Curtis then picked up a key strikeout and then with the basees loaded, the next batter popped out to third where Matthew made a great catch. He had to recover to get back a couple of steps as the brilliant Coach Grossman had just moved him in two steps right before the pitch. This reporter wonders why Coach Grossman is always adjusting players as if he has a foggy idea of where the ball will actually be hit. In the bottom of the second, the Cards went down in order. After two it was 2-0 game.

Matthew came on in relief. With one out, he gave up a single to third. The next play was a ground ball to third where Christopher made a nice play on the ball and fired to second but unfortunately the runner was safe by a step. The Cubs runner stole third to put runners on at first and third. The next batter grounded out to Nima who made a great play on the ball as he tossed to Isaac for out two at first. Unfortunately, the Cubs scored on the play. Matthew settled down and struck out the next batter to end the inning. The Cards threatened in the third as Michael was hit by a pitch. Matthew grounded into a fielders choice at second, Troy grounded out to short but Matthew moved to second on the play and moved to third on a wild pitch. With two outs the Cubs made a great play on a popup to the mound to end the inning. After three it was a thrilling 2-1 game.

Willie came on in relief in the fourth and after an infield single to third settled down and struck out the next three batters. Coach Grossman said, “Well our pitching has continued to be just fantastic. We have four pitchers who I think are extremely effective and I hope we can get another player or two on the mound as the season progresses. I also definitely want to work in a couple more catchers. I will say Kian and Troy looked great out there today and both of them made some sharp looking throws. Our guys are swinging the bat a lot more than the other teams and I think we are going to see that yield some real fruit for our offense in the near future.”

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