Dateline: Hook Road 2
It was a rainy day but the rains calmed down and the Cards hurriedly switched ball fields from Stratton Woods (closed due to the rain) to Hook Road. Maxwell went to the mound and looked sharp. He struck out two and got the last batter to hit a grounder back to the mound where Maxwell dropped to a knee and fired to Jamie for out three. A couple of misplays in the infield did lead to two runs but the Cards still looked quite resilient. In the bottom of the first the Cards retaliated. After a leadoff groundout by Michael, Carter was hit by a pitch. Jamie blasted a long inside-the-park home run to right. Matthew doubled to left to score Jamie. When the dust had cleared it was 3-2 Cards after one.
Maxwell looked great in the second. He got the first batter to ground out to Jamie at first who made a nice play moving to the ball and sprinting to first base. He struck out the next batter and got the last batter to ground out to Jamie. Mikhail singled, but other than that Cards bats were quiet in the second so after two it was still a one run game.
In the top of the third, Coach Grossman went to his deep bullpen and brought in Michael. He threw plenty of strikes bu the first three batters got on base and scored due to some unfortunate infield play. Michael settled down and got the next batter to pop out to Jordan for a key defensive out. The next batter struck out but with two outs the last batter singled to center to score the fourth run of the inning. Down by three the Cards went back to the work. Jordan led off with a single but attempted to advance on an overthrow and he was gunned down at second. Michael singled, Carter singled and with one out it was Jamie up to the plate. With two strikes, he drove a long shot into left for a clear triple to score Michael and Carter. Cards fans celebrated. Maxwell singled to score Jamie. Little did anyone know that was the end of anyone scoring on the day. Rei singled but the inning ended quietly after that.
Top of the fourth and Matthew came in and threw heat. He struck out the first batter. The next batter popped up to the mound and the last batter struck out. Three up and three down. Bottom of the fourth and the Cards threatened. Isaac led off with an infield hit. Mikhail grounded into a fielders choice. Zack singled but Mikhail was out as he over-ran second. After four it was all tied up at six run a piece. Due to time constraints both coaches agreed the next inning would be the last. Jamie came on and threw hard. The first batter hit a hard shot to second where Michael threw to Matthew for out one. The next batter hit a line shot to Maxwell who made a great catch for out two. After two infield singles, the last batter grounded out to second for out three. In the bottom of the fifth the first batter struck out, Michael grounded out to third where was out by half a step at first. The last batter struck out and thus the game ended. Final Score: Cards 6 Nats 6.
Coach Grossman said, “Well we certainly played a great team today and we were right with them. I have always felt we could play with anyone in the league and a tie against a first place team is a great way to show that we have what it takes to compete in this league. We are hitting much better. We need to
improve our base running and our infield play but that will come as we finish out our regular season. I’m looking forward to our next four games.”
