Dateline: Hook Road 1
In a rescheduled game right before Memorial Day weekend, the Cards took the field on a rare Friday appearance. Matthew looked great on the mound and shut down the Yankees in the first. The first batter doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch. The next batter struck out and the last batter popped out to the mound and Matthew caught the ball with his momentum moving toward third and he trotted over and touched the bag for a double play. Bottom of the first and Carter singled. Jamie grounded out and moved Carter to second. Matthew grounded out to score Carter. After one it was Cards 1 Yankees 0.
In the second, the Cards went down quietly. Matthew got the first batter to ground out and the next two struck out for three quick outs. Cards bats were quiet and so we moved to the third. Matthew struck out the first batter. The next batter singled and with a runner on the next batter hit a slow dribbler in front of the plate. Carter jumped out to the ball and fired to Jamie at first for out two. The last batter popped up to Jordan who made a great catch at second.
Top of the third and the Cards went on the attack. Carter singled, Jamie singled and Matthew drilled a long double to score Carter and Jamie. John singled to score Matthew. When the dust cleared the Cardinals led 4-0.
In the fourth and the Yankees fought back. John came to the mound and got the first batter to ground out to the mound. After that some runners scored, but John got the next batter to ground out to Carter at second for an out and Michael at short made a nice toss to Carter at second for out three. Bottom of the fourth and Michael singled. Carter popped out to short. Matthew hit a line drive to center that fell in nicely, but the center fielder got Michael at second. The Yankees pitcher settled down and got the third out. After four it was 4-3 Cardinals.
The coaches met due to time constraints and it was decided that the fifth would be the last inning. The Cards added an insurance run in the top of the fifth. Isaac led off with an infield single. Zack singled. Isaac moved to third on a wild pitch and Michael singled to score Zack. Bottom of the fifth. Jamie came on and threw hard, but ran into some control problems. Suffice it to say the Cards fought hard, got two outs and it all came down to a soft toss since the Yankees scored three. The soft toss went up, the batter smashed a hard drive to center and the Cards center fielder came up just a step short of the ball. Yankees fans rejoiced. Final Score: Yanks 6 Cards 5.
Coach Grossman said, “This was a really tough loss. I’m glad we are finally jumping out to some nice leads and now we just have to work to hold them. Jamie is gonna be a great pitcher — he just had one rough outing. Every pitcher has good days and bad days and we had plenty of chances to win this game. We’ll work hard and be ready to go for the Pirates next week.”
