Dateline: Fox Mill 1
On an perfect fall days the Royals played the Great Falls Cards. Matt started on the mound and looked sharp, but a walk and a wild pitch and an infield error resulted in two runs. He settled down to get two strike outs and a ground out to second where Nihal made a nice play for out three. The Royals went down in order so after one it was 2-0 Cards.
Matt gave up a single and a hit batter but with one out, a key infield error again resulted in two runs. Matt settled down again and struck out the next batter and, for out three Nick made a nice play on a sharp grounder, almost through home (just to give the coaching staff some heart palpitations), and changed his made and threw to Jordyn at second who was alertly reminding Nick that it would be a better play at second. The Royals threatened as Robbie singled and Jake singled. A wild pitch put runners on third and second with no outs. Unfortunately, the Royals didn’t get another hit and the inning ended. After two it was Cards 4 Royals 0.
Jake pitched the third. He gave up a leadoff double and a single scored a run. Two wild pitches put the runner on third. The next batter hit a long fly to center that Eric ran down for out one. He then threw a perfect strike home to freeze the runner on third. It was a powerful exhibition of his arm. The next batter reached on a key error to score another but he tried to stretch his luck and ran to third where he was gunned down by Jake as he threw to Nihal who made a great tag for out two. Another long fly to center and another great catch by Eric ended the inning. The Royals threatened again with a walk to Jordyn, a perfect sacrifice bunt by Nihal and a walk to Ryan. The runners moved to third and second with two outs, but the Royals again could not pick up a big two-out RBI. After three it was Cards 6 Royals 0.
Alec came on for his first appearance of the fall in the fourth. He looked great as he got the first batter to popup back to the mound and the second batter to popup to Jake at short who made a nice catch. The next two batters walked, but Alec settled down and got the next batter to hit a ground ball, but unfortunately a key infield error resulted in two runs. A single brought Coach Grossman out of the dugout and he brought in Robbie from his deep bullpen. Robbie came on an struck out the next batter in three pitches to end the Cards threat. The Royals went down quickly in the fourth. At the end of four innings it was Cards 8 Royals 0.
Robbie continued on the mound with a quick strike out. An infield error put a runner on. A double scored the unearned run and Robbie settled down to shut down the Cards with a ground out back to the mound. The Royals continued to made contact as Justin hit a shot back to the mound for out one. Spensor hit a long drive to deep center that was unfortunately caught for out two. Nick singled, but the Royals went down quietly after that. At the end of five innings it was Cards 9 Royals 0.
Eric came on and continued his excellent work with two quick strikeouts and the last batter grounded out to Alec who made a nice play at short for out three. The Royals led off the sixth as Nihal walked and with two outs, Eric walked. A wild pitch put runners on third and second. Matt grounded to third and it looked to this reporter as if he beat the throw to first by three steps, but the ump called him out and the game ended Cards 9 Royals 0.
Coach Grossman said, “That was an awfully strange game in that it certainly didn’t feel like we were down 9-0. All of our runs were unearned. Certainly we’ll work more on defense and see if we can force teams to beat us instead of simply beating ourselves. I know we didn’t score today, but we had plenty of base runners. Its a tough loss, but I still think this team can play with anyone in our league or the other leagues that we will play this fall.”
Coach Goldstein said,”Its great for player development to get to use five pitchers and I also like how our catchers are working with our pitching staff. Matt and Robbie have done an excellent job behind the plate.”
