Dateline: Smithsburg Field 10:00 AM
And so it was that the Reston All Stars (a team combined from players on Reston American and Reston National) traveled to the Abe Williams Smithsburg Tournament. Reston was trying to defend a championship earned by the 2007 team.
Two games were set for Saturday and possibly two (if all went well) on Sunday.
Coach Galloway lost the toss and the game started. Reston jumped on the Big Blue starter as Matt beat out an infield hit. Matt and Kent moved to third and second on wild pitches. Pete singled to score Matt and Kent. Conor walked. Andy grounded out to second but the runners moved to third and second. . Jake grounded out but Pete scored. Conor scored on a wild pitch. Pete struck out two in the bottom of the first and a nice play by Sal on a ground out ended the inning. After one it was Reston 4 BCC 0.
In the top of the second Reston continued the offensive onslaught. Matt again led off by beating out an infield hit. Kent bunted perfectly to move him to second. Pete delivered with another RBI single to score Matt. Conor blasted a long double to left to score Pete. Andy delivered with a single to score Conor. Jordan beat out and infield hit which scored Andy. Justin walked and Graham walked but the rest of the inning went quietly. Pete got the first batter to ground out back to the mound. He struck out the next batter, walked a batter and the last batter hit a sharp grounder to Sal who flipped to Conor at short for out three. After two the route was on as it was Reston 8 BCC 0.
The offensive barrage continued in the third. Kent hit a long fly to left that the left fielder barely chased down at the warning track. Pete blasted a long fly to center that was caught for out two. Not be phased, Conor drilled his second double tot he left field wall. Andy and Jake walked to load the bases. Owen smashed a long double to right to clear the bases and score Conor, Andy and Jake. Pete continued his shutout with a strikeout, a groundout to Sal who flipped to Jake at first and a strike out. After three, Coach Galloway took Pete off the mound. He had completed a stellar performance on the mound with a shut out, a no hitter, but he had thrown 48 pitches and the coaching staff wanted Pete fresh for another day. Of the eleven batters he faced, he struck out five of them. After three it was Reston 11 BCC 0.
In the top of the fourth still more offense continued. Sal blasted a double to right. Matt moved him to third with a groundout to second. Kent walked. Pete grounded out to second to pick up an RBI as Sal scored. Conor hit is third long double to the the left field fence of the day to score Kent. Andy walked. Conor scored on a wild pitch. Jake grounded out to end the inning but when the dust had cleared It was Reston 14 BCC 0.
Brendan came on to try to end the game. The first batter singled. The next batter hit a sharp grounder back to the mound, Brendan whirled and fired to Conor and short who blasted a ball to Jake at first. The umps call….SAFE at first by a step. Reston fans were excited by the prospect of a Grammes-Grammes double play, but it was not to be. The next batter grounded out to the mound for out two. A long fly ball to right was slightly misplayed and an unearned run scored. Brendan settled down and got the last batter to ground out to Sal at second who tossed to Conor for out three.
Final Score: Reston 14 BCC 1
Coach Galloway was unavailable for comment as he had to begin immediate preparations for Game 2 that was to be played at 4:00. Coach Grossman said, “Certainly a nice way to start the tournament, but we’ve got a long way to go in a short period of time. I really liked how Pete looked on the mound and Brendan did a great job finishing the game quickly.”
