Dateline: Hook Road 1
On a surprisingly hot early fall afternoon, the Brewers played the tough Phillies. Coach Grossman in his pre-game interview said, “We had a great first game, but every team in the high single-A division has an experienced coach and a lot of talent. We are going to have our hands full every time we come out this fall. I think we’ll be ready for the challenge.”
His thoughts were prescient as the Brewers got a quick four runs in the top of the first. Colin hit a hard shot to third. Isaac beat out an infield hit. Jordan hit a long shot past the second baseman. Matthew singled to score Colin. Michael grounded into a fielders choice where the Phillie got Isaac at the plate for out one. Mitchell hit a hard shot to center to score Jordan. Nicholas reached on an infield hit to score Matthew and Olivia hit a nice line drive to score Michael. The Phillies picked up four runs in the bottom of the second but not before Mitchell made a nice catch on a pop up for the Brewers first out on the day.
In the second, Sofia singled to third. Amanda singled to second. Caelen hit a hard bouncer past third to load the bases. Colin hit a shot up the middle where the Phillies made a nice play to get Caelen at second, but Sofia scored. Isaac hit a line drive off the T to score Amanda. Jordan grounded into a fielders choice at second base for out two. Matthew drilled a line drive to short to score Colin. Michael grounded into a fielders choice to end the inning. It was the first time the Brewers were held to under four runs. In the bottom of the second, Brewers defense looked sharp. The first batter hit a shot back to Mitchell. He made a nice stop, calmly picked it up and tossed to Matthew for out one. The next batter hit a routine groundout to the mound. Two batters. Two outs. The Phillies next four batters singled to score one run and load the bases with two out. The last batter hit a shot to Matthews left at first. He dove for the ball, came up with and alertly touched first for out three. Only one run had scored and the Phillies were stopped in their tracks.
Third inning. Brewers picked up four more. Mitchell led off with a long double to left. Nicholas beat out an infield hit. Olive singled to score Mitchell. Sofia singled to score Nicholas. Amanda grounded out to first for out one. Caelen hit a high fly that fell behind the pitcher and the Brewers were able to just get him at first for out two, but Olivia scored on the play. Colin hit a hard shot off the pitching machine to score Sofia. In the bottom of the third it was another stellar defensive inning for the Brewers. The first batter grounded out to the mound where Michael tossed quickly to Colin for out one. After a base hit, Michael and Colin paired up for another great out at first. The next batter hit a hard shot into short right field. Mitchell charged it, made the play and fired to Colin for out three. It was an exciting, 9-3 put out at first. Five batters for the Phillies and no runs in the bottom of the third.
Fourth inning. The Brewers offense kept attacking the baseball. Isaac led off with a line drive up the middle off the T. Jordan grounded into a fielders choice at second for out one. Matthew singled and Michael singled to load the bases. Mitchell hit a big single up the middle to score Jordan. Nicholas singled to score Matthew. Olivia singled to score Michell and Sofia singled to score Mitchell. Seven batters in the inning hit a ball of the pitching machine! In the bottom of the fourth the Phillies scored three runs but not before three nice outs were made. The first out was made by Mitchell at second when he fielded a ground ball and alertly tagged the runner in front of him who was coming from first for out one. The second out occurred when a Phillies runner on third was hit with a ground ball. Finally, the last out happened when the Phillies batter hit a hard ground ball to third where Matthew got the ball and raced to third to get the runner coming from second.
Fifth inning. The game was still hot but not hotter than the Brewers bats. Amanda picked up her second hit of the day off the pitching machine. Caelen drove a single up the middle. Isaac reached on an infield hit to load the bases. Colin grounded into a fielders choice at home. Jordan beat out an infield single to score Caelen. Matthew hit a hard shot to second to score Isaac. Michael singled to score Colin. Mitchell grounded into a fielders choice at home, but Olivia picked up another RBI with a single to first. In the bottom of the fifth the Phillies got four runs but not before the Brewers added their eleventh and twelfth out on the day. The first was on a sharp grounder to short where Mitchell backed up the play in left field and fired to Michael for a great 7-4 out at second. Olivia then made a great out on a touch chopper to first where she gobbled it up and tagged the base for a clean out.
Coach Grossman said, “Well anytime you can come out and play a good team like the Phillies in the heat and score all four runs, 4 out of 5 times you have to pleased with the hitting. On defense we got 12 outs and we had a chance at 15 so I am certainly very pleased by that. We still need to work on base running and we certainly need to work on more defensive situations, but overall I’m very pleased with the progress of this team. “
