Dateline: Crabtree Field 2

It was a pleasant morning as the Cardinals took the field. They finished their team picture and looked sharp during infield. Maxwell came to the mound for his first start of the year. He struck out the first two batters. The next two singled and there were runners on first and second and no out. Maxwell settled down and struck out the last batter to end the threat. Bottom of the first, two out, and Jamie at the plate. He smashed a long double to center, over-ran second and took off for third. Then he over-ran third and had to dive back just in time. It was an exciting play. Unfortunately, the Cards couldn’t hit him in and the first inning ended with the score tied 0-0.

Top of the second, Maxwell went back to the mound and struck out the Yankees on only ten pitches. Unfortunately the Cardinals went down quickly as well and so the game moved to the third. Maxwell went back to the mound and struck out three more on twelve pitches. That closed the book on Maxwell with nine strikeouts on the day. Bottom of the third and Isaac reached on an infield single. Rei hit a sharp grounder to second but the Yankees played it nicely and got Isaac at second by a step. Zack grounded out back to the mound for out three. After three it remained a scoreless tie.

Michael came on for his first appearance of the year. He looked sharp as he struck out two batters and got the next one to ground out back to the mound where he threw to Carter for the out. Bottom of the fourth and the Cardinals offense came alive. With one out, Carter singled. Matthew hit a line drive to center and Carter went all the way to third and Matthew went to second on the throw to third. Third and second, two outs. Maxwell smashed a hard shot down the third base line to score Carter and Matthew. Kyle hit the ball hard, but the shortstop made a good play for out three.

Top of the fifth and Michael struck out three more while only giving up a single. Bottom of the fifth and the Cards picked up an insurance run as Isaac led off with single and he went to second on a bad throw to first. Isaac moved to third on a wild pitch and Rei came up with a big RBI to score Isaac. Jamie came on in the top of the sixth and looked sharp. He struck out three batters in ten pitches to end the game. Final Score: Cardinals 3 Yankees 0.

Coach Grossman said, “We definitely looked sharp in the field. I saw our players looking alert and I know it was getting hot so I appreciate their efforts. We put nine balls in play today while the Yankees were held to only three hits. Our pitching was excellent and our hitting is getting better each game. We’ll keep our focus on hitting at practice next week as I still want to get all of our players more confident at the plate. I’m happy we got Michael some time on the mound as that means we’ve now used five pitchers in our first three games. I’m going to keep working with anyone else who wants to pitch as I always like to use plenty of pitchers. I can’t thank our parents enough for dealing with an early game and providing a ton of help at practice last night. We were able to run six solid stations and thats fantastic.” Coach Goldstein was available briefly and he said, “Our batters are coming along. Our catchers are improving each game and I’m looking forward to some great games next week.” The Cardinals play the White Sox for an early game on Tuesday.

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