Dateline: Field of Dreams (Field #14)
After a brief rest, the Warriors put on their blue jerseys and prepared to face the #46 seed: the Oak Creek Storm from Wisconsin. Conor led off with a walk, advanced to second on a balk (no warnings in single-elimination play) and moved to third on a wild pitch. Jordan continued his offensive barrage with a single to score Conor. Sam singled to score Jordan and the Warriors were on the board with two quick runs. Andy shut down the top of the order as Conor played a bunt perfectly as he got his first start behind the plate and he threw a blistering rocket to Jake at first for out one. The next batter grounded out to Brendan at second and the last batter hit a slow roller to Brendan who flipped to Andy covering the bag for out three.
The Warriors offense clicked into gear in the second inning. Matt singled, Andy walked and Graham singled to load the bases. Justin came up and blasted a bases clearing grand slam over the left center field wall. Conor singled. Marty doubled to score Conor. Jordan singled to score Marty. Matt picked up his second hit of the inning with a solid double to score Jordan. When the dust had cleared the Warriors led 9-0. The Storm chipped across a run in the bottom of the second so after two it was Warriors 9 Storm 1.
The Warriors picked up another run in the third as Conor walked and stole second and third. Marty reached on an infield error to score Conor. Andy was dominant in the third as he got three outs in only six pitches: fly out to Graham in center, ground out to Sam at third and line out to Marty at short. After three it was 10-1.
Sam led off the fourth with a single. Thomas walked. Nick walked and Matt walked to score Sam. Bottom of the fourth, Andy continued to look great on the mound. He got the first batter to pop out to Thomas at second. The next batter grounded out to Marty at short. After a single and a hit batter, he settled down and struck out the last batter. After four it was 11-1.
Justin led off the fifth with a single to left. Conor blasted a single to deep left and Justin was thrown out a third by an outstanding throw by the Storm. Conor stole third and Marty picked up an RBI as Conor scored. Jordan singled but unfortunately the Warriors couldn’t get the run home. Editors Note: The 12th run would have been big here as the game could have ended after five innings if the Warriors had held onto a 12 run lead. With a 12-1 lead, Andy left the mound after only five pitches in the fifth. He gave up a single to center and the Warriors fans cheered as they applauded his rock solid four innings while scattering only two hits. Nick came on and got some outs but gave up a couple of runs and Jake came on to finish out the fifth. Unfortunately, some runs scored off of him too, but this reporters notes are not that clear as to who gave up what runs in the fifth. Bottom line is five runs scored to make it a 12-6 game.
Warriors bats were quiet in the sixth and Jake pitched well in the bottom half of the inning — just giving up one home run in the bottom half of the inning. Final Score: Reston 12 Oak Creek Storm 7.
Assistant Coach Grossman said, “Well its great to win our first two games here as well as the two games yesterday. We are on a roll. I think we play an awfully good team next. I would love to play them when we are fresh but unfortunately we have had two games in the heat. Andy pitched a real masterpiece in this one and everyone hit the ball very well.”
Editors Note: This ended the Oak Creek Storm run as they went 3-3 in the initial games with an average runs allowed per game of 7.50.