Dateline: Crabtree Green
It was an excellent Saturday morning this weekend as the Phillies continued their homestand. Aidan got the start and looked great. The first batter doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch. The next batter walked. The Nationals attempted a double steal and the Phillies ran the old “Throw the ball to the shortstop play [Coach Grossman told this reporter he has fond memories of it when he was in Little League 8,000 years ago”. Kyle at short, caught the ball in stride and fired home to Michael at home who deftly applied the tag for out one. The next batter drilled a line driver over the center field wall for two runs. After a single and walk, Krish made a great catch in right for out two and Aidan struck out the last batter. Bottom of the first and Sam led off with a shot over the center field wall against the 6 foot tall Great Falls pitcher.
Kyle came on in the second the Nats picked up three more runs but Kyle struck out two batters including the big hitter on Great Falls and Cam made a great catch in right. The Phillies went down quietly. After two innings it was 5-1 Nats. Sam pitched the third and quickly struck out the side. Bottom of the third and the Phillies started to battle back. With two outs, Kyle walked, Michael walked and Reese came up with a big single to score Michael and Reese. After three it was 5-3.
Sam continued in the top of the fourth and after a single and a nice fielders choice play made by William brought up the big hitter. With a 3-0 count, the big six footer drilled a double to right to score the run. Sam settled down and got a a strikeout and a popup to Michael at short. Bottom of the fourth and Will beat out an infield single. Cam grounded into a fielders choice. Krish grounded into a fielders choice. Will scored on a wild pitch and after four it was 6-4.
Reese pithed the fifth and struck out the side. The Nats ran out of pitchers and the Phillies scored 7 runs on four walks to take a lead. Michael came on in the sixth leading 11-6. A double and a home run by the big hitter (his second of the day) scored two runs, but Michael settled down and struck out the last batter to end the game 11-8.
Coach Grossman said, “This was a great game for our team. We showed much more resilience and I think we are only going to get better. We clearly need to work more on team defense and I want to get more hitters driving the ball, but we have time to work on those things. Another Reston team lost to these guys 22-6 so it shows we have a lot of potential on this team.”
