Dateline: Hook Road
On a warm spring afternoon, the Red Sox played a thrilled with the Blue Jays. Garrett took the mound and held the Blue Jays to two runs in the top of the first. The Sox answered quickly on walks to Justin, Ben, Matt, and William and Jack to score three runs to take the lead 3-2. Michael came in to hold the Blue Jays to only a single run in the second. The Red Sox went down quietly and after two it was a 3-3 thriller.
Michael returned to the mound in the thrid and gave up three infield singles which ultimately resulted in a four run inning for the Blue Jays. The Red Sox stayed calm and started one of their patented comebacks. Justin led off with a single, Ben singled to move Justin to second. Matt came up and on the first pitch drilled a long blast to deep right field for the teams’ first home run of the season. Suddenly the Blue Jays lead was down to 7-6 after three.
Matt came to the mound in the fourth and quickly struck out three Blue Jays in a row. Corey led off with a single, Garrett followed with a single and Corey scored on two wild pitches. The game was tied after four. Matt continued his excellent pitching in the fifth and struck out three more Blue Jays. In the bottom of the fifth the score was tied and darkness loomed. TJ led off with a walk, Justin singled for his second hit of the game and Ben walked to load teh bases. Matt walked to score TJ and a wild pitch scored Justin. After five it was 9-7.
The coaches realized there was just enough time to start a sixth inning. As it turned out the Blue Jays inning lasted a long time — this reporter sees no need to go into the details and the 2 hour and 30 minute time limit expired before the Red Sox had a chance to bat. Hence, little league rules state that the final score reverts to the score at the end of the last fully played inning. In this case, the final score is 9-7 — the final score after the fifth inning. The Red Sox were a little surprised by the long top of the sixth, but happy to come away with a victory over the Blue Jays.
Coach Grossman said “That was a long game. I wish we didn’t have such a long top of the sixth, but it was still a great game. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if this team wins Batt-a-thon — what a great hit by Matt!.” Coach Goldstein was also pleased and said “I know Coach Grossman can’t be here for the big game next week against the undefeated Marlins, but I think we’ll be just fine.”
