Dateline: Smith Field (formerly Fox Mill 1)
On a hot summer evening, Reston National took the field riding high after their big win over Vienna American. They had a long layoff after their last game, but they looked sharp in warmups.
The Great Falls coach called “tails” the coin landed on HEADS. Reston National Coach Grossman chose the friendly confines of the home dugout and continued his unbelievable streak of winning four coin tosses in a row. Marty got the start and he looked sharp in the the top of the first. After a leadoff walk, the next batter hit a line shot to Brendan who caught it and fired to Jake for a thrilling double play to start the game. The next batter grounded back to the mound and the Great Falls team was done in twelve pitches. Reston National bats were sizzling in the bottom of the first. Matt led off with a perfect bunt down the third baseline that he easily beat for a hit. Marty, helping his own cause, blasted a single to right. Conor singled to score Matt. Sam singled to score Marty. Jake singled to score Conor and Sam. Coach Grossman sent in Erick to run for Jake. Justin strolled to the plate. With a one ball and two strike count, the pitcher challenged Justin with a high fastball. Justin swung and blasted it over the center field wall. Reston fans rejoiced. After one it was Reston National 6 Great Falls 0.
Marty went to the mound with a comfortable lead. The first batter grounded out to Conor at short who made a great play charging the ball and firing to Jake at first. After a single and a walk to make things interesting, the next batter hit a sharp grounder to Justin who fielded it and alertly ran to the bag at third for out two. The next batter fouled one off toward first and Jake sprinted over and made a great catch by the fence for out three. In the bottom of the second, Conor singled for his second hit of the day. Tommy came on to hit for Sam and he hit a long fly to center that was barely caught. Jake grounded out and Johnny, hitting for Justin, hit a fly ball that was just barely caught by the second baseman.
In the top of the third, Great Falls battled back. The first two batters singled. They moved to second and third on a wild pitch. The next batter grounded out to Conor who gladly traded a run for an out as he fired to first. The next batter hit a tough chopper in between short and third and Johnny made a great play cutting off the ball at third and firing to first for out two. A second run for Great Falls scored on the play. The next batter grounded out to Brendan at second for out three. In the bottom of the third, Reston National bats continued to sizzle. Erick walked. Brendan hit a hard single, Matt singled for his third hit of the day to score Erick. Marty hit a ball back to the mound and Brendan got into a rundown between third and home. He played it perfectly and ended up back on third. With the bases loaded, Conor drilled a huge single to score Brendan and Matt. Sam was hit on the helmet by a pitch. Jake delivered with two more RBI’s for a total of four on the day with a big single to score Marty and Conor. Justin continued his streak with antoher single to score Sam and Jake. When the dust had cleared, seven runs had scored and Reston National had just built up a 13-2 lead.
Marty came on in the fourth. After a walk and a single, Great Falls decided to test the outfield. The next batter hit a long, high fly to Sam who drifted back and made a great catch. Next was a fly to right that Brian chased down for out two. The last batter, grounded out to Brendan at second who flipped to Jake for out three. The game was called give the fact that Reston National had a ten run lead after three and a half innings.
Coach Goldstein said, “The boys were sharp today. Diving catches, double plays…Home Run. What more could I want out of a ballclub? Now leave me alone — I have a cart to pack up.”
Coach Grossman was available only briefly as he had to begin immediate prepations for the Arlington game tomorrow. “We played a great game today. Great Falls is not a bad team and we simply played lights out defense. We didn’t commit a single error in the field and I can’t say enough about how well Marty threw strikes. He only walked four. Any time you make no errors and keep walks to a minimum you are going to put a lot of pressure on the other team. I was glad to see our offense come alive. I thought we could produce some runs with this offense and with several guys getting multiple hits, we looked great. Matt had three hits, Marty had one and a couple other hard hit balls, Conor went three for three, Jake went two for three and of course we don’t want to leave out Justin’s home run. We’ll be ready to go for Arlington tomorrow.”
We are told some tickets still remain as Reston National closes out their tournament play tomorrow at the Vienna Crabtree field against Arlington. Game time is set for 5:30.
