On a relatively warm and cloudy Spring day at Browns Chapel, the Reston White Sox opened the 2002 season with a thrilling 12-11 win over the Yankees. The Yankees started off with three quick runs despite several nice pitches by White Sox starter David Wynne. The White Sox quickly retaliated with four in the bottom half of the first. The game see-sawed back and forth as the Yankees scored four more in the top of the second, but their very big cleanup hitter was struck out on only four pitches by David Wynne. In the bottom of the second with Mark and Wesley on Bretton smashed one into deep center for an in-the-park home run bringing the score to 7 all. Nolan came on in the third and retired the Yankees in a mere four batters. The White Sox continued their hitting barrage with four more after leadoff hits by Nolan and Tom started things rolling. With the score tied 11-7, the Yankees battled back to tie the score with four in the bottom of the fourth. The White Sox bats were quieted as the Yankees brought in their next pitcher. Bretton came on in the fifth and the Yankees threatened with runners on first and third with one out. Bretton calmly worked his way out of the jam with two strikeouts to end the inning. The excitement mounted as the White Sox came up in the bottom of the fifth but despite loading the bases with one out — they failed to score. And so it was that the game was tied entering the final inning. Bretton retired the Yankees in order and the White Sox came up needing a mere run. Will led off with a walk, Mark hit a looping drive to second and Bretton walked. The bases were loaded for David Riddle who got the game winning RBI to give the White Sox their first victory.
We were able to catch up with Coach Grossman as he was putting the bats back in the bat bag — he was only available for a very brief postgame interview. He said “I really liked how our guys went to the plate and hit the ball. Our defense certainly could use some work — I still saw a few people not preparing themselves before each pitch. I was very happy with our pitchers — David Wynne showed some confidence striking out their cleanup hitter, Nolan had a great third inning, and Bretton had an excellent game on the mound as well as at the plate. I encourage everyone to play some catch between now and the game on Wednesday as its a long layoff with no games and no practices. Finally, he looked into the oncoming drizzle and said, “We may not win every game but as long as everyone does their best like they did today — I’ll be happy. “
