Saturday, April 09, 2011

2011 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #5 Day #1

The Outlaws played in the All World Sports Baseball Bring The Funk Tournament at the Riverfront Park in Martinez. This was a nine team tournament. The Outlaws played the Walnut Creek Bulldawgs in the first game.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 1, hit by a pitch twice and scored a run. In his first at-bat, he was hit in the leg by a 2 and 1 pitch. Jack scored from first on Josh's double to right center. He hit a 0 and 2 pitch for a soft grounder to the left side and was thrown out at first in his second plate appearance. In his third at-bat, Jack was hit on the helmet by a 1 and 0 breaking ball. He stolen second and went to third on a wild pitch, but ended the inning there.

In the field, Jack played 6 innings at third base. He had one assist and one error. In the third inning, Jack charged a sacrifice bunt and threw the runner out at first. He fielded a grounder on the left side cleanly in the fourth inning, but airmailed the throw about two feet over Breyton's head at first. Two pitches later, the runner was caught stealing at second and the error was wiped clean.

The Outlaws scored four runs in the fifth inning to break open a close game and win by the score of 6 to 2. The box score is here.

After a two hour break, the Outlaws played the Albany Thunder. This was the team that the coaches thought would be the stiffest competition.
At the plate, Jack was 2 for 3 with two RBIs. With Cooper on third, Jack fell behind 1 and 2 in this first at-bat. He fouled off the next two pitches and then drilled a line drive up the middle for a single and an RBI. Jack ended the inning there. He hit a fly ball on a 0 and 2 pitch right at the right fielder in his second plate appearance. With Jeremy on third, Jack popped a 1 and 2 pitch behind the first baseman for single and an RBI in his third plate appearance.

With Jack on first, Josh was the next batter. Josh hammered a line drive that hit the rubber on the pitcher's mound and bounced straight up in the air. With the third baseman and the pitcher trying to track the ball down, Jack rounded second and realized that there was no one on the left side of the infield. He never slowed down and raced for third. With the third baseman scrambling to try and get back to cover the base, Jack was just able to dodge the tag and make it to the base.

In the field, Jack played six innings at third base. He has four assists, 1 put-out and an error. Jack cleanly handled four grounders to the left side and made the throws to first for the out. In the fifth inning with a runner on second, a ball was hit to Jack's left. With the runner charging him, he took his eyes on the ball and bobbled it; everyone was safe. Jack finished the fifth inning with a great catch on a low line drive to his left. Sharon described as a lizard catching a fly.

The Outlaws scored six runs in the fourth inning to break the game open and win by the score of 9 to 4. The box score is here.

The Outlaws turned right around and played the Vacaville Rattlers. Three games is a lot to play in one day...

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 2 with a sacrifice bunt and an RBI. In his first at-bat, with Cooper on third and Trevor on second, Jack laid a sacrifice bunt down the first base line on the first pitch to score Cooper. He hit a 1 and 1 pitch for a hard fly ball into right field for an out in his second plate appearance. In his third at-bat, Jack popped a 1 and 0 pitch up to the first baseman for an out.

Jack played five innings at first base and for the first time since last fall pitched an inning. He had 2 assists and 2 put-outs. Jack handled two grounders to the left side and threw the runner out at first. He also took throws from the catcher and pitcher to tag out runners at third.

For the first time since September 2010, Jack pitched in a tournament. With runners on first and second and no outs, he came in to pitch in the fourth inning. The first batter hit a sharp ground ball through the right side for a single to load the bases. The second batter hit a sacrifice fly to center for the first out and to score a run. The third batter hit a grounder to Breyton at first for the second out. Jack coaxed a ground ball from the fourth batter, but it ate up the shortstop for an error and two runs scored. The fifth batter hit a line drive to the second baseman for the third out. Jack threw 16 pitches, including 9 strikes and 7 balls.

The Outlaws were playing with fire in this game from the start. The starting pitcher walked 7 batters over the first fourth innings. Leading 3 to 0 in the fourth, it finally caught up with them and the bottom fell out. Making a mistake on a fielder's choice and committing three errors, they gave up four runs in both the fourth and in the fifth to lose by the score of 9 to 3. The box score is here.

This is a four game guarantee tournament. The Outlaws will play the Concord Hawks on Sunday morning. The top four teams in the nine team tournament will then be seated for the championship round.

The Outlaws have 11 wins and 8 losses for the Spring 2011 season. The game log is here.

Most of the families ended up spending the night in Martinez at the Best Western. We had a team dinner at Straw Hat Pizza. Afterwards, the boys spent some time in the pool and the spa. I finished the night in the lobby of the hotel with about 10 of the parents. Eventually, we got kicked out of the lobby, partly because my voice tends to carry.

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