Saturday, November 01, 2008

2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #5 Day 1

Originally, there was supposed to be a flag football skills competition Saturday morning. It rained steadily most of the night and through the morning. As a result, the skills competition was cancelled. About noon, Sharon, Jack and I took off the the Big League Dreams baseball complex in Manteca. Jack is playing in his fifth tournament. We missed a tournament last weekend when we were in Spokane. The Gunners won a tournament at the Sacramento Baseball Complex.

The Elk Grove Gunners played TABU in the first game at the Polo Grounds. Jack played three innings of a five inning game at third base. It was not his best game in the field. On a runner going from second to home who was thrown out at home, he was called for interference. Jack was standing close to third base and the runner brushed him as he went by. On a grounder hit down the line, Jack handled the ball cleanly, but his throw sailed over the first baseman. I can't remember the last time he overthrew first base; part of the problem may have been the wet conditions.

With runners at first and second with one out and the Gunners trailing by a score of 6 to 5, Jack got up in the fourth inning. In the heaviest rain of the day, he fell behind in the count 0 and 2 and then fouled off a pitch. Jack drove the fourth pitch up the middle for a fielder's choice. The runner was forced at second and Jack was safe at first. The third base coach sent the runner from second home and he was thrown out at the plate ending the inning.

In the fifth inning, the TABU pitcher hit one batter and walked four. The Gunners scored four runs and ended up winning the game by a score of 9 to 8.

The Gunners played CenCal in the second game at the Polo Grounds. The Gunners beat CenCal by a score of 18 to 1 in the Championship game of the first tournament this fall. This game also quickly turned into a rout.

Jack was the designated hitter. In his first at-bat, he walked on five pitches. Jack eventually came around to score as the Gunners scored 11 runs in the first inning. Jack fell behind 0 and 2 in his second plate appearance. Shortening up his swing, he pushed one to the right side of the infield. With Jack charging up the line, the second baseman tried to shove the ball to first and the first baseman did not handle the ball cleanly. Jack was safe at first. In my score book, I am going to give him a hit... He eventually came around to score.

The Gunners beat CenCal by a score of 15 to 0 in two innings. CenCal only ended up sending only 6 players to the plate in the game.

The Gunners finished the day with the first seed of the seven teams in the tournament for Sunday's single elimination round.

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