President's Day weekend has been an odd time of year for the last three years. The baseball coaches are chomping at the bit to get back out on the field after a December and January lay-off, while the PAL basketball league is in its final week. Jack has traditionally played both baseball and basketball during the last two weeks of February.
The Outlaws played the Concord Patriots in the first game of the USSSA President's Day Super NIT Tournament at Big League Dreams in Manteca. Although the roster has changed a little with the loss of their best player, the Patriots are a team that the Outlaws have played repeatedly over the last three and a half years in tournaments and in the Northern California Cal Ripken Play-offs.
Jack usually struggles to get going as he literally alternates between baseball and basketball, but this year he looks very solid at the plate. At the plate in the first game of the season, Jack went 1 for 2 with a run scored. In his first plate appearance, he grounded a 1 and 1 pitch to the shortstop and was thrown out at first. Jack lined an 0 and 2 pitch into left field for a base hit in his second at-bat. He went to second on Joe's single to right, to third on Josh's walk and scored on Johnny's sacrifice fly to right.
In the field, Jack played three innings at third and two innings at first. In one of those odd games, he never handled the ball in the field.
With their pitching struggling, the Outlaws lost to the Concord Patriots by the score of 9 to 2. The box score is here.
In December, two of the Outlaws front-line pitchers over the last two and a half years switched to the Elk Grove Longhorns. The team has picked up several new players as replacements. It will be interesting to see if they can help carry the pitching load. If they can't, it is going to be a long spring.
The Outlaws record for the Spring 2012 season is now 0 wins and 1 loss. The game log is here.
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