Saturday, October 20, 2012

2012 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #13 Day #1

At bat against the Nevada Dust Devils. Just before crushing a pitch into right center.

The Outlaws played in the River City Travel Ball Halloween Screen 14U tournament at the Davis Play Fields. This is a venue where the Jack has ever played.

I have had mixed emotions over the last two months about having Jack play baseball tournaments with the Outlaws. This is the third tournament that he has played during football season. The problem is that he has had no time to work in the cage or with his hitting coach. It doesn't seem "fair" to run him out there without the opportunity for some preparation.

The Outlaws played the Sierra Valley Storm in the first game of the tournament. The Storm had at least three players from the Petaluma team that played in the Little League World Series.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 3 with a walk. In his first at-bat, Jack struck out looking on a 2 and 2 pitch. Jack struck out swinging on a 2 and 2 pitch in his second plate appearance. He remarked on Saturday night that the umpire stole these first two at-bats from him. The umpire has calling a very low and very wide strike zone.

In his third at-bat, Jack walked on four pitches. He went to second on a balk, but ended the inning there after Breyton struck out looking and Bailey grounded out to short. With the winning run on third, Jack grounded a 0 and 2 pitch to the third baseman for an out to end the game.

In the field, Jack played six innings at shortstop. In an odd game, he only had one ball hit to him. Unfortunately, Jack committed an error. Charging a medium ground ball, he didn't get the ball into his glove and the runner was safe at first. This error allowed two unearned runs and was essentially the difference in the game.

The Outlaws left 11 runners on base! The game ended up a 5 to 5 tie. The box score is here.

Following a two and a half hour break, the Outlaws played the Nevada Dust Devils. This is a team that they have never faced.

At the plate, Jack was 1 for 3, reached on an error and scored a run. In his first at-bat, he grounded the first pitch to the shortstop and was thrown out at first. Jack crushed a 3 and 1 pitch into right center in his second plate appearance. The center fielder did a great job of running the ball down. On artificial turf, it would have been at least a triple. Jack went to second on Josh's single, stole third and then scored on Breyton's double.

In his third at-bat, Jack grounded a 1 and 2 pitch to the right side. One of the things that Jack has been doing very well this fall is running out ground balls. The second baseman fielded the ball and tried to tag Cooper going from first to second. When he missed the tag, the second baseman turned to throw Jack out at first. With Jack charging up the line, the second baseman rushed the throw. Jack was safe at first on the error. He went to second on the throw, but ended the inning there when Bailey struck out.

In the field, Jack played three innings in centerfield and two innings at third. He had two assists and one put-out. Jack handled two grounders to the left side and threw the runners out at first. He also tagged out a runner on a throw from Josh trying to steal third base.

Leaving 8 runners on base, the Outlaws fell just short and lost the game by the score of 7 to 6. The box score is here.

Snipes came out for the second game. He saw Jack hit a single and reach on an error as well as make a couple of nice plays at third.

The Outlaws finished the pool games ranked fourth out of sixth teams and will play the Top Ten A's on Sunday morning at 8 am.

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