Dateline: Reston Crabtree Field #1
It was a hot and humid evening as Reston American played a final home game before the semi-final game. Even though the team had clinched the #1 seed, it was clear that Reston American came to play.
In the top of the first, Conor continued his magnificent hitting with a hard single to left. Pete beat on an infield hit and Kent followed with a single. Sam walked to load the bases. Brendan beat on an infield hit and a bad throw scored both Conor and Pete. Kent scored on a wild pitch. Conor went out to the mound and looked great. The first batter popped out to Kent at third. After a single, the next batter grounded into a fielders choice from Pete to Patrick and Conor struck out the last batter. Nine pitches and Conor was done for the day as Coach Grossman wanted to keep everyone ready for the semifinal game. After one it was 3-0 Reston American.
Reston American bats were quiet in the second. Pete came on and swiftly struck out three batters. In the third, Kent led off with a walk, Sam reached on a fielders choice. Brendan drilled a double to left. Justin walked. Josh picked up an RBI single to score Sam. Thomas walked to score Brendan. In the third, Pete got the first batter to fly out to Graham who made a great catch in shallow center. He struck out the leadoff hitter and then he got the next batter to hit a slow roller to Conor who charged and fired to Jordan for the out at first. After three it was 5-0 Reston American.
In the fourth, Conor smashed a long home run to left to start off the inning. It was his fourth home run of the tournament. Sam hit a sharp single to left, Brendan walked and Jordan drilled a long double to left that took one bounce to the wall to score Sam. Pete continued to look sharp in the fourth. He struck out his fifth batter on the day, got the next batter to pop out to Thomas at second and the last batter grounded to Jordan who flipped to Pete for out three. After four Reston American held a commanding 7-0 lead.
Reston American bats were quiet and Graham came on for his second appearance of the tournament. After a leadoff walk, he settled down and got the next batter to fly out to Patrick in center for out one. The batter walked but after that the next batter hit a chopper to Conor who flipped to Pete at second and Pete fired to Justin at first. The ump yelled SAFE as the batter just got to first before a nearly perfectly executed double play. Reston fans cheered the play heartily. The remaining runner scored on a wild pitch. Graham settled down and got the last batter to ground out to Thomas at second who threw to Justin at first for out three.
Reston American picked up some insurance runs in the sixth. Kent reached on an infield hit, Sam walked and Brendan singled to score Kent. Justin singled to score Sam. When the dust had cleared, Reston American had two more runs. Justin came on for his first appearance of the tournament. He faced the number 3-4-5 batters in the lineup. He struck out the first batter, got the next batter to ground out back to the mound where Justin made the play and flipped to Kent at first. Finally, he struck out the last batter with a great curve ball to end the game.
Coach Grossman said, “We couldn’t have asked for a better game from our players. I was very happy to get our pitchers some good innings before the semi-final game and I was pleased to see Graham and Justin have great outings. Conor has continued to hit the ball extremely hard in nearly every at bat. Our defense was solid and I’m very much looking forward to playing Vienna National on Friday. They are a great team, but we’ll be ready for them.”
