This weekend we played against Modena. Modena, at one point, was a top team in the league. Recently, they have fallen off. There foreign pitcher is the best pitcher in the league. He has lost 2 games all year, but has dominated with a hard fastball and a sharp slider. Of course, we would have to wait until the second game to face him.
In the first game, we put up 6 runs in the first two innings. After a pitching change, there staff started to settle down. Modena's offense is fairly poor, but they were able to scrap some runs together later in the game. In the end, it wouldn't be enough. We took game one 10-5. This win further increased our chances of clinching the number one spot. A weekend sweep of Modena would put us in prime position as the number one seed.
Going into the second game, our team remember the lose we had against there foreign pitcher, Angel Marquez. We were anxious to face him. Granted, he struck out 16 the last time we saw him. The beginning of the game started much like the first time we faced them. Marquez dominated as our foreign pitcher, Luis, struggled early on. He let up a couple of runs early in the game, and we found ourselves down 4-0. Marquez was lights out. He wasn't striking out as many, but he held us to one hit through 8 innings. This is where things would turn around.
Going into the ninth, the score was 4-0. My roommate and our shortstop, Chris, lead off. On the first pitch, he ripped a triple into the right center gap. Our next hitter, Taio, looped a single over the second basemans head, scoring Chris. 4-1. Our third hitter and right fielder, Paicho, hits a screaming line drive into the right center gap for another triple, scoring Taio. 4-2. Marquez had dominated all game, but he was suddenly missing some spots. Our 4 hitter, Paul, would step up. Our bench was starting to believe. Marquez would settle down, striking out Paul. Claudio would step up next. After a good at bat, he would fly to deep left field, scoring Paicho from third. 4-3.
I would step to the plate with two outs and nobody on. The team still believed we could win it, and were loud behind me. We had a fairly big crowd as well, and they were getting excited. The first pitch Marquez threw me was a high fastball for ball one. The next pitch was another hard fastball, this one on the outside part of the plate. I would swing and miss. With the count 1 and 1, I figured he would come with the slider. I had guessed right, and I ripped the slider down the left field line for a triple. I slide into third, adrenaline pumping. The bench was now going crazy, and we knew it was destiny. They would intentionally walk the next hitter, and we countered with a pinch hitter. On the first pitch, Perry hit a line drive to right field for a single. I crossed home plate, and joined my teammates screaming in the dugout. 4-4.
With runners on first and third, our nine hitter and second baseman stepped to the plate. The pressure was on, and Modena could feel it. This lose would completely knock them out of contention, and would almost certainly guarantee us the number one spot. After getting ahead, Alle took a defensive swing and hit a ground ball to the second baseman. We watched in amazement as he went to field the ball. It was as if the baseball Gods were on our side, as the second baseman bobbled the ball. Everybody was safe, and the game was over. We had scored 5 runs in the ninth off the best pitcher in the league. We had 3 triples, two singles, a sac fly, and the game ending on an error. Our team stormed the field, as half of us tackled Perry, and the other half swarmed Alle. It was a great win, and a lot of fun.
After the game, I was set to go to Berlin. So after hanging out with the team and celebrating, I hopped in the car and headed to the airport. My flight was at 6:45 in the morning. I knew it was going to be a good weekend. I will save that for another blog post. Anyway, hope everybody had as great a weekend as I did. I'm headed to the beach! Talk to you soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment