SUNDAY SHOWDOWN!

My-Oh-My – What a Game!

Last Sunday’s game between Lomax Orange and Peterbilt Red was one pf the best games the HDL has seen in a long time.  As John DiGiacomo remarked, “Yesterday, wow, what a game. It had a little bit of everything except the kitchen sink!”  You name it, this game had it.

• Fence banging line drives
• Record breaking strike-outs
• Double plays
• Bang-bang outs
• Bloopers & Texas Leaguers
• In-your-face Long Balls
• Diving-Sliding catches (and near catches)
• 8 or 9 pitch At-Bat Walks

The Lomax Orange team opened the first inning hitting the ball hard.  Their 3rd hit of the inning, a double off the bat of Kurt Adkison, staked Starting Pitcher, Andrew Waddell to an early 2 run lead.  But give Peterbilt credit, they responded with a “hustle-heads-up run” as Nick Harris, courtesy running for Bo McMinn, took advantage of Orange Catcher Mike Morris leaving home plate unprotected when he assumed Red Team batter, Adam Wasson, would make the 3rd out on a slow hit ground ball.  The inning ended with Patrick Belote looking at strike 3.

In the top of the 2nd, Lomax Orange tacked on 2 more runs on 3 hits from Dave Dillard, Jodie Wolfe, and Andrew Waddell.  The scoring inning was helped by a Patrick Belote throwing error and a Base-on-balls to Larry Hunsucker.  Being up 4-1, Andrew Waddell was going after the Peterbilt Red batters with every pitch in his arsenal.  A lead-off double by John McPhail was wasted when Baioni, Houghton and Tollison all K’d.  

Neither teams scored in the 3rd or 4th inning. Bo McMinn was pitching smart as he patiently picked the spots he wanted to put the ball and it paid off with five ground ball outs in 3rd/4th innings.  But in the top of the 5th, Andrew Waddell walked, Cory Morgan singled and Waddell came home on Kurt Adkison’s ground out to Ortiz (4-3).  Cory Morgan moved to 3rd on the play and he raced home when a pitch got past catcher Adam Wasson.  Now the score was 6-1 and Peterbilt knew their team needed to get some more runs.  After Peterbilt batter, Mike Tollison, popped up to First base, Drew Russell had a crucial at bat that started an important rally.  Drew walked, then Jose Ortiz hit a hard shot to Kevin High who fielded the ball with his backhand but his off-balanced throw to 2nd base was off-line and it rolled into right field.  With runners on 2nd/3rd, Nick Harris shot a base hit into the outfield that scored Russell and Ortiz.  Now the score was 6-3.  Peterbilt was back into the game.

Each team threatened to score in the 6th but effective pitching by Bo McMinn and a clutch catch by Nick Harris on a short fly ball over 2nd base by Jodie Wolfe helped the Red team prevent further damage. Likewise in bottom of the 6th, with 2 runners on base and 2 outs, Dave Dillard made a “da-da-da, da-da-da” clutch sliding catch of a Mike Tollison Texas Leaguer that flared into right field.

Both teams were shut-out in the 7th. But after Orange teams failed to score in top of 8th, the Peterbilt team manufactured a run when Bo and Wasson had back-to-back hits put runners on 1st & 2nd.  With two outs, Paul Baioni hit a chopper toward Cory Morgan who bobbled the catch and this allowed the run to score. However, a notable event  occured when Johnny Houghton struck-out to help Andrew Waddell become the all-time HDL Single season Strikeout Leader.   So congratulations to Andrew for making history.  This record would not have happened (this year) had the Orange team failed to advance to the finals of the 2013 HDL Play-off’s. 

CRAZY NINTH INNING!!!

I have seen my share of dramatic 9th innings during my HDL career but the one last Sunday ranks up there with the most memorable.  With the score 6-4, the Orange team felt the game was “not over”. So getting some insurance runs was a priority. After Mike Morris K’d, Jodie Wolfe came to the plate facing new Red Team pitcher, Nick Harris.  Jodie was watching Nick strike-out Morris and turned to his teammates and made the statement, “If he gives me that pitch, I’m going YARD.”  Well dang if that was exactly what happened.  Jodie unloaded on the pitch he was looking for and sent it over the right-center fence. Estimated distance of 425 ft. The best thing about the hit was it made the score 7-4 and it (HR) seemed to loosen up the Orange team bats as, Larry Hunsucker walked, Kevin High singled, Andrew Waddell doubled (2-BI), Cory Morgan singled(RBI), Kurt Adkison and Tony Lomax each singled to plate 4 additional runs so the score going into bottom of the ninth was 11-4.

With what seemed to be a safe cushion, Andrew Waddell was confident his defense would make outs if he continued to throw strikes. But with 1 out, a runner on 1st  and top of Red Team batting order coming up, the Red team continued to attack. Jose Ortiz reached base when he forced out Drew at 2nd for second out. Next batter, Nick Harris, singled to keep “hope” alive.  The next batter, Bo McMinn, stepped to the plate with a look of determination to match what Jodie had done.  Well, needless to say, Bo did it, in nearly the same spot where Jodie’s HR had landed except his was probably 426 feet.

Adam Wasson, the next (and last) batter, was probably thinking, “I guess I need to do the same thing?”  Only thing, Adam missed the fat part of the baseball and it popped up to Cory Morgan who said, “Thank You!”  Game Over, Lomax Orange survives another “lose & go home” game. Now with both team with one loss, either team has an equal chance to win the HDL Championship. Hope you will be there to see the exciting conclusion to the 2013 HDL Baseball Season.  I’ll be looking for you.

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