Orange put together another complete game today, dominating in all phases over Purple 23-13.
Orange dared the curse of the first in this one - we scored the maximum in the top of the inning. The big blow was a 3-run gapper with the bases loaded by pitcher Mark Narciso. It cleared the bases for our fifth run and we hadn't even made an out yet.
Purple never came closer than four runs. There was a mini-drought by both teams in the middle innings, and after five it was only 8-4, anyone's game. But the Orange Blizzard woke up and we scored five in each of the next three innings to put it away.
We had a small collection of miscues in the field, but we more than made up for it with some stellar plays. In the third center fielder Greg Wilson made a great running catch for the third out. In the next inning, right fielder Vince Francesci came up clean on a one hop line drive single, and quickly hit rover Steve Sloat, who turned in a flash to fire a bullet to third to nail the speedy Mark Pitzlin trying to steal an extra base.
In the fifth Sloat one-upped himself by snagging a hot shot up the middle, stepping on second and winging an accurate throw to first to double up the other Purple speedster, Chip Sharpe. And then Jay Chafetz launched into left center and literally stabbed a ball out of the air for the third out. He later ranged far into foul territory for another great running catch.
But the play of the game was a bases loaded no out smash (in the seventh when the game was still not completely out of reach for Purple) to temporary shortstop Brian Black, who plays wherever you ask. He turned to third base and got the runner going there, and third baseman Howard Davis wheeled and threw home to injured outfielder turned catcher Mark Edelstone, who made a great stretch and the second double play in as many innings was ours.
Davis also pitched the middle three innings and held the Purple monsters to just four runs and I think all three of the runs in the sixth were unearned. Narciso battled some wildness but held Purple to just nine runs in his six innings, including a one-two-three ninth when we flip-flopped.
Wilson led the team with a 4-4 game but he would admit it was not his usual hitting display - two of them were classic Creaker infield pop ups that fell in no man's land. Black, Edelstone, Francesci, Mike Saindon, Gabe Tanaka (who had the biggest bomb, a right center gapper for our fifth run in the seventh), and Bob Carver all had three hits. Coach Kravin was two for three plus a bases loaded walk, and that included a two out two run single to close the five run eighth, and he led the team with four RBIs. Everyone else had at least one hit.
Looking forward to the next half - the teams are well balanced and it should be a great race to the finish.
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