Jays Open Season with a Bang!
After a rain-filled pre season in which the Jays had over half of their outdoor practices washed out, the team (aka the head coach) was a little on edge as to how the team would perform in an actual game. The calendar, however, does not care how many practices the Jays could get in, and as the page turned to May 2, the Jays found themselves facing Opening Day against the Reds. After a very festive Opening Day ceremony, the Jays showed that they have not only come a long way since last season, but that they will be a serious force in the pee wee league this year. In the words of Johnny Drama, the Jays came out with a VICTORY!! – to the tune of 7-6 over the Reds.
As the home team, Colin got the nod as the Opening Day starter and he showed he was more than up to the task, striking out 3 of the 5 batters he faced (the other two were walks courtesy of Opening Day jitters). Entering the bottom of the first, Jack got the ball rolling on a promising season with a blazing lead-off triple. Daniel followed suit with an RBI single (his first, but not his last, of the day), and Colin followed with a single of his own. Boki then drew a walk, and the Jays had the bases juiced with only 1 out. While the strike out reared its head, the Jays punched Mr. K in the face all day to the tune of only 5 for the game – about 10 less than their average last season!!
With the score 1-0 heading into the second, Colin grabbed the ball for his second inning of the game. 10 pitches later (all strikes – one was fouled off), and Colin had struck out the side in order.
In the bottom of the second, Brooks was able to blast a single to left. Grant poked a single to right, and the Jays had 2 one with only 1 out. Mary put the ball in play to move the runners to second and third, but the Jays stranded the runners to leave the score 1-0 after 2.
In the top of the third, the Jays entered their first coach-pitch inning of the season. The Reds proved up to the task plating 5 runs in the inning to take a 5-1 lead despite fine plays by the Jays defense, including Jack at second, Colin at short, and Daniel in left.
The Jays were not able to put any runs across in the bottom of the third, despite the fact that Ryan, CJ and Sean all had quality at bats, each putting the ball into play.
In the top of the 4th, Mary single handedly kept the game within reach, making 3 excellent plays at pitchers, recording all 3 outs of the inning by way of the 1-3 – in order.
The bottom of the 4th saw the Jays bats explode to life for 5 runs of their own. Jack and Daniel lead off with consecutive singles. Colin then ripped a three-run homer to right center to make the score 5-4. Thanks to his 2-2 performance at the plate, his performance on the mound, and his performance in the infield, Colin took home one of the Players of the Game Award. The Jays, however, were not satisfied with plating only 3 runs. Boki followed Colin with a line shot that would have been extra bases but for the diving attempt by the Reds’ first basemen that kept the ball in the infield and held Boki to a single. Bailey then poked a single to put runners on first and second with no out. Oliver advanced the runners to second and third with a hard ground ball that the Reds were able to turn into the inning’s first out, and Tommy was able to plate a run with a fielder’s choice. Brooks rapped a single that almost took off Coach Bryan’s head, and Robbie capped the scoring with a run scoring single of his own.
In the top of the 5th inning, Boki took over on the mound for the last kid-pitch inning of the game. With a total of 11 pitches, Boki struck out the side in order, showing excellent poise and command on the hill. The Reds, however, had some arms of their own, and in the bottom of the 5th, the Jays would go down in order leaving the score 6-5 in favor of the good guys.
In the top of the 6th, the Reds were able to plate a run to ttie the game despite excellent fielding by the Jays, including a diving stop by Colin at short who , from his knees, flipped the ball to Jack at second for the force out. Thus, heading into the bottom f the 6th, the Jays found themselves in a dog fight with the Reds. Ryan lead off the most important inning of the young season with a blazing double down the line at third. Ryan crucial hit in the game earned him a player of the game award. (But for coach Mike’s terrible base coaching, Ryan would have scored the game winning run). So, following a terrible coaching job in which coach Mike got Ryan thrown out at third (the only real cardinal rule of base running is never make the first or third out at third base…), on a fielder’s choice to short, the Jays had one out with CJ standing all the way over at first. Sean was able to move CJ to scoring position – Sean, playing in his first real baseball game ever showed tremendous poise making contact in every single at-bat he had!! Jack then moved CJ to third by blasting a single to right. Daniel calmly picked up his bat and ended the game by hitting a single to score CJ. Thanks to Daniel’s GWRBI, Daniel too took home a player of the game award! Great game Jays. You all contributed to this win, and each of you played your tails off. We never quite, we kept hitting, and most importantly, everybody looked like they were having some fun. If we get performance like that from our pitchers, defense and batting order the rest of the season, we will be very tough to beat. I am very proud of all of you!!
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