Jays Stage Amazing Come Back, Defeat White Sox 9-8
After a week of rain in which the Jays had a game washed out not once, but twice, the Jays had high hopes for getting back on the field and back to their winning ways. Mostly they wanted to play 6 complete innings because when they do that, they are hard to beat. Facing the Jays on a humid Saturday afternoon were the White Sox, a young but talented team that has played well during the season.
As the home team, the Jays took to the field, and Jack took the ball to the mound. The Sox were able to get 2 off Jack, thanks to two walks and two timely hits, but Jack was up to the challenge and got himself out of the inning by striking out 3 of the 5 batters he faced after the lead off walk and follow on single. In the bottom of the first, the Jays got one of the runs back to make it 2-1. Jack got on base by drawing a walk, and Colin moved him into scoring position with his first hit of the day. Bailey loaded the bases by drawing another walk, and Robbie forced in the Jays’ first run with a walk of his own.
In the top of the second, Bailey came in to pitch. He got himself into a little trouble by walking and hitting the first 2 batters he faced, and after striking out a batter, walking two more to load the bases and force in a run. But Bailey showed tremendous heart and determination by battling to strike out the next two batters with the bases loaded to end the inning. Down 3-1, the Jays were unable to get anything going in the bottom of the second.
I fact, the Jays were not able to get much going at all in either the third, fourth or 5th innings as Mary’s single and Colin’s triple accounted for the Jays only hits during those innings. The Sox were able to plate 5 in the top of the 4th to take a commanding 8-2 lead (Ryan drove Colin in to score in the 4th inning for his first RBI of the game), and with the score 8-2, the game headed to the 6th inning. Excellent fielding by Tommy at second and Mary on the hill kept the Sox off the board in the top of the 6th, and with only 3 outs to give, the Jays were about to stage the best come back of the season.
Jack and Daniel lead off the bottom of the 6th with back-to-back singles. Colin drove in the first run of the inning with a single, and Ryan followed suit to drive in the second run of the inning (and his second RBI of the game) with yet another single. Thanks to his 2-3 performance with 2 RBIs in a game in which Ryan was asked to carry a large offensive load on his shoulders (because of the absence of two of the Jays’ bigger sticks), Ryan took home a player of the game award. Bailey followed Ryan with an run scoring single to make it 8-5, and Robbie followed with a double to drive in two more and make the score 8-7. Tommy then tied the game with a ground out, and with nobody on base, down to their last 2 outs and still down a run, Oliver stepped to the plate and ripped a single to keep the Jays hopes alive. Zach moved Oliver into scoring position with a fielder’s choice, and Grant moved him to third with a laser of a shot to second that the fielder bobbled. Bobbling a ball with Grant running is a big mistake because Grant was able to beat out the throw with relative ease once the fielder got control of the ball. Sean then stepped to the plate and came up with the biggest single of the year, to score Oliver from third and secure the win for the Jays. As a result of his GWRBI, Sean took home the other player of the game award. That was another great game, Jays, and this time you played hard for all 6 innings. I am very proud of all of you. It was a very hot day, and each of you played hard for the entire game. We are now firmly in control of our own season. If we keep winning, we will make it to the pee wee championship tournament regardless of what the other teams do. Great work!!
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