Playing vs Teams that put in the time required by "Softball Academies" is always a challenge, it takes time to get better, and they put in the time....the Thunder is heading in the right direction, but as we have come to accept, Quality Work over Quantity is still best.....our "Rec Ball" crew has grown by HUGE STRIDES, and yes it is a good feeling to knock off 2 quality pitchers, Beetle and Tsunami are no joke, they will continue to excel, but as we showed in back to back outings vs Thunder, the quality work you girls are putting in is AWESOME to see, yes I am PROUD, but I will be humble, as I know it can turn around on us at any time, and when a Coach is focused on taking you down, it will eventually happen...but for now, another one for the "good gals".......

Inn. one under way, we only gave up 1 hit, 1 bb and an error, but in the middle of all that, we made 2 strong defensive plays to get out of it, after a miscue off Sarai's glove, she gloved a line drive to get a double play.....we then allowed 2 base runners, and on another bad throw past 3rd base, Delaney backed it up and we got runner trying to advance at 3rd, right spot, right time, right thing to do, we dug our selves out of the hole we put ourselves in....hitting, we put together 3 1bs and a 3b, sounds good right???....nope, we ran ourselves out of the inn by making 2 running mistakes, we bailed them out, and it kept them in the game......1-0 good gals after 1 inn.....they then had their inn, 1b, and though we should have made out at 2nd, we tagged high, dropped 3rd strike, a bb, and a fielder's choice only gets us 1 out, bases still loaded, they then had a great swing on the ball that drove in 3 runs.......it got so loud I thought we just lost the game, but NO, it was only 2nd inn, and we don't go down easy.....2 ks later we came in down 3-1.....we once again hit a 3b, but our 3rd base running mistake, and we let them off the hook, end of 2, down 3-1, but we are hitting ball hard, so we WILL SCORE...... by this time, we had settled in, making pitches, defense settled in, and as the Thunder crew that was so loud in the 2nd inn quickly realized, it is a 7 inn game, and that puts lots of pressure on opposing pitchers as our "Rec Ball" crew has put together really good abs....of our next 18 at bats, we had 9 1bs, 4 3bs and a walk, in our 6 outs none were strikeouts, which means we had pressure on the defense, compare it to their 3 inn, 9 batters, ZERO base runners, ZERO hits, ZERO walks, and 5 STRIKEOUTS.....hmmmm....according to my math, that is good stuff for us, not so good for them.......combine that with ZERO base running mistakes on our end after the 3rd inn, and yes, we scored runs in bunches.....it was a good outing, to beat a quality pitcher, beat a quality team, and yes, allow our game to grow vs the "Elite" Thunder Academy that is making noise all over the East Valley, at least for now, they can say the Rec Ball program in the West End can still play, and we will be up for the challenge next time we see them....as for now, thanks for the work, but we got bigger plans.....and we can scratch the Thunder Academy off the list...cya on the diamond......

Indio Thunder------------3

PS Dirt Bagz-------------10

18 hits vs quality Pitcher/ Great Approach!!!!!

HITTING:  KFC 1b-3B/ Sarai 1b-3b/ Shark Bait 2-3bs / Mari 3-1bs/ Ayo 2-1bs/ Big A 1b/ JellyBean 2-3bs-1b/ Delaney 1b/ Heaven BB-1b/ Mariana bb (Thunder Coach terrified of Heaven at the plate, battle won before she even swings the bat, atta girl)

PITCHING:

KFC/AYO: 5 inn/3 runs-3 hits-2bbs-8ks (25 balls-58 strikes) good work!!!!!