Western Spring State Game 2: Big Blue 19, Mooresville Legends 0

In an unbelievable display of courage, heart and toughness, the visitor from Raleigh persevered through a tough 9 a.m. start against the homestanding Mooresville Legends.

But enough about Coach Eric. Big Blue also managed to get the win, 19-0, in the final game of pool play.

The game was shortened to three innings due to the run limit, but even in the shortened time frame, every player on the roster got at least one hit. Even more impressively, Big Blue managed to hit for the cycle in the first inning--Bryce homered, Gavin tripled, Joey doubled and pretty much everyone else singled. Even with the run limit, everyone also scored at least one run.

But the main storyline was the incredible heroism of Coach Eric. He sustained a ghastly injury on his pitching hand. Perhaps unwisely, the umpires did not choose to check his glove to see if perhaps the sandpaper he keeps in there had caused the cut.

As you would expect, Big Blue immediately rallied around their fallen coach, showing the heart, compassion and sportsmanship you would expect from such a fine collection of upstanding individuals. Basically, it was just like Louisville when Kevin Ware was hurt. It included:

• In true West Raleigh fashion, Coach Sean and Coach Kevin took a knee to show their concern for their injured teammate.
• Coach Ken kindly offered, "Do I need to call a whaaaaaaambulance?"
• The loyal Big Blue rooting section was heard to yell, "Can you stop talking about the cut and start pitching?"

It was truly a hearwarming display. But even more valiant was the toughness showed by Coach Eric, who never missed a single pitch on the way to his second straight complete (well, kind of) game. In terms of incredible sports comebacks, I would rate it just slightly ahead of the Michael Jordan flu game and just slightly behind Curt Schilling's bloody sock. If you missed the webcam broadcast, you can probably best picture it with this scene from the Karate Kid, except instead of, "Daniel LaRusso's going to FIGHT?" the crowd was shouting, "Coach Eric is going to PITCH?"

The win secured the top seed for Big Blue. The next game will be at 2:30 against the winner of Porter Ridge-Carolina Havoc. The winner of that game advances to the championship game at 5:30.

Game 2 Big Blue scoring plays
First inning
Bryce started the scoring with a homer to deep left. Gavin followed with a triple to center, then scored on Chace's single to left. Ben singled Chace to second, then Mason drove in Chace with a single. Jake singled to load the bases, and then Asher punched a single up the middle that scored Ben. Timmy ripped a shot off the machine that moved everyone up a base and scored Mason, and then Joey blasted a drive to deep right that scored two, invoking the seven-run rule.
Score after one-half inning: Big Blue 7, Mooresville Legends 0

Second inning
If Big Blue ever starts getting the leadoff man on base, they might really do some damage. With one out, Trey tripled to center. Bryce's single scored him, and then Gavin doubled in Bryce. Chace picked up an RBI single, Ben ripped a shot to third that put runners on first and second, and Mason smoked a bullet to the right side that eventually scored two and allowed Mason to go all the way to third.
Score after one and a half innings: Big Blue 12, Mooresville Legends 0

Third inning
Timmy decided he had had enough of not getting the leadoff man on base, so he singled. Joey tripled him home, then scored on Elias's single. Now moving base-to-base, Trey, Bryce, Gavin and Chace put together four consecutive singles. Ben, Mason and Jake collected the final three RBI of the inning, once again enabling Big Blue to reach the seven-run limit.
Score after two and a half innings: Big Blue 19, Mooresville Legends 0

Game 2 Web Gems

• In the second, Chace made a nice scoop of a low throw to get the force at first.

Game 2 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Big Blue	7	5	7	X	X	X	19	22
Mooresville Legends	0	0	0	X	X	X	0	0

Western Spring State Game 1: Big Blue 12, Porter Ridge 1

After the quick trip from Apex, Cary, West Raleigh and points inbetween, Big Blue reassembled in Mooresville for the Western Spring State. Just to make things more exciting, the Bees and Thunder decided to play eight innings in the afternoon's late game in West Raleigh, meaning Joey, Jake and Trey arrived just in time for the first pitch.

But once everyone arrived at the field, it was like Big Blue had never missed a beat. The first opponent of the tournament was Porter Ridge, which won the Western North Carolina state title in the summer of 2012 (the western version of the Eastern championship won by the West Raleigh All-Stars). But Big Blue got hits from 10 different players, outhit Porter Ridge 18-4, and flashed very solid defense, setting down Porter Ridge in order in two of the four innings. Just one Porter Ridge runner reached third base all night, and only three Porter Ridge runners reached second.

Coach Sean celebrated the game by losing his mind and declared--only after close consultation with Head Coach Adam, of course--that players could hit the hotel pool as long as they were in bed by 10 p.m. I was able to snap a quick photo of the Big Blue parents when he made that proclamation.

Big Blue will be right back on the field Sunday morning. The last pool game is at 9 a.m. against the Mooresville Legends, and bracket play will begin at either 1 p.m. or 2:30 p.m.

Game 1 Big Blue scoring plays
First inning
With one out, JT singled through the left side. Gavin drove him in with a double to deep right-center, and then Chace singled home Gavin.
Score after one-half inning: Big Blue 2, Porter Ridge 0

Second inning
Again, it started with one out. Asher singled. Elias ran for Asher (the catcher) and motored to third on Joey's deep drive to right-center. Jake hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Elias, and then Trey picked up a two-out RBI with a single to right. Big Blue picked up another two-out RBI when, after Bryce's single put runners on first and second, JT singled to center to score Trey.
Score after one and a half innings: Big Blue 5, Porter Ridge 0

Third inning
Chace led off with a double. With one down, Mason ripped a shot back through the middle that had Coach Eric doing some Matrix moves, scoring Chace. Asher picked up a two-out RBI with an opposite field single that scored Timmy.
Score after two and a half innings: Big Blue 7, Porter Ridge 1

Fourth inning
For the fourth straight inning, the scoring started with one out. This time, it was Trey who ignited the biggest inning of the game, ripping a single to right. He moved to second on Bryce's single, and then JT loaded the bases with a single. That set up Gavin for an epic at-bat, battling Coach Eric for nine pitches before eventually crushing a triple to right-center that cleared the bases. Chace drove in a run with a shot to left-center, Ben singled hard to left, and then Mason finished the scoring with an RBI double.
Score after three and a half innings: Big Blue 12, Porter Ridge 1

Game 1 Web Gems

• In the second, Jake snagged a fly ball in right field and very nearly hosed the runner tagging up at third trying to score.
• Bryce made a diving catch on a sinking liner in right-center leading off the third.
• Virtually the entire Big Blue infield made a heads-up play in the third. With a runner on first, the Porter Ridge hitter singled to center, apparently putting runners on first and second. But Porter Ridge tried to get too aggressive on the bases when the throw looked like it was going to squirt through the infield. They didn't count on Timmy backing up the play, grabbing it near first and throwing across the diamond to JT at third to nail the lead runner.
• Chace made a nice play backing up on a pop fly over shortstop to end the third.
• Ben ended the game by perfectly tracking a fly ball into right-center, going deep to make the play look easy.

Game 1 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Big Blue	2	3	2	5	X	X	12	18
Porter Ridge	0	1	0	0	X	X	1	4

Season in review

Some impressive numbers from the fall Big Blue season:

As a team, the entire roster batted .587.

The team played 64 innings this fall. They led after 62 of those innings (96.9%).

Big Blue scored in 54 of those innings (84%) and scored the run limit in 16 of those innings (25%). The team ended the season having scored in 23 consecutive innings.

The team averaged 2.9 runs per inning this fall.

Big Blue outscored opponents by an average of 15.3 to 2.6 in the 12 games this fall.

Dating back to the summer, Big Blue/West Raleigh All-Stars have not been retired 1-2-3 in an inning since July 5 against Sanford. That is a stretch of 80 consecutive innings with at least one baserunner. Defensively, Big Blue retired the opponent 1-2-3 in nine different innings this fall alone.

Big Blue was 12-0 this fall. Dating back to the summer, the combined West Raleigh/Big Blue squads have 21 wins in a row, and have not lost since June 17 (to the West Raleigh 8U team).

Combined, the Big Blue/West Raleigh teams are 22-0 against teams from their own age group (12-0 this fall, 10-0 this summer).

            

Winter World Series championship: Big Blue 19, North Wake 6

We could talk about the dominating 19-6 win over a red-hot North Wake team in the 2012 Top Gun Winter World Series championship game. We could talk about the big hits, or the amazing defensive plays (and we will talk about all of that, eventually). We could talk about the five great coaches...but I think we all know they are insufferable already.

So instead, to provide the perfect picture of the fall Big Blue season, let's go to the second inning of Sunday's championship game in Wake Forest. North Wake had built a 6-5 lead going into the bottom of the inning, with Ben due to lead off. He blasted a ball to right field that rolled all the way to the fence, and by the time North Wake got the ball back anywhere close to the infield, he was already crossing the plate.

When it became obvious that it was going to be a home run, I turned around to the Big Blue cheering section to try and find his parents, to enjoy how happy they would be. I couldn't find them--because literally every person in the stands looked like Ben's parents. I saw brothers and sisters of his teammates standing up, rattling the fence as he rounded the bases. I saw mothers and fathers of his teammates standing and looking every bit like it was their son flying around the bases. I never did see Ben's parents, although I'm guessing they were happy. And by the time I turned back around, Ben had already crossed the plate and was making his way to the dugout.

Or rather, trying to make his way to the dugout. He couldn't quite get there, because all of his teammates had poured out of it, and were banging him on the back and smacking him on the helmet. You know for sure Ben is never going to forget that--and what made it so much fun was that it looked like no one else wearing a Big Blue jersey would ever forget it either.

That's the kind of fall (and summer, for that matter) that it's been. What makes this group a really good baseball team is that they are impressive baseball players. They finished 12-0 this fall, outscoring opponents by 189-42. Averaged out, that's roughly 16-4 per game--and keep in mind that many of those innings and games were shortened by the run rule. For example, in the four games in this weekend's World Series, 11 of Big Blue's innings were cut short by the five-run rule. So roughly 30 percent of the time the offense came to bat, the umpires were the only people who could stop it.

So that's pretty impressive. But what carries it beyond being just a really good baseball team is what really good kids--and families--they are. For whatever reason, this group just works together perfectly. I have heard other coaches say they've had trouble with problem parents, and have been around some on previous teams. But I've never heard any of that on this team, and because the parents are setting the example, I never heard the kids complain about the batting order or their defensive position. (Let me take this opportunity to be the first, and say that I really felt all season that Asher should be hitting cleanup, and if Coach Kevin would've just put him there, we probably could've won the Winter World Series title.)

It's just a really fun group that we're so lucky to play with. We have friends who play on other teams, and it's not unusual to hear them talking about how their coach messed up something, or one of the kids on the team is a pain, or they don't want to go to practice. And they give us that look like we're supposed to commiserate and there's not really anything we can say, because every time we play or practice, it always ends up being one of the best parts of the day.

I was thinking about all of that after the 19-6 win. The teams had shaken hands and it was time to clean out the dugout. As usual, the last player in the dugout was Asher, because he was still trying to wedge everything into his bag. He carries approximately enough equipment to stock a Dick's Sporting Goods outlet store, so it takes a while. I was starting to wonder if he'd ever finish, so I walked into the dugout to see if I could speed things along. He had his back to me and couldn't see me coming, and I realized he was talking to himself. And sometimes, seven-year-olds just say it perfectly. Because as I walked up, as he tried to wedge his catcher's mitt into his bag, with no one else around him, this is what he was saying:

"Whooooo! Man, that was fun!"

Championship Big Blue scoring plays
First inning
Bryce led off with a sharp double down the third base line. He scored on JT's single, and JT alertly moved up to second on the throw. He moved to third on Gavin's single, putting runners on the corners. Chace singled home JT, and when the ball wasn't handled cleanly, Gavin also hustled all the way around and Chace raced to third. That put him in position to score on Jake's fielder's choice RBI. With the bases clear, Mason started the rally again with a single. Joey doubled him home to plate the fifth run of the inning and invoke the run rule.
Score after one inning: Big Blue 5, North Wake 2

Second inning
Ben led off with a home run. Ho-hum. Oh, wait a second: BEN LED OFF WITH A HOME RUN! It was blasted to right and wasn't even close at the plate, sparking a wild celebration from his Big Blue teammates. Ben was so excited that he cracked a half-smile. Coach Kevin would like to point out that the homer came on the second pitch of Ben's at-bat, which is roughly 34 fewer pitches than he had in his at-bat at Thursday's practice. Timmy and Elias followed the homer with back-to-back singles, and Asher sacrificed them to second and third. Trey's fielder's choice scored Timmy, and then Bryce singled home Elias. JT's long triple scored Bryce.
Score after two innings: Big Blue 9, North Wake 6

Third inning
Chace singled to the left side of the infield. With one out, Mason ripped a triple to center that scored Chace. Joey doubled home Mason.
Score after three innings: Big Blue 11, North Wake 6

Fourth inning
Elias led off with a single. Asher reached on a fielder's choice that saw Elias forced at second. Trey singled to left. Bryce singled home Asher, and JT singled home Trey. With two outs, Chace's opposite-field single scored Bryce.
Score after four innings: Big Blue 14, North Wake 6

Fifth inning
In a fairly incredible offensive display, especially considering it was the middle and bottom half of the order, Big Blue needed just six batters to score the five-run limit in the bottom of the fifth. Mason and Joey led off with back-to-back singles. Ben singled home Mason and sent Joey to third. Timmy's grounder to short was unplayable, scoring Joey. Elias laced a single to center that scored Ben, and when the throw came home, both Timmy and Elias moved up a base, putting them at second and third. Asher's single to center scored them both and invoked the five-run rule. Fittingly, in the last inning of the season, Big Blue did not record a single out before plating five runs.
Score after five innings: Big Blue 19, North Wake 6


Championship Web Gems

• On the second hitter of the game, Gavin made a tough stop of a hard grounder. His throw to Bryce to try and get the force short-hopped the second baseman, but Bryce dug it out to get the out.
• Big Blue got its third out of the weekend at the plate in the second, as Mason fielded a bases-loaded grounder and threw to Asher for the force at home. 
• What may have been the momentum-turning play of the game happened in the third. With one out and Big Blue holding a fairly narrow 9-6 lead, the North Wake batter hit a hard shot to Elias in right field. In fact, it may have been too hard, because Elias fielded it on the hop, never hesitated, and threw a rope to first base. That's where Timmy was waiting, keeping his foot on the bag while stretching to grab the throw and record the out. That's when you could first see the North Wake mood shift from, "We can do this," to, "They even get us out when we get hits!"
• Mason came flying out of the pitcher's circle in the fourth, scooped up a ball rolling down the first base line with his bare hand, and fired to Chace at first for the out.
• In the fifth, the leadoff North Wake hitter ripped a hard shot down the third-base line that looked like a sure double. Except that JT was already standing there, and snatched it out of the air for an easy out.
• Jake ended it as only he could, running over to grab a fly ball, then alertly firing in a throw to first to double off the unsuspecting runner and end the game and clinch the Winter World Series championship.

Championship line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
North Wake	2	4	0	0	0	0	6	13
Big Blue	5	4	2	3	5	X	19	25

Winter World Series Semifinals: Big Blue 22, Southern Pitt 5

Sometimes you overhear things at the baseball field. Like the two Southern Pitt coaches who were having this conversation near the batting cage on Sunday morning:

Southern Pitt coach 1: "I think we've got a good chance against them. They're going to play good defense, we know that, but they've never seen a team that hits it like we do."

Southern Pitt coach 2: "As long as we don't tell our boys that these same guys are the West Raleigh team from this summer, we should be OK."

That strategy didn't work, and neither did the inventive scorekeeping strategy of trying to persuade the umpires that ground balls should count as outs, as Big Blue moved into the championship game of the Winter World Series with a 22-5 victory over Southern Pitt. It was once again a complete offensive effort, as every player had at least one hit, 11 different players scored at least one run, nine different players had at least two hits, and Big Blue pounded out six extra-base hits.

The game was never any doubt, as Blue plated three quick runs in the first on the way to building an eventual 19-0 lead before Southern Pitt got a runner to third base.

Game 3 Big Blue scoring plays
First inning
JT reached on a liner to right-center. With one out, Gavin singled. With two on and two out, Jake got a huge clutch double to drive in the first runs of the game. Mason's single drove in Jake.
Score after one-half inning: Big Blue 3, Southern Pitt 0

Second inning
Timmy led off with a single and hustled to second when the ball wasn't handled cleanly. Elias followed by smoking an RBI double. Asher singled back through the middle to drive in Elias. With one out and Trey on first, Bryce singled the other way. After a fielder's choice, Gavin doubled deep to right-center to score Bryce. Chace invoked the five-run rule with a two-run single to left.
Score after one and a half inning: Big Blue 8, Southern Pitt 0

Third inning
Jake led off with a single to right, and eventually came around to score on Timmy's two-out RBI single.
Score after two and a half innings: Big Blue 9, Southern Pitt 0

Fourth inning
Asher and Trey led off with back-to-back singles, and then Bryce drove in Asher with a single back through the middle. JT crushed a double that scored two. Gavin's hard hit to shortstop turned into a defensive adventure, with JT coming all the way around and Gavin motoring into third. Jake's double scored Chace and invoked the five-run rule yet again.
Score after three and a half innings: Big Blue 14, Southern Pitt 0

Fifth inning
Mason and Joey led off with back-to-back singles. Ben picked up an RBI single with a line drive to left. Timmy smacked an RBI single, and Elias earned an RBI on a grounder to the left side. Timmy came home on Asher's grounder to first. With only one out, Bryce ended the inning due to the five-run rule with an RBI single.
Score after four and a half innings: Big Blue 19, Southern Pitt 0

Sixth inning
JT led off with a single. Gavin hit a rocket to center that turned into an RBI triple. With one out, Jake had an RBI single. After Mason's double, Joey cracked an RBI single to right-center.
Score after five and a half innings: Big Blue 22, Southern Pitt 5

Game 3 Web Gems

• Leading off the second, Chace knocked down a short-hop throw at first base. The overeager hitter was used to a normal eight year-old first baseman, and just assumed the ball would go to the fence, so he made a turn towards second. Bad move. Chace picked up the ball that he had knocked down and made the tag for the first out of the inning.
• With two outs in the second, the Southern Pitt hitter ripped a shot up the middle that looked like a sure single. But Mason never even blinked behind his Terminator sunglasses and speared the ball in the air to end the inning.
• With Big Blue starting to shuffle the defense in the fourth, Chace made a good play to knock down a hard-hit ball in the fourth, then flipped it to Mason covering second to end the inning.
• Trey snuffed a potential huge Southern Pitt inning in the fifth, fielding a tough chance at pitcher and throwing to JT at third to record the force.
• Did you wonder what all those Big Blue coaches were doing wandering around in the infield before the game started? Mostly, they were just trying to look useful, since everyone knows Big Blue players are so good they don't really need coaching. But while trying to look useful, they also found just a few rocks:

And that's just one handful! Of course, Big Blue defense is not subject to rocks, snow, heat, astroturf or hail.  

Game 3 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Big Blue	3	5	1	5	5	3	22	28
Southern Pitt	0	0	0	0	5	0	5	7

Winter World Series Game 2: Big Blue 23, Edenton Bulldogs 5

After an uneven first game--albeit a solid win--Coach Kevin challenged Big Blue to play a more complete game in the second half of the doubleheader. It's safe to say they responded.

How thorough was the domination in the second game, a 23-5 win over the Edenton Bulldogs? On offense, Big Blue pounded out a season-high 29 hits, with every player on the roster getting at least one hit, 11 different players collecting at least two hits, and 10 different players scoring at least one run.

And that wasn't even the most impressive part of the game. That came on defense, where Big Blue ended any Edenton dreams of an upset right away. The Blue defense retired the first eight Bulldog hitters in a row, setting a fall record for the most consecutive hitters retired (if you're wondering, the team-wide record is 14 hitters in a row retired against the Efland Hawks back on June 17 in Wilmington--you might remember that as the game when the pitching machine was on the fritz, and eight of those outs were via strikeout). Making it more impressive, all eight of the Edenton hitters put the ball in play, and all were handled cleanly.

By the time Edenton had its first baserunner, Big Blue had already built an 11-0 lead. That continued a trend--over the course of the fall, Blue has outscored opponents 40-7 in the first inning, and that figure would be considerably larger if it were not for run limits.

The Edenton bats did eventually find some holes, and the four runs they pushed across in the bottom of the sixth gave the Durham Indians the top seed in Sunday's bracket play. That means Big Blue is the second seed and will open against Southern Pitt at noon on field two. The winner of that game advances to the Winter World Series championship game at 3 p.m.

Game 2 Big Blue scoring plays
First inning
It didn't take long to get the limit of five runs. In fact, Big Blue did it without recording an out for the only time of the day. Bryce and JT teamed up for back-to-back singles leading off, and Gavin drove in a pair with a deep double to left-center. Chace singled in Gavin. Jake reached on an error, and then Mason singled home Chace. After a single from Joey, Jake crossed the plate with the inning's fifth run on a single by Ben.
Score after one-half inning: Big Blue 5, Edenton 0

Second inning
Elias singled and was sacrificed to second by Asher. Great baserunning by Elias enabled him to hustle all the way around on Trey's single to the right side.
Score after one and a half inning: Big Blue 6, Edenton 0

Third inning
Just like the first inning, it took just eight at-bats for Big Blue to plate five runs. JT led off with one of his four hits for the game and moved to second on Gavin's fielder's choice. Chace singled to put runners on the corners, and Jake beat out a single that scored JT. With two outs, Joey lined an RBI single. Ben's grounder up the middle wasn't handled, scoring Jake and moving Joey to third. Timmy ended the inning (due to the run rule) with a two-RBI single to center.
Score after two and a half innings: Big Blue 11, Edenton 0

Fourth inning
Once again, it took only eight at-bats to hammer out five runs. With one out, Asher singled through the middle. He moved to second on Trey's single, but then Trey was forced at second on a fielder's choice. That gave Big Blue runners on the corners with two outs, but the inning was just beginning. JT hit what looked to be a single to left...but then turned into three runs, as JT hustled all the way around the bases. Gavin started the rally again with a triple to the fence in right-center, and scored on Chace's grounder. Jake ended the inning with a long double to left-center.
Score after three and a half innings: Big Blue 16, Edenton 0

Fifth inning
Mason and Joey led off with back-to-back singles. With one out, Timmy drove home Mason with a single. Then, with two down, Asher went the other way for an RBI single that plated Joey.
Score after four and a half innings: Big Blue 18, Edenton 1

Sixth inning
Seven straight batters reached leading off the inning, which eventually turned into the fourth five-run inning of the day. Bryce was the first Big Blue hitter on base, and then JT and Gavin cracked a pair of singles. Chace drove in two with a double, and then Jake drove in Gavin. Joey's single scored Chace, and then Elias earned the last RBI of the day with a single to left.
Score after five and a half innings: Big Blue 23, Edenton 1

Game 2 Web Gems

• JT and Chace teamed up on a terrific play to end the first. JT fielded a hard-hit ball down the third base cleanly, then threw all the way across the diamond. That's where Chace was waiting, as he showed some nifty footwork to haul in the throw while maintaining contact with the bag to end the inning.
• The Bulldog batter hit a shot leading off the second, but Mason was there in the pitcher's circle to stab the ball out of the air, then calmly toss to first for the out. Mason and Trey combined to play a flawless 12 innings at pitcher on the day.
• Gavin made a leaping catch of a looping liner over shortstop leading off the third.
• Chace made another great stretch leading off the fifth, doing a near-split to retire a speedy runner by a half-step.
• Elias covered a ton of ground in the fifth, ranging all the way from his normal left field position to left-center to grab a fly ball.
• Big Blue got another out at the plate in the sixth, and again it came from right field. This time it was Jake fielding a hard-hit Bulldog ball and firing into Bryce as the cutoff man. The Big Blue second baseman turned (glove side, of course) and threw a strike to the plate, where Asher was waiting to catch the throw and apply the tag on a leaping runner. 
• The bionic Coach Eric pitched both games of the doubleheader and was absolutely crushed--which is great news.

Game 2 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Big Blue	5	1	5	5	2	5	23	29
Edenton	0	0	0	1	0	4	5	8

Winter World Series Game 1: Big Blue 22, FVAA Bengals 6

Here's how spoiled Big Blue has made its fans and coaches during the course of the fall 2012 season: they won the 2012 Winter World Series opener 22-6, never trailed in the game, pounded out 24 hits...and it felt like just an OK performance.

Part of that was due to some occasional struggles defensively, with Blue uncharacteristically committing seven errors, including at least one in every FVAA offensive inning, which prolonged several Bengal at-bats. But Big Blue played through those problems, and the game was never really in doubt. The 22 runs scored temporarily set the mark for the most runs scored in a single game this fall.

The victory moved Big Blue to 1-0 in pool play. Seedings for the next day's bracket play would be set following the day's second game, an immediate turnaround matchup against the Edenton Bulldogs.

Game 1 Big Blue scoring plays
First inning
The Big Blue offense started fast. Bryce and JT led off with back-to-back singles, and JT stretched his to second base when it went unhandled in the outfield. Bryce, running hard, came all the way around to score. Gavin drove in JT with a double, and then Chace singled up the middle to put runners at the corners. Jake made it 3-0 with a single to the left side, and then Mason completed the scoring with a single up the middle.
Score after one-half inning: Big Blue 4, FVAA 0

Second inning
Elias picked up a one-out single and moved to second when Asher reached on an error. With runners on the corners, Trey slapped an RBI groundout to first.
Score after one and a half inning: Big Blue 5, FVAA 2

Third inning
For the first time in the game, Big Blue hit the five-run limit. JT doubled to left-center and hustled around to third, taking advantage of some confusion in the outfield. With one out, Chace knocked another RBI single, and then Jake singled to right. Mason's hard-hit ball to the left side turned into a single and scored Chace. Big Blue pushed across two more runs with two outs, as an error in the FVAA infield allowed Timmy to reach, brought home Mason, and moved Ben to second. Elias's shot to third was too hot to handle and sent Ben scampering home to crack the run limit.
Score after two and a half innings: Big Blue 10, FVAA 2

Fourth inning
The game was completely broken open in the fourth, and all of the damage came with two outs. With one out, Trey reached on a grounder to third, but then was forced at second. That put Bryce on first with two down...but the inning was just getting started. JT beat out a single to the right side, and then Gavin ripped the ball off the shortstop, scoring Bryce. Chace drove in a pair with a bullet single to center. Jake was safe when he hustled out a grounder, and then Mason sent Blue to the run limit with a deep drive to left-center.
Score after three and a half innings: Big Blue 15, FVAA 2

Fifth inning
Joey led off with a grounder to short, then moved to second on a two-out single by Elias. Asher singled and then moved up to second, with Joey crossing the plate, when the Bengal infield had some issues. Trey ripped a two-run single to score Elias and Asher.
Score after four and a half innings: Big Blue 18, FVAA 4

Sixth inning
JT singled and moved to third on Gavin's double. Chace made it a 5-RBI day with a two-run single to left. Jake singled, and with one down, Joey's liner to right-center scored Chace. Elias finished the game's scoring with a single to center that scored Joey.
Score after five and a half innings: Big Blue 22, FVAA 5

Game 1 Web Gems

• Bryce showed good range up the middle in the second inning, stopped a hard grounder, and threw to first to get the out.
• Jake caught a popup at catcher to end the third.
• Big Blue got the first of the day's two outs at the plate in the fourth. With two on, the batter hit a shot to right field. Bryce cut off the throw, turned, and fired to Jake, who made the tag to cut down the Bengal runner.

Game 1 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Big Blue	4	1	5	5	3	4	22	24
FVAA Bengals	2	0	0	2	1	1	6	8