Storm staunches Rebel onslaught

The first game of the doubleheader must have warmed up the Storm bats, because they started strong. A leadoff double was followed by a pair of singles, which was followed by a three-run dinger by Rene who was thrilled that Joey didn’t clear the bases in front of him. Four batters later Craig launched another three-run home run into the trees. Storm definitely started strong, but they needed to in this game because the Rebels weren’t going to lie down that easily. They were unable to score in the first, but after holding Storm to two runs in the top of the 2^nd, they put up six of their own and it was clear this was going to be a battle.

Storm struggled in the top of the 3^rd and 4^th only plating one run total, which allowed the Rebels to gain the advantage after a 6 run 3^rd inning. Rebels led 14-10 going into the top of the 5^th.

With shades of the playoffs coming back, Storm had the choice to roll over and let the Rebels run over them, or to take a stand. Jeff led off the 5^th with a double, sneaking into 2^nd when he saw the throw wasn’t going to 2^nd. Duran singled him home and then Joey launched a two-run homer. Rene then launched yet another solo home run, but it might be good he did as Storm struggled for the rest of the inning and didn’t score another run.

Up 14-12 going into the bottom of the 5^th, Storm wanted to stop the Rebels in their tracks, but the Rebels had more firepower in their bats and put up a 5 spot to retake the lead. Storm would not give up. After giving up the lead twice, they found enough firepower to push the Rebels back and scored seven runs in the top of the 6^th. These runs were produced by seven consecutive singles to start the inning, and another clutch single later in the inning.

Storm finally put up a solid wall of defense in the 6^th and kept the Rebels off the board. Storm knew that a four run lead was probably not enough, and they continued to put pressure on the Rebels. Storm kept finding cracks in the Rebels defense with eight hits in the seventh leading to eight more runs. Now they had a comfortable 12 run lead going into the bottom of the 7^th. The Rebels tried to mount one more offensive strike, but it was staunched by a double play by Joey. Even had they kept hitting they likely would have run out of time.

Highlights:

It seems that an umpire calling for a courtesy runner for Dave has lit a fire in him. He hit a double for the second consecutive game. Dave’s doubles seem to have lit a fire in Brian, as he also hit a double. With these two moving so swiftly, Storm might be able to spread out their courtesy runners.

Notable Boxscores:

Rene: 3/4, 2 HR, 3 runs, 5 RBI

Joey: 3/5, HR, 2 runs, 4 RBI

Jeff: 4/5, 3 doubles, 3 runs, 2 RBI

Craig: 2/4, HR, 2 runs, 3 RBI

Duran: 3/4, 2 runs, 4 RBI

Dave: 3/4, 3 runs, 3 RBI

Kenny: 3/4, 3 runs, 3 RBI

Bob: 4/4, 2 runs

Kevin: 3/4, 2 runs, 2 RBI

HR's: Joey, Craig, Rene (2)

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Storm	7	2	1	0	4	7	8	29
Rebels	0	6	6	0	5	0	0	17