Storm Crush Coulas

Storm had a number of players returning from respite, and therefore had a plethora of players (well, someone was sitting on the bench anyway) for their game Tuesday night. Storm had a first inning rally going with two runs in and the bases loaded, but Brad MacInfield fly (if fair!) came up and popped up between the pitcher and catcher along the third base line. The umpire got the “if fair” part right this time, but potentially emphasised it too much as he repeatedly said to the other team as the ball trickled along the foul line, “he’s only out if you touch it.” That doesn’t seem impartial. Storm’s rally sputtered out. 

Another two run rally came to an abrupt halt in the second inning. Duran ran home and was called out on a close play at the plate. This was followed by Joey stopping between second and third and Lance getting hung up between second and first. The catcher threw to first catching Lance in no man’s land ending the inning (keep a bookmark here because this wasn’t the only time this was going to happen).

Nothing could stop Storm’s rally in the third inning (except the mercy rule). Storm scored six and Duran did some bad math, launching a home run to end the inning. This was a rare occurrence where a player hits a home run and does not score because the sixth run was on base. Coulas remembered that they were allowed to hit too and scored five in the bottom of the third keeping it to a relatively close 10-5.

The fourth inning saw a pair of goose eggs and no movement in the score so there is really nothing to write about. Scoring resumed in the fifth as Storm managed five runs. It could have been more, but Lance got thrown out at third this time. He looked like he was trying to leap over the third baseman to get to the base, but it didn’t work. Maybe he’s been watching too much high jump.

The Storm clouds opened up and Storm rained runs on Coulas in the sixth. It was a seventeen minute half inning in which Storm nearly went through the lineup twice. They did send 15 consecutive batters to the plate before the first out of the inning was made, and Duran appeared to have intentionally grounded out to end the inning. He likely did this because earlier in the inning, he hit a grand slam. And with all the hitting happening, it was looking like time might run out erasing it. So whether it was sportsmanship or selfishness or a combination of both, we’ll never know for sure, but Duran grounded out to end the inning and the game ended not long after.

Storm    28  -   Coulas 7

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Coulas	0	0	5	0	1	1	x	7
Storm	2	2	6	0	5	13	x	28