Storm holds off Crew

 Storm started the game against The Crew like they had somewhere else to be. In the first inning, Storm went three up three down on four pitches, and in the second, they only did marginally better sending four runners to the plate. Thankfully for Storm, The Crew weren’t accruing many runs either and only managed two hits, though one was a two run home run.

Things started to pick up in the third. The Crew scored two more to take a four run lead, but Storm remembered that it’s more fun to actually hit and they scored two more runs to get back in the game.

The Crew scored two more in the top of the fourth to get back to four runs up, but Storm answered in a big way, scoring the maximum six runs to take the lead. Storm did it playing small ball with a number of singles and then a couple of sacrifice flies to keep the runners going and they almost batted through the lineup to get six runs. Storm then shut the door on The Crew in the fifth and added three more runs in the bottom of the 5th. The Crew added one in the top of the sixth to make it 11-7, not a particularly comfortable lead. Storm sought to extend their lead with the top of the order up, but they hit like they did in the first, and Storm scored no insurance runs. It might have been a good strategy, though, because The Crew had hit two home runs in the beginning of the game, and were unable to hit any home runs in their comeback bid. They scored one and Storm held on to go 17-1-1 in the first half of the season.

Storm    11  -   The Crew 8

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
The Crew	2	0	2	2	0	1	1	8
Storm	0	0	2	6	3	0	x	11

Lance lifts Storm over Hanet

It was a relatively low scoring affair, but tempers were still running high in Storm’s matchup with Hanet on Tuesday night. 

In the first two innings Lance provided nearly all of the offence for Storm launching a two run homer in the first and a grand slam in the second. He accounted for six of the first seven runs Storm scored, and actually single handedly produced enough runs to win the game as Hanet only managed five runs all night. Storm would have another big inning in the fourth, scoring five runs on a sequence of singles, and they would hold on to win 14-5.

There were a number of interesting plays throughout the game though. 

The infield fly rule is a rule that is designed to protect the runners, though it protected the defence in a strange situation. Brad came up and popped the ball up the first baseline. With runners on first and second, it should have been called an infield fly. It wasn’t. The ball was then missed by Hanet’s pitcher, and it took a funny hop and landed harmlessly in foul territory. Except it wasn’t so harmless. Hanet complained that it should have been called an infield fly. They were right. It should have. But batters are also only called out on infield flies if the ball is fair. The ball was foul. The umpire compounded his first mistake like the interest on a mortgage and then retroactively called Brad out for an infield fly, which led to a whole lot of yelling on both sides of the ball. Brad was warned that he could get suspended and it would go on his permanent record, which was a terrifying thought. Eventually everyone calmed down and something else happened that inning, but it’s hard to remember what. What’s even more disappointing, is that nobody seemed to learn from their mistakes. Brad came up again with runners on first and second. It was like he was looking for a De Lorean to travel through time and erase his wrongdoings, except he doubled down on them by popping up to third base earning the nickname, Brad “it’s still in effect MacInfield fly.” Now if that wasn’t bad enough, it was the second straight infield fly that wasn’t called by the umpire. 

Things go both ways, though, and Hanet had a runner leave early on a fly ball that wasn’t seen by the umpire, which was forgivable, but there was also a strange play at the plate where a ball hit the plate then hit the runner in the leg and rolled fair. Kevin picked up the ball and tagged the runner who was called out. The explanation was that the ball rolled fair, which means it was fair. However, since the ball hit the batters leg (which the ump clearly didn’t see) there are only two possible calls. Either the ball hit the batter in the batter’s box and the ball is foul, or the ball hit the batter in front of the batter’s box and the batter is out for coming into contact with the ball in fair territory. But neither of those are the explanation the umpire gave, and Hanet was nonplussed yet again.

Other interesting moments sprinkled throughout the game.

Sam was doubled off second on a line drive. This happened immediately after one of Brad’s infield flies. Sam now has to learn this baserunning Mantra.

I am Sam. Sam I am. 

I will not run on a line drive.

I’ll stay right here to stay alive. 

I think I know just what to do

I’ll only run if it gets through!

Lance started the game in dominant form with two home runs, but once Storm was plus two, he didn’t know what to do with himself, and popped out to the catcher. 

Duran had been struggling (for Duran) with some light contact throughout the game. Before his last at bat, he warned Lance in the on-deck circle that he was going to try to pull the ball. Mills reminded him that we had no more home runs to hit, but he replied “I just want to hit the ball hard.” And he did. Hard over the fence for a home run out. Storm proved they are a full team and are not just a couple of big hitters as Storm won while Duran and Joey combined for only two hits in ten plate appearances. 

On another note, Ken has now been a late scratch in consecutive games. Ken is no longer on a sign out basis. He is now signed out and must sign in if he wants to play.

Storm    14  -   Hanet 5

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Broadway	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	5
Storm	2	5	1	5	1	0	x	14

 

Storm finish strong (and on time) against Broadway

Storm and Broadway traded blows and it looked like it might be last bat wins games as two heavy hitting teams faced off. It looked like Storm might cruise to another victory as Storm two runs on two pitches with a single and a home run by Duran (now that his family was gone and the black bat was safely back in his bat bag!). They kept hitting and scored six as Al hit a triple to end the inning with a max6. Storm then blanked Broadway and was on their way to an easy win.

NOT! Storm scored one run in the second, and then Broadway’s bats started singing as they scored a max 6 capped off by a home run. With the script flipped in the second act it was suddenly a suspenseful game that would come down to the final moments. 

Storm again responded well. Lance launched a solo home run to start the third and Mills hit a three run inside the park homer to end the third as Storm maxed out its potential. Broadway would not be dismayed either and responded with four of their own to keep the score close at 13-10. 

Storm would score four in the fourth powered by a two run blast by Joey. Broadway would get three and it looked like Storm was pulling away 17-13. But the fifth saw Storm go down after only four batters, including Mills popping up to the catcher, and Broadway saw their opening and they didn’t miss their shot. They scored four to tie the game 17-17. 

Storm now had to contend with Broadway and time as they headed into their last at bats. With the game tied after five and under 10 minutes left, Storm had to score enough to take the lead and leave enough time to get Broadway out if they wanted the win. Joey led off with an out, but Duran got the ball rolling with a triple. Lance walked, and Rene came up with a vengeance. Earlier in the game he had tracked a fly ball and foul territory perfectly, but the movement caused the ball to evade his glove and hit another part of his body so hard he went down and rolled around. If that wasn’t enough, on his way to bat Brian hit him in the back with a ball he was trying to return to the umpire. With a lot of pent up rage Rene took it out on the ball (was that the same ball that had so mercilessly assaulted his balls|?) and launched it way over the fence for a three run shot. Would three runs be enough? Should Storm declare the outs now and move on, or did they need more than three? As the talking heads discussed what to do, Storm got three more hits scoring a run. They were about to pull the plug on the inning when Al popped out. This led them to decide Mills would be the last batter no matter what happened. Mills then hit the ball to the fence and ran for his life. The problem was, nobody had told Greg Mills’s at bat was being treated like last batter in t-ball, and Mills nearly caught him at third base. Mills stayed on Greg’s heels all the way home, and Mills had his second three run inside the park home run of the game. Storm declared the final out and the game moved to the bottom of the inning. 

Storm likely had enough runs, but did they have enough time? Broadway had scored in every inning since the first, and a quick finish seemed unlikely. If anyone was up to the task, though, it was Captain Underpants. He kept pelting the strike zone, and Storm got some solid defence and was able to record three outs in five batters, but more importantly they recorded the three outs in under five minutes. Storm held on to win an exciting game that came right down to the final minute.

Storm    24  -   Broadway 17

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Broadway	0	6	4	3	4	0	x	17
Storm	6	1	6	4	0	7	x	24

Storm doubles down to ground the Falcons

Storm started the game strong against the Falcons. Rene launched a three run home run in the top of the 1st to put Storm on top and Storm held the Falcons to a single run in the bottom of the first frame. The winds changed, however, and the Falcons soared over the Storm in the second. The Falcons’ pitcher was on fire in the second inning as he managed to strikeout Kevin (usually I would insert a capital K somewhere in the person’s name, but Kevin already starts with a capital K, so…) and then, if that wasn’t enough, he struck out Mr. mKlean, as well. BacK to bacK striKeouts to end Storm’s inning. 

Storm didn’t fare well in the bottom of the second either. Storm struggled defensively. A ball appeared to go through Mills’s glove. Two balls were hit just over Duran's glove. Lance played it off the glove off the fence and into the glove for a not out. The Falcons scored six and suddenly Storm trailed.

They would not be dismayed, though. Joey, taking his new spot in leadoff to heart, walked to start the third inning. This would be followed by five consecutive hits, including three doubles, and Storm stormed back to take the lead 9-7. Storm also tightened up the defence and blanked the Falcons in the bottom of the third. 

Now that Storm had a lead they wouldn’t relinquish it. Al started throwing some seriously tricky pitches and had the Falcons’ biggest hitters swinging through pitches and cueing pitches off the end of the bat. Storm kept putting up enough runs to have a relatively comfortable lead (if any lead is comfortable against the Falcons) and Lance hit a massive home run and Storm went on to win 19-11.

Storm    19  -   Falcons 11

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
Falcons	1	6	0	2	0	1	1	11
Storm	3	0	6	3	2	4	1	19