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| Game 1 ( Saturday July
12, 2003 6:30 PM )
Mt. Lebanon (home) vs. South Park @ Pop
Murray Field (won 17-9) |
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Boy what a difference one hour makes (from our two previous
games this day where we DID NOT score one run). Brian has South
Park's number, pitching 3 innings and giving up 4 runs. Brandon came
in but struggled giving up 3 walks, 5 runs in 1/3 inning, James came in
giving up 2 hits, 1 walk in 2/3 inning. James continued to pitch the
5th & 6th striking out 2, walking 2 and retiring all three batters in
the 6th. The 6th inning, the defense got three up-three down (4
pitches) - with Andrew K making a great catch in center field, Matt
catching a line drive at 1st and Brandon making a Major League play at
third, diving to his right stopping the ball while laying flat on his
stomach, jumping up and throwing a rope throw to Matt getting the runner
(3rd batter in the SP lineup) for the final out of the game. James
was the Player of the Game getting two
hits (1 triple with the ball rolling all the way to the fence) and a
single, then two walks in 4 AB's AND Scoring each and every time at
bat. I don't think there is enough space here to write all what happened
in this game. But.....Brandon (4 singles) & Alex (3 singles
& triple) went 4 for 4, Christian was 3 for 4 (another fine game at
Bat - 2 singles & double, and Catching - boy when he came to bat in
the 4th - the SP pitcher was YELLING at his left fielder to get deep - the
pitcher was real worried), Matt was 3 for 5, Chris was 2 for 4 and a Major
league catch in center field hustling and reaching the ball before it
could drop in, Nate was 2 for 3 and Peter was 2 for 4. Brain and
Andrew K each singled going 1 for 3. By the time Patrick and Jeremy
got into the game our bats quieted down and their AB's were limited. |
The team developed a NEW Rally "activity" I think
it follows the July's The Full Buck Moon (Sunday evening) which is
normally when new antlers of buck deer push out of their
foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full
Thunder Moon, for the reason that thunderstorms are most frequent during
this time. The boys were pounding their Antlers with their
hands or were they creating a Full Thunder with their bats - I think a
little of both Rallying the team on - Patrick & Jeremy developed this.
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| Game 2 ( Sunday July
13th, 2003 4:00 PM )
Mt. Lebanon vs. Bethel Church (home) @ Pop Murray Field
( Won 19-2 ) |
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We continued to hit and field and pitch, we need all
three to win games. This game was 4-2 going into the 3rd inning,
then we broke the game open. But in the 1st, Brandon &
Andrew K both walked and stole bases but was not needed as Chris hit
a 2 RBI triple to center field giving us 2-0 lead. In the 2nd
we 4 hits by Nate (2 SB), Patrick walked, Alex singled driving in
Nate for the game winning RBI, then Matt & Brandon also
singled. In the 3rd, we scored 5 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks
and NOT striking out once. James was
selected Player of the Game (by Bethel Church), but
I felt Chris deserved this award more (my selection) going 4 for 4,
triple, double and two singles scoring 3 runs and playing SS (not
his normal position). Brandon went 3 for 3 and a
walk in 4 AB's scoring 2 runs and doing an outstanding job behind
the plate. Both Brandon and Christian held onto foul tip
third strikes giving us two outs. Andrew K, Chris, James each
scored 3 times while Brandon, Nate, Peter scored twice. Patrick,
Brian, Jeremy and Matt scored once. Many players hit RBI's
which drove in the many base runners we had. Nate (3 innings)
and Jeremy (2 innings) pitched superb getting the strike outs and
the fielders making the plays to halt any rallies Bethel Church were
starting. |
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| Game 3 ( Monday July
14th, 2003 7:00 PM )
Mt. Lebanon (home) vs. Waynesburg.
Game @ Pop Murray Field (Won 3-2) |
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What a way to win! Take a 1-0 lead into the top
of the 6th, needing 3 outs for the win. Waynesburg showed they
have talent, scrapping out two runs to take a 2-1 lead into our
bottom of the 6th. Well we showed them back that we also have
talent, getting bases loaded (w/0 outs) from Andrew G and Brandon
working walks both on a full counts, James grounded hard (also
on a full count) to the 3rd baseman, which was
hard to handle and everyone was safe. Peter was up next and
Chris on deck, I told Chris that we have the right guys up at the
right time, Peter will hit the ball through the infield - HE DID on
a 2-2 count, driving in Andrew and Brandon (no way was they stopping, like trying
to stop a train) scoring the tying and winning runs! The defense and
pitching won this game. We scored our 1st run in the 2nd
inning, Alex singled and stole 2 bases and Brian drove him in on a
single and stole second, but was stranded there. We got a
small rally in the 5th but nothing showed. Brandon singled and
walked twice, Brian is back with 2 singles (& RBI). Other
hits were by James and Peter. We hit the ball well striking
out only 6 times and had 12 guys reach base.
Alex was selected the Player of the game
(by Waynesburg) pitching 3 scoreless innings (4 K's 2
hits, 0 walks, 0 runs and only 2 batters reached base) while making
the fielding plays - He did not need fielders in the 1st inning,
striking out 1 and catching 2 flies. Bryan came in to finish the game and earn the
win (2 K's, 5 hits, 2 walks). |
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| Game 4 ( Friday July
18th, 2003 5:30 PM )
Mt. Lebanon vs. Greentree,
Game @ Pop Murray Field (Won 4-1 ) Semi-final game winners bracket. |
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In the afternoon (4 PM) a very heavy thunderstorm
came through and drenched the field, but the ground crew, ripped up
the infield and put it back down so we could get the game in.
We won this one 4-1, but I think Greentree
won the "Screaming Contest" (you name it - at the umps, at
our players, for their players). Nate
was selected Player of the Game (by the official scorer).
Alex and Brian teamed up to hold Greentree to only 1 run and 3 hits,
striking out 11 (out of 26 batters), only allowing 9 batters to
reach base. GREAT PITCHING JOB. On the offensive side, James
went 2 for 3 and scored the 1st run, Andrew K and Nate had back to
back doubles and each scored on Patrick's single to left
field. Chris went 2 for 2 and scored the final run for us in
the 5th.
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| Game 5 ( Sunday
July 20th, 2003 6:30 PM) Mt. Lebanon (home) vs. Waynesburg.
Game @ Pop Murray Field (Lost 3-18) - Championship Game |
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The
Blue Devils were in the game until the 5th inning when Waynesburg scored
12 unanswered runs. Nothing we did worked even the Player
of the Game, Brian (selected by the official scorer) couldn't
score on a ground ball to 2nd base in the 5th, he came upon a "brick
wall" at home plate. Each pitcher, Alex (3 innings), Nate (1
1/3) and Brian (2/3) each allowed 6 runs on their rotation. The game
started of with a look of an outstanding game or 3-6 after 3 innings where
we made fantastic fielding plays to stop any potential rallies. In the 4,
Nate held them to only one base runner, but the 5th, everything went crazy
- Nated walked 5 batters (only 1 hit) and then Brain came in and the
defense left their gloves in the dugout. I guess that is what
happens when you walk batters, the fielders go into standby mode.
Waynesburg batters did hit the ball and hit the ball hard and where no
infielders were positioned. When Alex was pitching, their bench was
making noise when Alex was in his wind up, after I informed the ump, did
they quiet down. Alex did a great job handling this distraction.
Brain went 2 for 2 with a
double and single scoring our first run, followed immediately by Jeremy
who singled and James scored our final run by a single to right by
Brandon. Chris Ford walked twice (a miracle considering he likes
high pitches and everyone else was striking out swinging on high
pitches). We stuck out a total of 8 times in 21 at bats and had only
4 hits. We really gave the game to Waynesburg, looking at the stats
and from my view point, what if....we walked 5 out of the 8 strikeouts and
made our swings count....what if.... We
had some visitors who came to see this game, players from the Gold Team
came to cheer us on. Thanks for stopping and giving us your support. |
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| Game 6 ( Monday July
21st, 2003 6:00 PM) Mt. Lebanon
(visitor) vs. Waynesburg.
Game @ Pop Murray Field (lost 2-8) - 2nd
Championship Game |
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Our FIRST piece of Hardware - 2nd
Place Trophies. This game was much better than yesterday's, our
defense and pitching kept us in the game, but our offense did not step up
having only 5 hits in 23 at bats and striking out 11 times. It also
goes to show, if you do not give up walks, you win (Waynesburg did not
walk one of our batters). Our only hits were from Brandon, Chris,
Alex (double), Peter and Matt. In the first inning, Brandon started
off a 2 out rally with a single, followed by Chris's single and then
pulling a double steal and both scored on Alex's double to deep center
field scoring our only two runs of the game. Alex
was selected the Player of the Game for his 2 RBI's and 3
strong innings of pitching. James was selected
Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Dormont Tournament along with
Waynesburg's Joey Monica. |
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