The Phantoms are on a roll! They are confident in games and have a “can win” attitude. I’ve believe I’ve said it before, but this is a great group to coach.
The Distinctive Glass Blue Devils didn’t make it easy on us with great fielding and holding us to 3 runs in the first, 0 in the second, 3 in the third, 3 in the fourth and 2 runs in the fifth. But the Echelbarger offense was firing on all cylinders up and down the lineup with 15 hits, 7 walks and 11 runs scored. We had 2 triples from Chris and Alex R, 2 doubles from Chris and Jordan and Alex B had a nice first pitch single in the 2nd inning. Everyone else contributed with singles or walks.
Fielding wise Reilly is continuing to play solid defense with 4 putouts at 1st base. Chris had 1-3 combo with Reilly and caught a line drive at pitcher to end the first inning. The kids know what to do on a wild pitch pass ball and we almost prevented the run 2 times.
Chris was our starter facing 8 batters in 1.2 innings with 19 stikes, 2 strikeouts, 3 hits, and 0 walks. Christian closed out the game facing 7 batters, 15 stikes, 2 strikeouts, 1 hit and 3 walks. We’ve figured out Christian’s over throwing problem with his release point and will work to get him to release the ball in front of him instead of the 12 o’clock position.
If it wasn’t for the fact I was saving our pitchers for our next game on Tuesday, Ryan our MVP would have been benched for showing up after the had started. It turned out that it really worked in our favor to put him in as he really had an incredible game at pitcher. He pitched 2.1 innings facing 11 batters with 25 strikes, 5 strikeouts, 1 hit, 3 walks and 0 earned runs. Ryan had a pop up play to get the 1st out and a 1-3 combo with Reilly in the bottom of the 4th.
The Phantoms will face some tough competition in the next 3 games as they will play teams with winning records. I believe they will rise to the occasion and will give them a good match.
Our next game is Tuesday against Harbor Square on Lynndale Field 2 at 7:00 pm. See you there! Go Phantoms!
Final Score: Phantoms 11 – Blue Devils 5
