A nail-bitter of a game for Team Echelbarger. We had solid pitching and great fielding. We just couldn’t get our runners on base home and stranded 5. The Phantoms out hit Interbay 7 to 5 and we were even on walks with 4 a piece.
We have Pitching! Christian who pitched a great game for us in the last regular season game started us off, but struggled to throw the ball down over the plate. He had walked 2 runners, hit a player and earned 1 run. So I had to pull him early. Chris relieved him going 2.2 innings facing 10 batters with 30 strikes of 47 pitches, 6 strikeouts, 2 walks, 2 hits and 1 earned run.
We have defense! This is one of the best fielding teams I’ve coached. For the most part we are taking care of the baseball. Chris had a 6-3 with Reilly in the first inning. Alex R started a 9-6 combo with Sean in the second. Sean caught a huge pop-fly to left field for the final out of the fourth and Benji caught a pop-fly to center for the 1st out of the fifth.
We have bats! The coaching staff and I took too many risky base running moves today and we got burned 3 times. We under estimated their catcher and third baseman. Chris hit a single in the bottom of the first, but got tagged out on a single from Sean. In the bottom of the third inning, Alex R & Alex B got walked. Christian hits an RBI single to get Alex R home, but Alex B got tagged out at 3rd.
The MVP of the game was Jordan. He pitched 3 innings facing 11 batters with 29 strikes of 42 pitches, 7 strikeouts, 1 walk, 1 hit and 0 earned runs. He gunned down the runner leading off at 1st with a 2-3 with Reilly for the 2nd out of the second. Jo Jo went 3 for 3 at the plate. A single in the first, a lead off double in the fourth on which Sean had a RBI sac fly to left field to tie the game, and a single in the bottom of the sixth inning to become the winning run on a single hit from Benji!
The Phantoms have the entire 6 man pitching staff ready for Friday’s game against team Wilcox. We are going to need them as we will only have 1 day of rest for Sunday’s Championship game. Wilcox is a sleeper team that was off the radar until the playoffs. Their bottom 5 players of their lineup has combined for 5 hits in the regular season. But their bats erupted in the sixth inning against Bennett & Bennett with 12-0 runs. The score reverted to 2-0 as they didn’t complete the sixth inning.
I am hopeful that the team in green will persevere and play in the Championship game!
Next game is 5:00 pm Friday, June 11th on Lynndale Field 2. See you there. Go Phantoms!
Final Score: Interbay 2 – Echelbarger 3
Great game – love the big catches in the outfield by Sean and Benji and clutch pitching by Chris and Jordan during some pressure situations. Everyone did their part to get the win. Looking forward to the battle with Bennett and Bennett! I will NOT be late for that game so anticipate cheering early and often from the bleachers.
Hey Carolyn, We’re playing Wilcox! Bennett & Bennett is in the lower bracket and will most likely play WIndermere if Point B didn’t over take them in the sixth.
OH…whoops…I put the wrong info on our bracket. I just can’t quite seem to get these details right! Thanks for the correction. I will now focus my mental energies on defeating Wilcox and ignore Bennett and Bennett. I will feel partially responsible if Bennett and Bennett loses now…I’ll get rid of that voo doo doll in the B&B uniform!