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| Lee
July 28, 2008
1:40:21 PM
Entry #: 2847284
| What a great experience to get to participate in the state tournament at Troy University this past weekend. We had 15 players present for the 11:00 check-in Friday morning. We then 'enjoyed' a HOT luncheon which was held outside under the 3rd base bleachers. The luncheon concluded around 2:00. We drew our bracket spot and drew the 5:00 game. BP was from 3:45-4:15 (as we were the visiting team). We took a very good round of infield from 4:30-4:40.
5:00 Game Time .. We went out and set the tone for the game by scoring 4 runs in the top of the 1st. Zack led off with a walk and stole 2B and reached 3rd on an error on the throw. C.K. then ripped a single up the middle which scored Zack. After Caleb hit a soft liner to 2B for the 1st out, Evan M. powered a pitch just out of the shortstops reach for a hit. Jonathan then hit a seed up the middle which loaded the bases. Ovarys then grounded out to 1B which drove in a run. Taylor then stepped up and delivered a huge 2 out double down the left field line which drove in Evan & Jonathan. Joseph then went out and retired Post 34 on 8 pitches.
2nd inning scoreless ... 3rd inning - Tuscaloosa put together a good inning which produced 3 runs so the score after 3 innings was Post 11 - 4 .. Post 34 - 3 ... We came back in the top of the 4th and answered with 4 more runs. Ovarys led off with a bunt which their pitcher misplayed, Taylor then drew a BB, Matt ripped a pitch to RF, Adam then got HBP to force in a run, Zack thought Adam looked like it was fun to get HBP so he followed up by getting HBP to force in another run, C.K. then hit a Sac F-8 to drive in a run and move Adam to 3B, Caleb then hit a Sac F-9 to drive in our 4th run of the inning. Joseph then regrouped with a 12 pitch 1-2-3 inning. Score after 4 innings .. 8-3 Florence
Top of 5th: Jonathan and Ovarys both reached via base hits and Taylor laid down a beautiful bunt down the 3rd base line to advance our runners to 2nd & 3rd with one out. Matt then hit a Sac F-8 to drive in a run. Adam then legged out an infield single to deep short to drive in Ovarys. Bottom of 5th: Post 34 decided they weren't about to go down without a fight as they charged back with a solid 4 run outburst. Score after 5 innings .. 10-7 Florence
Top 6th: We responded to Post 34's run by answering with another couple of runs. Zack led off with another walk (always good eh?), C.K. then reached via a FC with Zack being put out and 2B. Caleb then reached on a errant throw by the 3rd baseman, C.K. was able to go all the way around to score and Caleb moved to 3rd on the bad throw. After Evan flied out to shallow center, Jonathan delivered a clutch 2 out hit to score Caleb. Bottom of the 6th: After retiring the 1st two Post 34 batters in the inning, back-to-back walks to the #1 & #2 hitters in Post 34's lineup brought up their best hitter. Vickerson delivered a clutch 2 out 2B to keep Post 34 right in the thick of the game. Score after 6 innings: 12-9 Florence
7th: We went very meekly with 2 K's and a grounder to the pitcher which led to a key point in the game. With it extremely hot and Joseph having labored thru the last couple of innings, we knew this could be a key inning. Joseph came up clutch as he worked around a leadoff single to retire the next 3 batters in order to keep the game 12-9 our way.
8th: We added one run in the 8th as C.K. led off with a single and Caleb was HBP. Evan then reached on an error to load the bases. Jonathan then drove in his 3rd run of the day with a Sac F-8. We weren't able to score any more runs this inning. Bottom of 8th: Matt Moore relieved Joseph on the mound. After striking out their 9th batter, we walked their leadoff batter. After retiring the next guy on a groundout, Mr. Vickerson extended the inning with a single. After their cleanup hitter reached via an error, we then chose to issue the intentional walk to Corben Green (who was 4-4 and had been on every pitch he had seen the entire game) to load the bases and bring the go-ahead run to the plate. C.K. made a play from deep short, turned and threw a strike to 1B to get the runner by less than a half-a-step to end the threat. Score after 8 innings: 13-10 Florence
9th: Matt led off with a BB but was doubled off when Adam hit a line-drive that was snared by Green at 1B. Zack and C.K. both reached on BB's. Caleb then delivered a clutch 2 out - 2 run double to the gap in right center. Evan & Jonathan both reached on walks and Ovarys was then HBP to force in a run. Taylor then added a run-scoring single to drive in our 4th run of the inning. We go to the bottom of the 9th leading 17-10. However, Tuscaloosa still wasn't going down without a fight. With their 7th batter leading off the inning, their first 2 batters drew walks then the #9 hitter reached on an error. Back to the top of their order, their leadoff hitter hit into a FC which produced an out. After strking out #2 batter, Mr. Vickerson strolled to the plate again and calmly deposited a ball over the fence in left-center to draw 34 closer. After another single and a HBP, Post 34 was able to bring the tying run to the plate. However, a groundout to short ended the game as we won 17-14.
Length of game: 3 hours 40 minutes.
Saturday 10:00 game vs Dothan Post 12
Dothan beat Decatur 12-8 Friday night in a game that ended around 12:40 a.m. With the late night early morning turnaround, we felt as if things we working in our favor about as well as they could be. We're the visiting team again. We had Trey on the mound, and he was dialed in. Game was scoreless after 3 innings.
4th: Evan, Jonathan reached on singles. Ovarys then laid a perfect bunt down the 3rd base line and was able to reach via the single. Taylor then drove a pitch over the CF's head for a 3 run triple. After a groundout to 1B which held Taylor at 3B and a failed attempt on a suicide squeeze (fouled off) followed by a SO, Taylor got stranded at 3rd which gave Post 12 some momentum going off the field. Bottom of 4th: After a leadoff 2B and a walk led off the inning, Trey battled and escaped the inning allowing only 1 run. Score after 4: 3-1 Florence
We went weakly in the 5th. After a leadoff HBP followed by a F8 for the 1st out, Post 12 got back to the top of their order where their leadoff batter also was HBP. After a K for 2 outs, their 3rd place hitter had a clutch 2 out hit to plate one run to draw Dothan within 1, 3-2 Florence.
We went meekly again in the 6th. Dothan managed to get 2 runners on via a BB & a HBP, but failed to score, leaving the score 3-2 Florence after 6.
7th: After a leadoff groundout, Adam, Zack, & C.K. all reached on singles which plated 1 run. Bottom of 7th: With Trey having thrown 102 pitches, he was replaced by Evan M. After a leadoff walk, 2B, 3B, Sac-F and another 1B, Jeb came in and replaced Evan on the mound, after 2 straight doubles, C.K. was brought in to try to get us out of the inning. He struck his 1st batter out, then issued a walk to the #9 hitter & leadoff hitter before their #2 hole hitter tripled to clear the bases. Score after 7 innings: 10-4 Dothan
8th: Jonathan & Taylor their hot hitting recording singles in the frame, but we didn't manage to put together a rally as both were left stranded. Bottom: Dothan added another insurance run in the bottom of the 8th to take a commanding 11-4 lead to the 9th. Adam led off with a single and Zack drew a walk to give us a little hope. However, our rally ended quietly and we fell 11-4.
7:00 Game vs Tuscaloosa Post 34
Post 34 advanced to this game by defeating Decatur Post 15 13-3 in 8 innings in the losers bracket game. We were the home team. Brian Davenport took the mound for us. Tuscaloosa jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st. We came right in and took a 2-1 lead after one inning on hits by Zack, Caleb, and Ovarys along with a walk to Evan.
2nd: Here is where it got U-G-L-Y. After a leadoff BB to their 8th place hitter and singles by 9th & leadoff, another BB, a misplayed fly ball, we finally recorded an out on a fly ball. 2 more errors on groundballs in the IF, Mark came in and replaced Brian on the mound (Mark made it Troy just before the start of the game thanks to Jeff Radtke's willingness to drive him down on a moments notice). To sum it up, Post 34 scored 7 runs on 4 singles, 2 BB, and 3 errors in the frame. Bottom: We came in and answered with 2 runs as Adam & Zack walked, Caleb was HBP and Evan drove in both runs with a single before being thrown out at 2B tryin to advance on the throw home. Score after 2: 8-4 Tuscaloosa
3rd
Post 34 Top: After retiring the leadoff hitter, 2nd place hitter reached via an error. Vickerson then unloaded a 2 run blast to left field. Following a single, the nightmare continued with another error in the IF, a walk, another missed fly ball in the OF, walk, K, another dropped ball in the IF, the torturous inning finally came to an end when we finally made a routine play. We didn't manage to put anything together in the 3rd so the score after 3 innings was 15-4 Tuscaloosa
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We held Tuscaloosa scoreless in the 4th & 5th and we managed to scratch back a lil closer with 3 runs in the bottom of the 4th. We managed to capitolize on Post 34's miscues to open the inning (Error and walk - then back to back outs). With 2 outs, Caleb walked, Evan had rbi single, Jonathan got HBP, Ovarys reached on an error to get us back within 15-7.
Post 34 extended the lead to 18-7 going to the bottom of the 6th. We managed to score 1 in the 6th on Evan's single, Jonathan's double & Ovarys' Sac fly. Score after 6 was 18-8 Tuscaloosa
C.K. came on to pitch and retired Post 34 in the top of the 7th. We failed to put anything together in the bottom of the 7th and the mercy rule was enacted and we fell 18-8.
Sunday Game 1 ... Tuscaloosa Post 34 (visitor) vs Dothan Post 12 (home)
Tuscaloosa trailed 4-3 going into the top of the 9th... Post 34 put together a 4 run inning to take a 7-4 lead to the bottom, which they held to force the deciding game...
Tuscaloosa led 9-5 after 7. Dothan tied it at 9 in the top of the 8th. Tuscaloosa then scored 4 in the bottom of the 8th to take a 13-9 lead to the 9th, which they held. Final Score: Post 34 - 13 ... Post 12 - 9 ... Tuscaloosa sweeps Dothan in the finals for the 2nd year in a row to take the state championship.
Besides us winning the tournament, the only thing that would've been sweeter would have been for both of our Florence teams to be down there playing in the Final Four. We would've both had our chances to stake our claim to the championship.
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