Los Angeles Baseball League

Cats need most of their 9 lives to survive Cubs

The Tigers didn't take their first round matchup against the Cubs lightly. If they had, they'd be out now. Because the Cubs fought and scrapped and the result was a fantastic, nail-biting thriller on a Sunday afternoon at Roybal.

The Cats turned to their Ace, Reilly Smith to cool down the Cub bats, but Matt Lachman and David McIntosh greeted him in the first with a single and double to stun the Tigers with a quick 1-0 lead. Smith fought out of the jam and the Tigers responded with 2 in the bottom of the frame and everything seemed fine.

But the Cubs are a scrappy bunch. They put runners on in every inning of the game to force Smith to fight every inning to keep them at bay. They finally tied it in the 4th and the game became a true pitching duel.

The teams traded runs in the 6th to go to the 7th knotted at 3, when the Tigers finally pounced and scored 2 to take a 5-3 lead. Another run in the bottom of the 8th and the Tigers felt a little more comfortable with a 6-3 lead going into the 9th with Smith still working on the mound.

But the Cubs wouldn't die!! They got a leadoff single into no man's land and after a hit batter and walk, they had the bases loaded, tying run on first with no one out.

One of the things that makes baseball the greatest game on earth is the pressure and knowing the game isn't over until the last out. It's also great because you can play and watch it for years and see something you've never seen before.

Smith threw a great fastball to the next batter who hit a pop up in foul territory between first and home. Both Smith and Cat catcher Mike Plude raced to try for the crucial out. Smith made a fantastic catch for the first out!

But...!

Of course, that left home plate unoccupied, so Aron Levinson tagged from third and scored. On an infield pop up! As the Tigers scrambled to get him at home (it was close but he was safe!), the Cub runners on 1st and 2nd also tagged and advanced to 2nd and 3rd. Now the tying run was on 2nd base, just a single away.

The next batter grounded to 2nd, bringing home the Cubs 5th run and cutting the lead to one, also advancing the tying run to 3rd where now a wild pitch, passed ball, infield hit, error or even balk could do the trick.

But as he has been all year, Reilly Smith was up to the challenge, throwing a perfectly placed strike on a 3-2 pitch to end the game with a 6-5 victory for the Tigers.

Offensive heroes for the Tigers include (but not limited to) Stefan Marks who drove in two crucial runs with his 2 hit performance and Donny Bixby Jr who added another 2 hits. Mike Plude, who was magnificent at catcher drove in the Tigers' big 6th run with a clutch 2 out single in the 8th. And defensively, Chris Bishop made a fantastic diving catch in center to thwart a big Cubs rally.

Congrats to the Cubs who gave us way more than we wanted. And always did it with class. I don't think Rex Camphuis gets enough credit for how well he manages his team, especially how he mixes and matches his pitchers to constantly keep the other team off balance.

Date: August 7, 2022     Time: 1:00pm      Venue: Roybal Learning Center