New Lenox Summary

The Blue Thunder opened the New Lenox tournament against the New Lenox Rebels. Once again, Orland Park's pitching and defense continued to play well. Matthias Dietz gave the Blue Thunder four strong innings as the starting pitcher--and Nick Waters pitched effectively for the remaining innings. The most dramatic improvement was with the outfield defense as fly balls are now being caught more routinely. But, the team continues to struggle on offense. The Blue Thunder had just one hit in this game. Although the game was competitive throughout, the team could not muster enough offense to overcome the few runs it allowed.

Orland Park then played Palos on Saturday morning. Again, the lack of hitting hurt the Blue Thunder. The team failed to score a run in this contest. Solid pitching and defense kept the Blue Thunder in this game. Grant Lewis started the game and four strong innings. Mike Rafferty came on in relief and pitched a couple of innings. A few baserunning blunders took the team out of some innings early on, but there just weren't enough hard hits to mount any kind of a rally.

At the end of the first two pool play games, the seven teams participating in the tournament were seeded based upon their performance in pool play. Orland Park received the #5 seed (of seven teams) due to its competitive play. Although the team lost its first two games, the run differential was closer than two other teams in the tournament which had also lost two games in pool play.

So, Orland Park was matched up against the Tinley Park Bobcats for the 1:15 pm game on Saturday. Jake Krueger started the game and pitched into the fourth inning. Nick Waters came on in relief in the fourth inning and Mike Rafferty pitched the last two innings of the ballgame. The defense was not quite as strong as in the earlier games of the tournament--with three errors on routine grounders to second base and a critical dropped third strike in the first inning. But, two Bobcats were thrown out trying to steal third base. The game was close throughout. The Bobcats eventually scored six runs--while the Blue Thunder was held to just two runs in the contest.

The New Lenox tournament is best summarized by a lack of hitting with a few baserunning blunders sprinkled in to kill any innings that started to develop at all. The pitching has held up remarkably well--especially considering the pressure that builds with a lack of run support.