The Warriors opened up the Oak Lawn Westside tournament with an impressive 9-5 victory at Westbrook Park on Friday night in a game that most likely knocked the host team out of its own tournament!
Things looked a little bleak early on when five of Westside's hitters reached base in the first inning. But, the Warriors held Westside to three runs in the inning. The Warriors then scored two runs in the bottom of the frame on consecutive hits by Jason Waner, Paco Lauciello and Ryan Knightly before Sam Marc hit the ball hard--but right at the shortstop for a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Ryan Knightly leads the squad with 36 runs driven in for the season!
The Warriors' starting pitcher, Jason Waner, settled in after that first inning and held the hard hitting Westside team to just two more runs (only one of which was earned) for the remainder of the game. Jason's performance was a masterpiece. He did an outstanding job mixing up his pitches, had command over his control and kept his composure throughout the ballgame. Jason went on to pitch a complete game and record his fourth win as a Warrior.
Neither team scored in the second or third innings. Westside extended its lead to 4-2 in top of the fourth inning on a double to deep centerfield followed by a single up the middle. However, the Warriors offense exploded with seven runs in the bottom of the frame on six hits, two hit batsmen and a walk. Sam Marc singled sharply up the middle to drive home the first run of the big inning. C.J. Brucki pulled a double down the rightfield line. Jack Lebert lined a base hit to score two more runs. Tim Prendergast and Tim Carroll were both hit by pitches before Lance Cardinal singled home two more runs. Ryan Tannebaum bounced a ball over the pitchers head for an infield hit to score yet another run for the Warriors! When the inning finally ended, the Warriors led 9-4 over Westside.
Westside scored a run in the top of the fifth inning, but left two runners stranded when Tim Carroll fielded a ground ball at shortstop and threw across the diamond to end the inning. The Warriors failed to score in the bottom of the fifth inning. The game was called after five innings due to the tournament's 1 hour, 45 minute time limitation.
Other Notes:
Westside scored a run in the top of the fifth inning, but left two runners stranded when Tim Carroll fielded a ground ball at shortstop and threw across the diamond to end the inning. The Warriors failed to score in the bottom of the fifth inning. The game was called after five innings due to the tournament's 1 hour, 45 minute time limitation.
Other Notes:
In past years, game balls were awarded to players on a regular basis after games. This season, game balls are rarely awarded to an individual as every player usually contributes something positive to the outcome. For example, 8 different players scored runs in this tournament victory in which the team scored 9 runs! Every player, both infielders and outfielders, made at least one positive play which contributed to the win. It's a real team effort by a very scrappy group of baseball players.
Also, I won my 13th consecutive coin toss before tournament games to secure the home field advantage for the Warriors. The odds of this are astronomical! Determining whether a coin will land as heads or tails takes a bit of skill and a little luck. Tonight we had a 6 mph wind out of the east with a coin rotation of 2.5 flips per second with a hard infield which resulted in a projection of one more flip after the coin hits the ground. Tails it is!
WARRIORS: 9 runs, 10 hits, 2 errors, 6 left on base
WESTSIDE: 5 runs, 7 hits, 1 error, 9 left on base
Time of Game: 1 hour, 46 minutes
