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The Warriors had little success against Westdale's starting pitcher--failing to score through three innings. The Warriors had just one hit in the first three innings--a triple off the bat of Trent Sichelski. In the meantime, Westdale started pulling away in this one by scoring a run in the first inning, two in the second inning and three in the third inning to capture a 6-0 lead.
The Warriors have faced very little adversity so far this season. And, in the bottom of the third inning the defense did not handle adversity well. After a series of consecutive hits by Westdale, the Warriors started throwing the ball around the park. Finally, Cody Rutledge ended the misery by retiring two hitters (one at home plate) and kept the Warriors in the contest.
The Warriors finally started getting to Westdale's starting pitcher in his fourth inning of work. Jason Enguita singled to rightfield to drive in two runs for the Warriors to make the score 6-2 in favor of Westdale. However, the Warriors left two runners stranded in scoring position as the inning ended on a strikeout and a fly out to centerfield.
Cody Rutledge retired Westdale in order in the fourth inning. Due to the four inning pitching limitation in the tournament, Westdale was then forced to go to its first relief pitcher in the top of the fifth. The Warriors pounded out five hits and six runs in the inning. Steve Sismelich drove in two runs with a single to center and Tyler Dempsey also singled to center to score two more runs. By the time the inning ended, the Warriors held a two run lead.
Westdale closed the gap to one run by scoring in the bottom of the frame. Once again, the Warriors paid the price for a walk early in the inning. This time, the walk was followed by catcher's interference. With two runners on base, Westdale singled to rightfield to score a run. However, the tying run was retired at home plate when Rick Sisco fielded a wild pitch off the backstop and beat the runner to the plate on a collision play.
The Warriors failed to add to its one run lead when the inning ended on a play at the plate. The Warriors' runner was unable to score from second base on a single to rightfield. Cody Rutledge retired Westdale quickly in the bottom of the frame--striking out two to end the inning.
The Warriors added two important insurance runs in the top of the seventh, and final, inning. Rick Sisco led off the inning with a triple to deep rightfield. Rick reached base and scored during all three of his plate appearances in this game! Steve Sismelich then drove Rick home with a hard grounder to the shortstop. Matt Carroll reached on an infield error and scored on Tyler Dempsey's doubled to centerfield. The inning ended as Tyler was retired attempting to steal third base with two strikes on the hitter.
Tyler Dempsey entered the game in relief to close the game for the Warriors. After retiring the first two hitters, an infield error brought the tying run to the plate. Westdale's #3 hitter then singled to centerfield to bring the winning run to the plate. The game ended when the clean-up hitter flew out to Matt Carroll in leftfield.
The Warriors made more mistakes in this game than in the previous three pool play games combined. The good news was that the team was able to "win ugly" and advance to the championship where it is likely the team's play will improve.
