The Warriors season ended on Monday night in a game that looked like an instant replay of the Oak Park game. Just like in the Oak Park game, the Warriors jumped out to an early lead in the first inning. Steve Sismelich singled to start the game and scored on an infield ground ball off the bat of Matt Carroll. Matt LeVigne was hit by pitch (his team leading 8th of the season). He stole second base and then scored on a single to centerfield by Cody Rutledge.
The Warriors would not score again for the rest of the night. The team recorded just two hits over the next four innings--a single by Patrick O'Connor and a single by Matt Carroll.
The Warriors pitching staff had trouble retiring any of the Pilsen hitters. In the Oak Park game, the Warriors made three pitching changes while Oak Park scored 11 runs after two outs. This time, Pilsen scored 13 runs in the first inning and 9 of those runs scored after two outs. In this Pilsen game, the Warriors used three pitchers in the first inning and five pitchers in the first four innings of play!
The Warriors committed a couple of field errors in the game. But, Pilsen pounded out 13 hits in four innings in addition to drawing 8 walks. Allowing 21 baserunners in four innings won't get the job done in very many games.
Obviously, the last two games were one-sided games in which the Warriors were not competitive. But, there is a fine line between losing very big and winning games for this team. With a few relatively minor pitching adjustments, I believe that the Warriors could get back on track in a few games. Unfortunately, the season is now over and we've run out of time. Hopefully, everyone will remember this season as a whole and not focus on how the last two games were played.
2011 Chicagoland Tournament Champions & 2011 Lombard Tournament Champions!
