Miraculously the Riverheads Gladiators finished their three-games-in-three-days marathon without any major interference from the weather, although some afternoon showers did delay today's finale at Stuarts Draft by half an hour or so. And what a finale it was as the teams went back and forth for the full seven innings until the game ended rather abruptly with a bases loaded hit batter in the bottom of the 7th with two outs, giving the Cougars a tense 4-3 win. Ironically that was the only HBP for either team in the game, whereas in some other contests this year, that stat has been in the double digits.
With the SD win and a stunning 15-2 Fort Defiance win at Wilson, which I have trouble wrapping my head around, it appears that the district race will finish with as many as four teams tied for first. But I am not going to guarantee that because there is some discrepancy different places about who has what record. Speaking of discrepancy, one place I even read about so and so playing so and so next in the "first game of the district tournament," but to the best of my knowledge, there IS no district tournament and the teams will simply get ready for regionals next week in their various classifications. I guess all we can do is stay tuned and each one of us can go wherever our teams tell us to go.
OK back to the subject of tonight's donnybrook. The Gladiators got off to a good start as they tinkered with the batting order and it paid off immediate dividends when the second batter Ryan Farris smacked one to deep right center that he was easily able to stretch into a triple. That brought to the plate Aidan Miller as the number three hitter tonight whereas he is normally the Big Red's lead-off man. He brought Farris home with a deep shot of his own to left field that went all the way to the fence just inside the foul pole. Confident in his own speed, he tried to match Farris' three bases but was nailed on the attempt. Nevertheless the Gladiators took a 1-0 lead.
SD then did its major damage in the bottom of the second when they plated three runs, helped along by a pair of Riverheads errors. With Cougars on first and second, Gladiator third baseman Landon Lightner fielded a grounder and fired it over to first, but his throw was far too high and far too wide and by the time the first baseman caught up to it, the two guys on base had scored and the one who might have been out was standing safe at third. He too came in to score on yet another bobble as the home team led 3-1 after two.
The next two innings were all about missed opportunities and dodged bullets, but no further scoring. In a nutshell, SD had chances in both the third and fourth to put some distance between them and the Big Red but the Pride weaseled out of those jams. Meanwhile on offense the Gladiators could not get the key hit they needed to get back in the game or take the lead, and had to settle for scratching across single runs in the fifth and the seventh to tie things up at 3-3 and set the stage for the big finish.
Not sure who was the starting pitcher for the Draft but Colton Kwiecinski got the honors for Riverheads and each did a credible job, lasting at least into the fifth, maybe even the sixth, before relievers took over. The aforementioned Mr. Miller took the mound for RHS in the 7th and had the Cougars down to their final out but with runners on second and third. So the Gladiators did what most teams would do and intentionally walked the next batter so as to set up a force at any base. But it was all over when Miller plunked the next batter on the very first pitch, setting off a Cougar celebration. As I mentioned earlier, the Cougars may or may not be one of those teams tied at the top of the standings, whereas today's loss drops Riverheads to 4-6 in district play, although four of those losses came in the late innings by either one or two runs.
I have not studied the Class 1, Region B rankings but I don't have any reason to think that this week's three season-ending losses will knock the Gladiators out of the playoff picture. So assuming they are in action next week, I have no doubt that Coach Painter will give it his best shot. Even if the Gladiators fail to advance very far this season, the future looks bright because they only lose two seniors and I understand that the JV's have had a good year.
Then as mentioned in my last post, I am sure every fan in the county is looking forward to some normalcy returning to the sports scene come late August.
With the SD win and a stunning 15-2 Fort Defiance win at Wilson, which I have trouble wrapping my head around, it appears that the district race will finish with as many as four teams tied for first. But I am not going to guarantee that because there is some discrepancy different places about who has what record. Speaking of discrepancy, one place I even read about so and so playing so and so next in the "first game of the district tournament," but to the best of my knowledge, there IS no district tournament and the teams will simply get ready for regionals next week in their various classifications. I guess all we can do is stay tuned and each one of us can go wherever our teams tell us to go.
OK back to the subject of tonight's donnybrook. The Gladiators got off to a good start as they tinkered with the batting order and it paid off immediate dividends when the second batter Ryan Farris smacked one to deep right center that he was easily able to stretch into a triple. That brought to the plate Aidan Miller as the number three hitter tonight whereas he is normally the Big Red's lead-off man. He brought Farris home with a deep shot of his own to left field that went all the way to the fence just inside the foul pole. Confident in his own speed, he tried to match Farris' three bases but was nailed on the attempt. Nevertheless the Gladiators took a 1-0 lead.
SD then did its major damage in the bottom of the second when they plated three runs, helped along by a pair of Riverheads errors. With Cougars on first and second, Gladiator third baseman Landon Lightner fielded a grounder and fired it over to first, but his throw was far too high and far too wide and by the time the first baseman caught up to it, the two guys on base had scored and the one who might have been out was standing safe at third. He too came in to score on yet another bobble as the home team led 3-1 after two.
The next two innings were all about missed opportunities and dodged bullets, but no further scoring. In a nutshell, SD had chances in both the third and fourth to put some distance between them and the Big Red but the Pride weaseled out of those jams. Meanwhile on offense the Gladiators could not get the key hit they needed to get back in the game or take the lead, and had to settle for scratching across single runs in the fifth and the seventh to tie things up at 3-3 and set the stage for the big finish.
Not sure who was the starting pitcher for the Draft but Colton Kwiecinski got the honors for Riverheads and each did a credible job, lasting at least into the fifth, maybe even the sixth, before relievers took over. The aforementioned Mr. Miller took the mound for RHS in the 7th and had the Cougars down to their final out but with runners on second and third. So the Gladiators did what most teams would do and intentionally walked the next batter so as to set up a force at any base. But it was all over when Miller plunked the next batter on the very first pitch, setting off a Cougar celebration. As I mentioned earlier, the Cougars may or may not be one of those teams tied at the top of the standings, whereas today's loss drops Riverheads to 4-6 in district play, although four of those losses came in the late innings by either one or two runs.
I have not studied the Class 1, Region B rankings but I don't have any reason to think that this week's three season-ending losses will knock the Gladiators out of the playoff picture. So assuming they are in action next week, I have no doubt that Coach Painter will give it his best shot. Even if the Gladiators fail to advance very far this season, the future looks bright because they only lose two seniors and I understand that the JV's have had a good year.
Then as mentioned in my last post, I am sure every fan in the county is looking forward to some normalcy returning to the sports scene come late August.
