FORT RUCKER, Ala. -- It was a battle of the bats for two Fort Rucker youth baseball teams May 24 as the Cardinals downed the Blue Jays, 10-8, in the 9-10 year old age group.
Things didn’t start off so well for the Jays as the Cardinals’ bats went to work immediately, mostly on the strength of big plays from James Brown, Cardinals first baseman, and Jarod Hill, Cardinals second baseman.
Brown kicked things off by getting a base hit that brought in one runner. Hill followed up after Brown successfully stole two bases with a double that knocked in two more runs.
However, the Blue Jays weren’t out of the game just yet.
Bradley Moore, Blue Jays pitcher, attempted to rally his team back by getting a solid, lead-off hit that seemed to rattle the Cardinal defense a little.
Joey Breslin, Jays catcher, wasn’t far behind after getting a hit that allowed Moore to get to third base.
The Jays managed to get two runs in the first inning, but the strength of Jayden Weiss, Cardinals pitcher, proved to be too much for the rest of the batters. He struck out two in a row and, with an assist, finished out the inning with a short toss to first for the out.
The Blue Jays turned things up a notch in the second inning, holding the Cardinals scoreless in the team’s next at-bat. Then, it was time to start swinging again.
Moore came back to the plate and attempted a rally again with an infield homerun. The one-two combination of Brown and Weiss attempted to cool off the Jays rally, but the team managed one more run before the inning closed. The Cardinals maintained a lead of 6-4.
After leading the defense in a strong showing, Weiss decided to try and lead his team’s offensive strategy as well. After two walks, he stepped to the plate and sent a fly ball to deep center field, resulting in an infield homerun.
The Cardinals continued to dominate at the plate, but found themselves in trouble when trying to steal home. Moore and Breslin were able to catch several Cardinal players attempting to steal home, but their luck eventually ran out.
The Blue Jays managed one more run before the close of the inning, bringing the score to 10-5.
In the final inning, the Blue Jays managed to shut the Cardinals down completely, giving up only one walk and then putting the rest of the batters out at the plate.
After two batters were walked, Moore came back to the plate and attempted to do what he tried earlier with similar results. Another infield homerun combined with two RBIs brought the score to 10-8. While it looked like the rally might take hold this time, Weiss dug down and managed to pull off two key strikeouts that sealed the win for the Cardinals.
Don Fontaine, Blue Jays coach, said his team has greatly improved since the beginning of the season, but it still has a lot of work to do in the coming days.
“We don’t have a lot of defensive experience on the field,” he said. “They’ve gotten so much better since the first day. We learn in every game. We’re going to work on defense, going forward. Our bats were working and I hope to see that consistently in the coming games.”
Eric Galvan, Cardinals coach, said he was proud of the win, but knows his team still has some work to do on its stamina.
“We do a lot of batting drills during practice, so that has really helped the players keep their eyes on the ball,” he said. “At this level, the kids aren’t used to playing such a long game. They started to lose focus at the end and that slowed us down a bit. We’re going to work on batting and outfield drills a lot in practice. We’ve got to start working on getting those fly balls. They did great tonight and we’re going to keep working on the things we did right.”
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