Top Gun Spring Nationals G1: Canes 17, RBI Raptors 12U 1

Get excited, people! It's time for actual good baseball featuring catches and throws and hits and not (all that) many errors! Maybe my bar has been lowered a little by events of the last month or two, but let's be serious for just a very brief second and show all the chips we have in our pocket: sometimes we forget how good these kids are at baseball. As in, they are ridiculously good, and the "normal" things we just expect them to do are not at all normal for 11-year-olds.

OK, now back to expecting them to do absurd things on a regular basis. Such as beating the 12U Raptors 17-1 in three innings in the first game of the Top Gun Spring Nationals. The Canes pounded out 17 hits and a combination of three pitchers allowed just two hits. It was freezing cold and really early and the wind was blowing and all in all, it was really great.

I promise I'll be back to normal soon. Probably not today, though.

Game 1 Canes scoring plays

First inning

Jake singled and stole second. A wild pitch moved him to third. Gavin was hit by a pitch and stole second. Drew singled home both runners. Chace's fielder's choice advanced Drew, who then scored on a wild pitch. Ashton walked and stole second, then a wild pitch put him on third. Andrew's fielder's choice scored Ashton. JT lined a double and stole third. Ben walked and stole second. Colin cracked a two-run double. Bryce walked and stole second. Jake blasted a two-run double. Gavin reached on an error that scored Jake. A balk moved Gavin to second, and then a wild pitch put him on third. Drew walked. Chace hit an RBI single.  

Score after one-half inning: Canes 10, RBI 0

Second inning

Andrew reached through the right side and stole second. JT singled him home, then stole second. Ben singled in JT, then stole second. Bryce lined a one-out RBI single. Asher's single put runners at the corners. Gavin's fielder's choice scored Bryce. Brady's fielder's choice scored Asher. 

Score after one and a half innings: Canes 15, RBI 0

Third inning
Ashton walked and took second on a fielder's choice. A wild pitch put him on third, and JT drove him in with a fielder's choice. Ben singled. Colin's grounder scored JT.
Score after two and a half innings: Canes 17, RBI 1

Pitching Performances

Drew fired a strong first.

Ben mowed them down in the second.

Asher hurled a scoreless third.

Dugout wisdom
This is not really dugout wisdom. It's actually on-field wisdom. OK, maybe "wisdom" is stretching it. Coach Sean was temporarily hit by a lightning bolt and deployed a third-inning infield that consisted of Brady at second and Gavin at first. So that duo was standing out there on the right side of the infield, and Brady was overheard saying, "Do you know what I do on this play?" with Gavin answering, "No, do you know what I do?" 

Game 1 Web Gems

• JT pounced on a slow grounder to third in the second, then threw a rocket across the diamond to retire the hitter.
• Ben deflected a ball back through the middle in the second, watched it ricochet to Gavin, who made a quick change of direction and fired to Chace, who scooped it out of the dirt to retire the side.
• On a grounder to second with a man on first, Brady fielded it and flipped to Chace for the force. Did you hear what I said? That's right--Brady was playing second. All those infield drills paid off.
• Against the last hitter of the day, Asher made some kind of weird kick save of a ball back through the middle, bounced it off his head, and then threw to Gavin (!) at first for the out.

Game 1 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Canes	10	5	2	X	X	X	17	12
RBI	1	0	0	X	X	X	1	2