Border Wars Quarterfinal: Rock Solid Red 13, Canes 11

In a game that was almost the reverse of the day's opener, the Canes handily outhit Rock Solid Red, 12-8, but still failed to come out on top in the most important category, losing 13-11.

This time, it was free bases issued by the Canes that bit them, as they handed out eight walks, hit three batters and committed three errors. Of the 13 runners that crossed the plate for Rock Solid, only four of them originally reached base via a hit.

Despite the miscues, the offense kept chipping away, and eventually put the tying runs on base in the bottom of the sixth. The time limit ran out before the seventh and final inning could be played.

No champion was crowned in the 13U division, as rain washed out the subsequent semifinal. The Canes are off next weekend.

Quarterfinal Canes scoring plays

First inning
Jake lined a double, tagged and went to third on Gavin's fly ball to right, and scored on Chace's single. Drew walked. Wes' fly ball moved Chace to third, where he scored on a wild pitch.
Score after one inning: Canes 2, RSR 0

Third inning
Jake, Gavin and Chace singled. Drew's sac line drive drove in Jake. Wes was hit by a pitch. Eli's two-strike single scored a pair.
Score after three innings: Canes 5, RSR 2

Fourth inning
Andrew singled and scored on Gavin's double.
Score after four innings: RSR 10, Canes 6

Fifth inning
Drew doubled and Chace singled. Eli's sacrifice fly scored Drew.
Score after five innings: RSR 10, Canes 7

Sixth inning
Jake reached on a line drive to left. Gavin doubled. Chace walked. Drew walked, scoring Jake. Wes' grounder to short wasn't handled, scoring Gavin. Another sac fly from Eli scored Chace. Ty singled home Drew.
Score after six innings: RSR 13, Canes 11

Pitching Performances

Bennett started and didn't give up a hit as he worked into the fourth.

Drew threw two and a third innings of good relief, and then Asher and Ty got the final two outs.

Dugout wisdom
During the half-hour break between games, Coach Sean was telling a few players about how as a kid, he used to have to pick out the belt for his father on the very rare occasions that Coach Sean broke the rules. This was shortly before Coach Sean would walk uphill both ways to school. I mentioned that my dad used to talk about how he had to pick out his own switch. Asher's eyes got wide. "Like a switchblade?" he said. Yes, they were very tough on the mean streets of Garner.

Quarterfinal Web Gems

• Against the first batter of the game, Gavin charged a slow grounder and made a quick running throw while Chace dug out the toss to retire the speedy leadoff batter.
• Chace showed good range well into foul territory to haul in a pop fly in the third.
• Wes backpedaled to make a good play on a fly ball into shallow center in the fourth.
• Elias somehow came up with a sinking liner in center for the second out of the fifth. 

Quarterfinal line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H
Rock Solid Red	0	0	2	8	0	3	X	13	8
Canes	2	0	3	1	1	4	X	11	12