Battle for the Bats championship: Canes 12, Kernersville Bulldogs 4

The Canes claimed a second straight tournament title with a 12-4 win over the Kernersville Bulldogs in the Battle of the Bats championship in Dunn. 

The game was shortened to five innings by the run rule, but was perhaps the best game of the weekend, as it was tied 2-2 after one inning. The Canes took a 3-2 lead after the second, only to see the Bulldogs tie it up in the top of the third. But that's when the Evoshield offense exploded, outscoring Kernersville 9-1 the rest of the way.

One of the keys to the game, in addition to the powerful hitting, clutch pitching and incredible defense, was the timely use of "expelliarmus" by Ben. How do you prefer your expelliarmus? Do you like it close up, in the dugout?

Or far away and artsy? (I was never exactly clear on why Ben moved over by the batting cage, but it seemed like it worked)

After a lengthy awards ceremony put on by the host facility, the Canes departed Dunn for what could be the last time. Please dry your eyes. 

This is why they invented the phrase "to the victor goes the spoils:"

Championship Canes scoring plays

First inning

Drew drew (see what I did there?) a two-out walk and scored on Chace's double. Chace went to third on a throwing error and scored on Andrew's single.

Score after one inning: Canes 2, Bulldogs 2

Second inning

Ashton singled and motored to second on a wild pitch. He scored on Colin's single.

Score after two innings: Canes 3, Bulldogs 2

Third inning
Asher hit a one-out single and went to second on a wild pitch. Another wild pitch moved him to third, and he scored on Gavin's triple. Drew made it back-to-back skillets with another RBI triple. Chace lined an RBI single. Andrew singled. Ashton singled home Chace. JT dropped it into right, scoring Andrew.
Score after three innings: Canes 8, Bulldogs 3

Fourth inning
Bryce coaxed a one-out walk and went to second on a wild pitch. Asher singled. Bryce and Asher worked the first and third play to perfection, scoring Bryce.
Score after four innings: Canes 9, Bulldogs 3

Fifth inning
Drew walked and stole second, then scored on Chace's double. Chace scored third. Andrew scored him with a fielder's choice. Brady walked, went to second on a wild pitch, went to third on Colin's single, and scored the game-winner on Eli's single.
Score after five innings: Canes 12, Bulldogs 4

Pitching Performances

Drew started and worked three tough innings, including getting four straight outs via strikeout at one point through the second and third.

Chace closed it out with two solid innings of relief and retired the final three hitters he faced.

Dugout wisdom
The bases in Dunn were not exactly what might be called "anchored to the ground." They weren't quite pop-up bases...more like flyaway bases. In the third, when Asher went trucking into second and uprooted another base, he then had to do more groundskeeping to put the base in the ground. Bryce immediately broke into the Bob the Builder song, finishing with an emphatic, "YES HE CAN!" Elias then turned into a poet as he watched Asher scoop the dirt, observing, "If you spill it, fill it, and if you drop it, mop it." Not exactly sure what other context he has heard that phrase in, and not sure if I want to know.

In the bottom of the third, the Canes scored five runs. Immediately after that inning was over, the home plate umpire walked over. "What's the score?" he asked.

"8-3," he was told. Keep in mind that five of those runs had just scored for the Canes literally seconds before he asked the question.

"Do y'all have the eight?" he replied.

I thought it was very mature that I did not reply, "EVEN IN A WORLD THAT CONTAINS YOUR STRIKE ZONE HOW COULD WE HAVE THE THREE RUNS IF WE JUST SCORED FIVE?"

Instead, I simply said, "Yes, we have the eight."

Championship Web Gems

• JT continued his Day of Defense in the third. With a runner on third, he charged in to scoop up a grounder, then threw a bullet to Bryce at the plate to get the sliding runner.
• Three batters later, this time with runners on first and second, the Bulldogs made the unwise decision to test JT with a bunt. He sprinted it in and fired a rocket to Ashton at first to get the third out.
• Gavin went in the hole to field a tough grounder in the fifth, then made the long throw to first with Drew making the stretch to get the third out of the inning.

Championship line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Bulldogs	2	0	1	0	1	X	4	7
Canes	2	1	5	1	3	X	12	14