Border Wars Championship: Canes 8, Mid-Atlantic Orioles 0

The Canes finished Border Wars in style, as Drew (four innings) and Asher (one inning) teamed up on a no-hitter in an 8-0 win over the Mid-Atlantic Orioles. The O's had just one baserunner in the game, and he was stranded at second. The defense backed the pitching by playing an error-free title game, meaning the Canes made just one error over the team's final 13 defensive innings. As Jake said of the Border Wars win, "Welcome to North Carolina."

The pitching and defense meant the Canes' five-run first inning was plenty of offense. For the weekend, Evoshield outscored six opponents 75-14, meaning they scored almost as many runs in the first inning of Sunday's first game (12) as opponents scored in all six games combined (14).

This tourney championship was yet another total team effort. Six different players hit homers during the weekend and ten different players pitched. Of the team's 24 offensive innings in the tournament, the Canes scored at least one run in 20 of those frames.

Coach Sean generously gave the team Mother's Day weekend off, but only because there were no tournaments available in towns that have a Cook-Out.

Note the impressive shadow puppet work by Coach Matt on Coach Sean's back during team picture organization (if you thought Coach Matt was delirious from too much baseball when he was shouting, "Look at the dog!" this is what he meant):

And here's a slightly squinty championship team photo:

Championship Canes scoring plays

First inning

Jake reached on an errant pitch, went to third on an error, and scored on Gavin's sacrifice fly. Drew walked and went to second on an error. Chace reached on a fielder's choice. Colin singled. Drew scored on a wild pitch. Bryce drove in a pair with a single, then took second on the throw. JT drove in Bryce with a single.
Score after one inning: Canes 5, Orioles 0

Second inning
Jake worked a one-out walk and calmly stood at first base with a small lead. Just kidding, he stole second. Gavin singled. Jake scored on an error. Gavin stole second and went to third on an error. A wild pitch scored him.
Score after two innings: Canes 7, Orioles 0

Fourth inning
Jake bunted a homer. No really, he did (well, close enough).
Score after four innings: Canes 8, Orioles 0

Pitching Performances

Drew was dominant in four innings of work, allowing just one baserunner.

Asher finished it with a 1-2-3 fifth.

Dugout wisdom
Isn't selfie-taking supposed to be sort of a standard skill for every 12- (and 13, sorry Elias) year old in America? It seems to be pretty difficult for this group. Luckily, Gabby was on hand and able to step in to pinch-hit with her highly advanced selfie skills:

Had to bring in pinch-selfie taker @gabby_loca for the championship selfie after going 6-0 and winning @tcsports Border Wars. #thecanes #evofam #scaryspeeches

A post shared by Canes-Gallaher (@canesgallaher) on May 7, 2017 at 4:48pm PDT

Championship Web Gems

• Colin made a leaping catch of a liner in the first.
• The ball did not leave the infield for the final ten outs of the game. Only one of the game's 15 total outs was made outside of the infield.

Championship line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Orioles	0	0	0	0	0	X	0	0
Canes	5	2	0	1	X	X	8	7