JUNIOR MINORS LOWER
Dodgers v. White Sox
After some heroic grounds-keeping to remove a couple of lakes from the field, the epic battle of the Dodgers v. the White Sox could begin early in the morning on the Battery Park City north field.
In the bottom half of the first inning, with the score still tied at zero, Graham Stuard snagged a ground ball in right field and threw it to Rylie Spiegel at second. Spiegel tagged the base before Russell Goldmeer could get down the baseline, taking Spiegel out in his rush to the base, but she came up smiling, ball in hand, for the out.
The score was still 0-0 in the bottom of the second when the White Sox bats came alive. Luca Biro started the inning off with a one-out triple and was driven home on a base hit by Paul Stukas. Paul scored home on Ryan Vig’s blast. Further base hits by Michael Cheeseman, Russell Goldmeer, and Jack Beaumont brought Vig home with a third White Sox run.
It stayed that way until the Dodgers attack began in the fourth and fifth innings, with every player on hand producing hits. Ryan Marrus, Lucinda Delaney, Rylie Spiegel, Mack Hallett, Declan Rexer and Alexi Judge all scored, bring the total at the end of the fifth inning to 8-4. Graham Stuard and Will Bompey also had a hit and an RBI each.
The White Sox bats, usually so reliable, were silenced by an awesome Dodgers defense. Both Mack Hallett and Ryan Marrus had unassisted double plays. In the fourth, Mack caught a pop-up at the pitcher’s mound and made the play to first as Jack Beaumont scrambled to get back to the base, ending the inning. Ryan Marrus snared a line drive off Paul Stukas’s bat – the first time Stukas had been retired at bat this season – and then beat Luca Biro back to first, for a game-ending double play.
Congratulations to the Dodgers on a fantastic performance, and to all the kids on what has been a remarkable season.
MINORS
Reds vs. Pirates
The Reds’ new mascot Prophet, a black Labrador retriever, made quite a difference in the dugout Tuesday, relaxing and entertaining the team. The Reds, having lost five successive games, also decided to take advantage of the 75 allowable pitches for Tyler Rohan. Rohan obliged by striking out his first Pirates’ batter looking. Rio Hope-Gund’s seeing-eye grounder to first base eluded the defender, scoring the Pirates’ first run. Elan Halpern smashed one to centerfield, scoring runs two and three. She stole second and third during Hudson Kussie’s at-bat, but was stranded there as Rohan got a strikeout.
Down 3-0, the Reds listened to the Prophet and started swinging. Douglass Stapler’s infield fly brought him to first. Ben Steinberg drove him in with a powerful punch to left field, but Halpern’s throw to second base was dead-on.
Rohan struck out the side in the top of inning two with only ten pitches. Rio Hope-Gund (on the mound) returned the favor for the Pirates, shutting out the Reds. Oliver Brown had an awesome single and stole second, and Jonah Frere-Holmes’s hit moved him to third. Iliana Memmo’s walk loaded the bases, but Rio stranded all three runners.
In the top of the third, Rohan began working his magic again with another scoreless inning for the Pirates. In the bottom of the inning, Stapler’s tattoo to left center brought both runs in and added another triple to his stats. Rohan mimicked him with his own bomb to left-center, bringing in Stapler with an R.B.I. double. Best’s hard grounder gave him an R.B.I. single. Tyler Adams drove home Best with a ferocious double to left, and since that made for a five run inning.
In the top of the fourth, down 6-3, the Pirates struggled some more as Marable caught Kofi Hope-Gund’s sizzler at short. Stapler’s single brought in two, ending the inning in a mercy rule and bringing the score to 12-3.
Stapler came in to relieve Rohan for the Pirates’ last inning at bat, saving the game in a 1-2-3 inning. It was the Reds’ first victory since May 9th.
