Oct 02, 2020 | Heather Monden | 899 views
WINNING STREAK!
The Larry Hudson Chevrolet Buick GMC 21U Astros is on a winning streak! 7 games out of their short 8-game COVID-19 season are complete and over fifty percent of these games resulted in one-run scores, generating a ton of excitement for their fans.
Game 1 ended in an 8-8 tie against the Mitchell Seniors. Trevor DIXON hit an out of the park 3 run home run off of veteran player Rick BOON scoring Zach DOW and Jackson MACARTHUR.
Game 2 the boys had a game fraught with errors. Despite pulling off 3 double plays they still surrendered to the Mitchell Seniors 14-5.
Game 3 went into extra innings after Riley SYKES made a diving catch at 3rd to get the final out at the bottom of the ninth. The Seniors got one more run before us, however, and we lost in the tenth inning 8-7. Eric GETTLER struck out 14 batters.
Game 4 the boys travelled to London to play the Lakeside Lizard’s Senior team where they had their first pickle resulting in Ethan REID and Jake MONDEN getting the out between 2nd and 3rd. Ryan HARMER fired a throw from deep centerfield to first base beating the runner by several steps to easily get the out. Unfortunately, the fifth inning was a disaster and the juniors were mercied by the seventh.
Game 5 was another away game in London with the Lizards. BP is finally starting to pay off as their bats start to come to life during the next few games. GETTLER got a triple and a double. 1st baseman DOW and 2nd baseman Curt EIDT tagged the runner out in their second pickle of the season. SYKES demonstrated his cat-like reflexes with another diving catch at 1st base. This was a much better game, but we were still defeated 10-9.
Game 6 the Astros had the homefield advantage over the Lizards and they finally came out on top with a 9-8 walk-off win! WALKER hit a double. The team’s third pickle went down as REID chased the runner back from 3rd, threw the ball to 2nd baseman MACARTHUR who made the tag and got the out. Clayton RAPIEN nearly barehanded a flyball in right field. This is not the recommended approach, but how cool would that have been if he had made the play. WALKER hit a cannon driving home HARMER and GETTLER for the win. SYKES closed the game earning the title of game winning pitcher.
Game 7 ended the same way as game 6 with a 6-5 walk-off win against the Lizards. WALKER made an impressive diving catch in left field to get the 3rd out in the first inning. MONDEN hit a humungous triple in the fifth inning. Stephen BIRD made a double play in the seventh after catching a pop fly at 3rd base and throwing the runner out at first to end the inning. The ninth inning started off strong with a 6-4-3 play by MONDEN, Pat MCISAAC, WALKER and the game ended with REID getting an RBI and scoring EIDT for the win! GETTLER was the game winning pitcher this time.
Nick LOUWAGIE has played 7 solid games behind home plate. The only time he wasn’t catching was when he was pitching. His throw from his knees can beat the runner to the bag every time and he rarely allows a passed ball.
Now that our season is almost over, I would like to thank the following for making it a success: our sponsor Larry Hudson Chevrolet Buick GMC for purchasing our jerseys,
Bruce Furtney and Jeff McGregor for umping our games (this was no easy feat as there was only one ump per game and he had to stand behind the pitcher to call the balls and strikes and attempt to make good judgements along the foul lines),
Nick Chessell and Kevin Gettler for coming to practices and throwing BP,
the Mitchell Seniors and Lakeside Lizards Seniors for agreeing to play with us,
our fans, and
of course, my 14 boys (young men) who committed their time to coming to practices (some were better at this than others) and games despite the fact that we had no tournaments or play-offs at the end of the season. As always, we had a lot of great chats and a whole lot of fun!
Game 8 is scheduled for Sunday, October 2 vs the Mitchell Seniors. Look out boys, if you haven’t heard, we’re on a winning streak!