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9u Team Battles in 10u Division

By Eddie Gomez, 04/19/18, 10:45AM PDT

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9u Weekend Recap

The 9u Lightning jumped up to the 10u AA division this past weekend with the idea that facing bigger, faster, stronger opponents will help develop their own game. After playing extremely well in their last few tournaments, the team was scratching for a new challenge. As expected, they faced much stiffer competition and raised their level of play was well.

Day 1:
Cash C got on the bump for game 1 for the Bolts and threw a real gem. He retired his first six batters in order and set the tone for team heading into the weekend. He did a masterful job locating his pitches and mixing speeds to get and stay ahead of hitters. Up 10-0 with two outs, he walked the 11-hole hitter to load the bases. The ensuing hitter laced a three run triple to clear the bases. Brayden L came into the game and shut down the opposing team and got LVBA out of a big jam. The bats came out and shined putting a lot of pressure on Hard Core Baseball. Ethan S and Cash C both got two hits and scored two runs respectively. Game one final: 10-4.

The following game against CBA was an extremely high energy game. Malachi A pitched a solid game giving our defense plenty of opportunities to make plays. Exceptional defensive plays from Logan G and Cameron G kept the Bolts hanging around. Santiago W provided 2 hits. The Bolts fought hard to hang around but CBA’s offense was just too much at the end of the day. Timely hits and hard hit balls forced the Bolts to make a few costly errors allowing the game to slip away. The bolts ended up losing 11-6.

Day 2:
Fortunately for LVBA, they did enough offensively and defensively to place themselves as the 4 seed in a 9 team tournament and launch themselves into the ‘gold’ bracket for playoffs. Matthew M and Sawyer V did a phenomenal job on the bump putting their team in opportunities to succeed. Up 3-0 until the fourth inning, diving plays from Brayden L kept the lead intact. Trevor H also threw out a base runner on a successful pitch out helping the defense slow down the oppositions running game. JD N drew two walks and put a ton of pressure on the base paths for the Bolts. The LVBA defense made too many errors late in the game and gave the Aces a chance to take the lead. Down 8-4 in the bottom of the 6th, the Bolts showed their grit and ability to claw back into a game by putting up a 4 spot to tie. Walks and errors allowed the Aces to take the lead again. The Lightning ended up losing 11-8.

The 9u Lightning showed their ability to compete against higher level competition. They will continue to try and improve in all areas of the game as they prepare for their next tournament. 1-2 isn’t their usual result for a tournament weekend, but there were a lot to learn from these games.