Day #1 in Greensboro

West Raleigh 8U Blue ventured west to play new teams rather than entering tournaments with teams we've played against in the past.

Something new. Something different.

There were six teams entered in this tournament through the Nations organization, which ended up being a coach pitch tournament. However, at least two teams (West Raleigh included) chose to go machine pitch. Using the machine is more challenging, but Districts and States are machine pitch. Since the tournament was changed to coach pitch, all teams entered had to follow the coach pitch rules (i.e.-no bunting allowed) even if our team used the machine. Confused yet? ;-) No worries! The good thing about our coaches and parents is that we agree to try new leagues, new tournaments and play with different rules each time!

We played the first game at 11:30am against Kernersville. We won 12-11 and the game was called due to time.

Here were some outs that were made...

1st inning:
Isaac (right centerfield) to Kaden (shortstop) at second base for out #1
Kaden (shortstop) to Lawson (second) for out #2
Lawson had an unassisted play at second for the last out

2nd inning:
Kaden (shortstop) to Logan (second) for out #1
Chris (third) to Logan (second) for out #2
Mike caught an infield fly ball at pitcher to end the inning

3rd inning:
A 1-2-3 inning...
Ian with an unassisted play at first base
Kaden (shortstop) to Ian (first)
Logan caught an incredible fly ball at leftfield

4th inning:
Lawson had an unassisted play at second for an out
Charley caught a fly ball at leftfield for an out

5th inning:
Lawson had an unassisted play at second and then turned to Ian (first) for a double play
Kaden (shortstop) to Ian (first) for the last out

Some highlights on our offense...

--Chris had a double and 2 RBI in the 2nd and then hit a single with 1 RBI to end the game (it was actually 2, but just 1 counted due to rules)

--Isaac had a double and then a single with 2 RBI

Then, we played Yak Baseball from High Point and lost 11-3. Here's how we made some defensive plays...

1st inning:
Lawson caught a fly ball at second for the first out
Kaden (shortstop) to Luke (third) for an out

2nd inning:
Lawson (second) to Luke (first) for out #1
Mike (pitcher) to Luke (first) for out #2
Charley caught a fly ball at third for the last out

3rd inning:
A double play was made...the ball was hit to Lukas (third)...he threw the ball to Ian (first) for an out, then Ian threw the ball back to Lukas because the runner on second was running to third. Nice!
Mike (second) to Ian (first) for the last out

4th inning:
Luke (third) to Logan (second) for out #1
Kaden (shortstop) to Logan (second) for out #2
Then...Charley (rightfield) to Chris (first) to Luke (third) to Ben (catcher) to Luke (third) to Ben (catcher) and then Ben tagged the runner on his back to end the inning! What a pickle!

5th inning:
Lawson caught a fly ball at second
Kaden (shortstop) to Jackson (third) for out #2

6th inning:
Ian caught a fly ball at first for out #1
Kaden (shortstop) had an unassisted play at second for out #2
Ian had an unassisted play at first for the last out

A few highlights from our offense...

--Isaac had a nice double in the 5th

--Luke had a great triple in the 3rd

Next up for the team is day 2 at the tournament. A different field in Greensboro. Our first game is at 2pm!

ROLL BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!