Clemmons Super Regional Game 2: WR 7U 11, Elon Lil' Phoenix 10

Due to Coach Sean being the worst coin-flipper of all time, WR was yet again the visitor. Of course, Coach Sean manages to deflect the attention for his heads-and-tails failings by announcing his loss this way: "Guess what? We get to hit first!!" This is followed by wild screaming and high fives. Whatever works. In Saturday's Game 2 of the Clemmons Super Regional, WR 7U waited until the top of the sixth to really get the bats rolling, but that was enough to pull out a come-from-behind 11-10 win.

Each side scored three runs in the first, but then Elon added four more in the second. It stayed that way into the middle innings, as the West Raleigh defense tightened up and turned in several highlight-reel plays. In fact, Elon advanced just one runner as far as third base in the third, fourth and fifth. "Playing good defense got us back in the game," Coach Sean told the team. "You battled back and got back into it, and that's how we were able to come back."

The solid defense gave the Blue offense time to awaken. They came to life in the fourth, plating a single run, and then adding two more in the fifth. That set the stage for a five-run sixth, and after trailing for nine of the past 10 innings against a pair of teams loaded with eight-year-olds, 7U had the lead.

As it turned out, every single one of those runs was important. Elon mounted a furious rally in the bottom of the sixth and after scoring three runs, had the bases loaded with two outs. That meant the tying run was on third and the winning run was on second, but Joey smoothly fielded a grounder to second and flipped to Gavin at shortstop to retire the side, end the game, and cap a tremendous comeback.

The team hotel has a pool, so man the lifeboats and batten down the hatches. Coach Sean was so pleased with the win that he announced the team would have an incredibly late curfew of 7:30 p.m. tonight. The players seemed to think they would want to stay up much later than that, and I would have to agree withzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Oh, sorry. 7U Blue is back on the field tomorrow morning at 11 a.m., which means pregame begins at 10. Game time for the second game will be determined by the outcome of the first game. The full bracket can be found here.

Game 2 West Raleigh 7U scoring plays
First inning
The Blue offense against started hot. Chace's one-out double to right drove in Gavin, and then Jake's hard shot up the middle scored Chace. Joey dropped a clean hit into left-center, and Chace's aggressive baserunning allowed him to score the third run of the frame.
Score after one-half inning: WR 7U 3, Elon 0


Fifth inning
In what turned out to be a stage-setting rally, the bottom of the 7U order created a pair of runs. Bryce led off with an unplayable ground ball to third, then moved to second on Timmy's single. With one out, Alex singled to left, loading the bases for Asher. His fielder's choice scored Bryce, and then Trey's single scored Timmy to draw 7U within 7-6.
Score after four and a half innings: Elon 7, WR 7U 6


Sixth inning
In the most exciting inning of the season so far, Gavin led off by crushing a double. He scored on Chace's single. Jake singled, but Elon picked up an out on the bases, putting a runner at first for Joey with one down in a tie game. Joey reached base for the third straight time in the game, this time on a single to left. Mason roped a line drive single to left that scored Jake and gave 7U their first lead of the game. Mason alertly took second after the Elon throw, putting runners on second and third. Bryce's infield single scored an important insurance run, which was followed by a Timmy single and a fielder's choice by Ben that scored the fifth and final run of the inning.
Score after five and a half innings: WR 7U 11, Elon 7


Game 2 Web Gems

• No one is exactly sure what happened, but somehow Chace and Asher collided on the right side of the infield chasing a pop-up, and the ball ended up in Asher's bare hand, with his glove on the ground. This is not the Tom Emanski-taught way of catching a pop fly. Chace, meanwhile, was left wondering where the mosquito was that had run into him.
• For the second straight game, Gavin turned a 6-3 double play. This time, he fielded a fourth-inning ground ball up the middle, stepped on second, and then lasered a throw to first to retire the runner.
• With Gavin playing second base and a runner on second in the fifth, the Elon hitter looped what looked like an RBI single up the middle. But Gavin raced backwards, leaped, and snagged the ball at the top of his leap, hauling it in on the dive to end the inning and keep 7U close.

Game 2 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
WR 7U Blue	3	0	0	1	2	5	11	17
Elon	3	4	0	0	0	3	10	13