State tournament G3: WR 7U 17, Southern Pitt 0

I assume you're here to read about Friday's baseball game. But by this point in the season, 7U is accustomed to playing two (or more) games on any given day. So playing just one game on Friday meant the team had to find other ways to entertain itself. That included:

• Gavin leaving for pregame practice with his usual game face on. In addition to wearing his game face, however, he was also wearing two left cleats. It takes longer than you might expect to deduce which other West Raleigh 7U player was walking around with two right cleats. We don't believe in naming names, of course, but the other player's name rhymes with "Elias."
• A team bowling trip revealed a long-held secret from one of the players: every night when he leaves practice, Asher goes to the bowling alley to practice. That's the only possible explanation for his four strikes in a row. Luckily, cameras were on hand to capture his very reserved, very classy celebration.
• There may or may not have been an impromptu team dance party to such hot tunes as Call Me Maybe and Boyfriend before and after the pregame BP session. All I can say is the Harvard baseball team better look out.
• During that BP session, the team was able to see tremendous defensive performances from Coach Ken and Coach Kevin, who were trying to live up to the high standards set by Coach Joe. Coach Eric handled the tee work, giving each player 20 10 5 hey, it was hot swings. In reality, however, any coaches in attendance (even Coach Bruce) were unnecessary, because Coach Bob was on the pitching machine.

Oh, and there was also a baseball game. West Raleigh defeated Southern Pitt 17-0 to finish 3-0 in pool play and earn the top seed in Saturday's single-elimination tournament.

After much discussion, during which Coach Sean made a very persuasive case, it was determined that West Raleigh will begin play on Saturday at 12:30 against the Laurinburg-Washington winner. The seeds are as follows:

1 West Raleigh
2 Winterville
3 Wayne South
4 North Wake
5 Deep River
6 Southern Pitt
7 Hillsborough
8 Laurinburg
9 Washington

Game 3 West Raleigh 7U scoring plays
First inning
For the second straight day, West Raleigh batted around in the very first inning. Bryce started with a single, and Joseph put Blue on the board immediately with a triple to deep left. Gavin scored JT with a single the other way. With one out, Jake's single up the middle scored Gavin and made it 3-0. Then, repeating a theme from Thursday, WR did significant two-out damage, plating six more runs. Joey's line drive single the opposite way scored Mason and put runners at the corners. Asher's single the other way scored Ben, and then Trey ripped the second pitch he saw back through the middle for another RBI. Bryce's single through the middle caused some major Southern Pitt defensive issues, as Bryce's aggressive baserunning forced a couple bad throws, eventually allowing the West Raleigh leadoff man to come all the way around to score.
Score after one inning: WR 7U 9, Southern Pitt 0

Second inning
This may sound familiar: in the second inning, West Raleigh batted around. This time, a dozen hitters came to the plate. Gavin started the outburst with a deep triple to right. Chace made it a case of rare back-to-back triples, as he also delivered a three-bagger to right. Jake's single to left scored Chace, and then Timmy singled to put runners at first and second. Ben's single scored Jake, and then Alex's single loaded the bases. Elias singled through the left side to bring home Timmy. Batting for the third time in two innings, Bryce picked up an RBI fielder's choice, and then JT singled deep to left. Gavin completed the scoring with a two-run double.
Score after two innings: WR 7U 17, Southern Pitt 0

Game 3 Web Gems

• In the tone-setting play of the game, Mason snagged a bullet of a line drive with a runner on first and one down in the top of the first. Since the runner assumed no mortal could catch the ball, he was sprinting towards second, so after catching the rocket, Mason fired to Chace at first to get the double play.
• A twisting grounder to first leading off the third looked ticketed for right field when it took a bad hop, but Chace stayed with it and got the out.
• Two batters later, Trey sprinted off the mound to pick up a swinging bunt and made a strong throw to first to get the out.
• Coach Ken made a leaping, juggling catch in deep center field during pregame warmups. He was then heard to mumble something about needing to have his jersey retired. Instead, he was awarded his actual West Raleigh game hat with his number on the back--on the second day of the state tournament, which is the equivalent of putting up your Christmas decorations on Dec. 27.

Game 3 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Southern Pitt	0	0	0	0	X	X	0	5
West Raleigh 7U	9	8	0	X	X	X	17	18