Clemmons Super Regional Game 4: Kernersville Warriors 16, WR 7U 8

Here is a shocker: Coach Sean lost the coin toss in Sunday's second game. Expect at least one station at this week's practices to include the art of coin-flipping.

Another session might include starting the game with some momentum. For the second straight game, the opposition put a big number on the board right away. This time, it was six runs for the Kernersville Warriors. That meant that combined, 7U trailed 13-2 after the first inning in Sunday's games. For the weekend, the combined four-game first-inning deficit was 18-6.

"As coaches, we're going to figure out how to help you get off to better starts," Coach Sean told the team as they gathered down the third-base line after the game. "I am very proud of how you have played this weekend against some very good teams."

Because of the big first inning, the game was eventually shortened to five innings because of the seven-run limit; trailing 16-8, there was no way West Raleigh could come back and win it in the sixth, so that five-inning score ended up as the game's final score.

But their effort did not go unnoticed by the tournament director, who ran a very solid event at a very impressive complex. He made a special point to stop by the postgame 7U huddle and acknowledge the play of the only seven-year-old team in the field. "It's hard to believe you guys are seven," he told the team. "The way you play, when you get into districts and start playing against other seven-year-old teams, I feel sorry for those other guys."

Districts are still nearly two weeks away. For now, the focus turns to a full week of practice before next weekend's tournament, which is likely to be a loaded field of 8-year-olds in Wilmington. Monday night's practice is from 5-7 at the friendly confines of West Raleigh.

Game 4 West Raleigh 7U scoring plays
First inning
Trey led the game off with a single, then sped to second on a fielder's choice. With one out, Gavin's hard grounder to third wasn't handled cleanly, and Trey scored the first run of the game. Chace came through with a two-out RBI single that scored Gavin.
Score after one-half inning: WR 7U 2, Kernersville 0


Second inning
The leadoff man reached for the second straight inning. This time it was Bryce with a single. He scored on Mason's double to left. After Timmy's grounder put runners at the corners, Ben's fielder's choice down the third-base line scored Mason.
Score after one and a half innings: Kernersville 6, WR 7U 4

Third inning
The offense continued to be jumpstarted by the leadoff man, as Joey dashed all the way to second on a grounder in the middle of the infield. Gavin moved him to third with one out, and then Jake lined an RBI single. Chace doubled deep to right, and then Joseph's RBI fielder's choice scored Jake. The final run came across courtesy of Bryce's single, which scored Chace.
Score after two and a half innings: Kernersville 9, WR 7U 7

Fourth inning
Asher reached on a grounder through the right side, then moved to second on Alex's fielder's choice. When Kernersville struggled to handle handle the play cleanly, Asher came all the way around to score.
Score after three and a half innings: Kernersville 14, WR 7U 8

Game 4 Web Gems

•  In the first inning, Elias hustled over to cut off a ball ripped down the left field line that looked like a sure double, holding the Warriors hitter to a single.
• With a runner on second later in the first, Gavin went deep in the hole at shortstop. He made a solid play just to keep the ball in the infield, but then faked a throw to first to see how the runner might react. The reaction was that the runner broke towards third, where Gavin easily tagged him out.
• Throughout the third, with the Warriors bashing the ball, Trey repeatedly did a good job of aggressively coming in to field the ball, then quickly firing the ball into the infield to limit the Kernersville runners to just one base.
•  Ben made a good catch of a fly ball near the left-field foul line.
• 7U turned a very unique double play to end the fourth. First, JT scooped up a grounder at third base and made a strong throw to Chace at first to retire the hitter. Once JT released his throw, the runner on second base broke for third. But he underestimated the Chace-JT connection, as Chace then fired the ball back across the diamond to JT, who had broken back to cover third. He received the throw and put the tag on the Warriors runner to get the second out on the play and end the inning.

Game 4 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
WR 7U Blue	2	2	3	1	0	X	8	11
Kernersville	6	3	5	1	1	X	16	11

Clemmons Super Regional Game 3: Southwest Colts 12, WR 7U 3

Sunday's Clemmons Super Regional play began bright and early with an 11 a.m. start against the Southwest Colts, another squad made up completely of eight-year-olds. West Raleigh started slow, and the Colts put up the run limit of seven runs in the very first frame.

From there, though, Blue settled down. They responded to the seven runs with three of their own in the top of the second, and limited Southwest to just seven hitters at the plate over the second and third innings combined.

The Colts pushed across five runs in the bottom of the fourth, giving them a nine-run edge. In the somewhat unusual scoring format, that meant West Raleigh had to get at least two runs in the top of the fifth to prolong the game (teams were limited to seven runs in any one inning, even if they trailed). Ben singled to give Blue a glimmer of hope, but the solid Southwest defense ended the game with a double play.

The loss sent WR 7U to a 2 p.m. rematch against Kernersville.

Game 3 West Raleigh 7U scoring plays
Second inning
All the West Raleigh runs came in the second. Jake led off with a single, and with one out Joseph beat out a ground ball that put runners on first and second. Bryce singled in Jake, and then Timmy picked up a two-out, two-run single to finish the scoring.
Score after one and a half innings: Southwest 7, WR 7U 3

Game 3 Web Gems

• In the best defensive inning of the game, a 1-2-3 third, Ben slid over and easily hauled in a fly ball to left center field for the second out. 
• In the fourth, Gavin went deep in the 6 hole to his right, backhanded a hard ground ball, and then fired to Trey covering second base to pick up a force. Trey alertly snagged the toss from Gavin and came down on the bag to get the out.
• To end the fourth, 7U teamed up on a four-player web gem. Alex went back in right field to retrieve a ball that had been walloped to the fence. He hit Trey near second base, who threw to Mason, who fired to Jake at home plate. Jake made the tag and held on to the ball to get the out and end the inning.

Game 3 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
WR 7U Blue	0	3	0	0	0	X	3	8
Southwest	7	0	0	5	X	X	12	11

Clemmons Super Regional: Dinner

Once the games were out of the way, it was time for the most important part of a tournament weekend: dinner.

I'm not exactly sure who to credit for it, but Giovanna held the money and I saw Joe toss several people in the pool and don't want to be next, so thanks to Giovanna for her organization (I could be wrong, but I think Dema and Ann also get credit for assists). It was also nice of Coach Sean to open up the living room of his presidential suite so we could all eat together.

If you are one of the people who was responsible for dinner and you are not properly credited above, please present a signed and notarized receipt tomorrow morning at the 11 a.m. game, when the stormtrooper-clad 7U squad is likely to look a little like this.

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

Clemmons Super Regional Game 1: Kernersville Warriors 8, WR 7U 3

West Raleigh 7U Blue opened play in the Clemmons Super Regional with an 8-3 loss to the Kernersville Warriors. The game was basically a tale of two halves. In the first half, Kernersville pushed eight runs across in the first three innings, taking advantage of a couple WR errors to build a big early lead.

But after falling behind 8-1, 7U battled back, shutting out the Warriors in the final two innings and outscoring them 2-0. The Kernersville defense was strong enough to hold on, though, retiring the final seven West Raleigh hitters in order.

As an added bonus, the game was umpired by two of the liveliest individuals in Forsyth County.

Game 1 West Raleigh 7U scoring plays
First inning
Joey slapped a one-out single to left. Kernersville misplayed Gavin's grounder, putting runners at second and third. Jake's sacrifice fly scored Joey with the first run of the game.
Score after one-half inning: WR 7U 1, Kernersville 0


Fourth inning
Gavin led off with a hard shot to center and motored all the way to second when the Warrior outfielder hesitated. He moved to third on Jake's single, and then Chace drove in Gavin with another single. Mason's two-out RBI scored the final WR 7U run of the game.
Score after three and a half innings: Kernersville 8, WR 7U 3

Game 1 Web Gems

• Gavin turned the first of two double plays in the second inning, as he fielded a one-out ground ball, stepped on second, and fired to first to complete the inning-ending double play.
• In the third, with a runner on second, Kernersville blasted a hard-hit single to left-center. Ben fielded it, hit cutoff man JT on the money, and then JT turned and fired to Jake at the plate, who tagged the runner out.
• Playing left-center in the fourth, JT did a terrific job of cutting off a ball in the gap, turning what looked like a sure double into a single.
• Jake came in hard from first base in the fifth, snagging a pop-up that looked destined to drop for an infield single.
• On the very next hitter, Bryce ranged off the infield "dirt" and onto the outfield grass to haul in a sinking pop up.

Game 1 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
WR 7U Blue	1	0	0	2	0	1	3	5
Kernersville	2	3	3	0	0	X	8	13