End of the 2011 Season

Posted by Dutchman Monday, July 18, 2011 0 comments

Tyler's season ended yesterday with a bang. The final tournament played by the Oxford Rebels took place at Walled Lake Western High School. The "Battle of the Bats" started Friday evening with a game between the Rebels and a team from Salem Township High School. Tyler got 2 doubles and a walk, 2 RBIs and 3 runs. The Rebels won 13-1. The second game was Saturday at 10am and ended with a 5-1 Rebel win against the Troy Comanches. It was the first of two games played on Saturday in the 90+ degree heat.
That second game on Saturday was against the Macomb Inferno, a tough team that beat the Rebels in the first tournament back at the beginning of June. That was a well played close game that ended when the Rebels failed to get the 2 runs needed to even the score in the final inning. This time the score was tied at the bottom of the 6th inning at 3-3. Tyler lead off the inning with a single. He then stole 2nd base causing the catcher to overthrow and then advanced on the error to 3rd. Two batters later, he scored on a sacrifice, putting the Rebels up by 1 going into the seventh. The Inferno then replied with a run on a sacrifice fly, tying the game again. But, the lead off Rebel walked, was moved to 2nd base by a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a walk off single, ending the game with a 5-4 win.
The fourth game of the tournament was played on Sunday afternoon in 95 degree heat. Ironically, the team being played was the Lake Orion Heat. They were quickly baked, when the Rebels scored 14 runs in the first 2 innings, causing them to stand in the sun on the field for 40 minutes, while successive Rebel batters took turns hitting and staying hydrated in the shade of the dugout. The final score was 16-3.
Being the only undefeated team in the tournament led to a 1 seed in the final championship game against a team that had already played 2 close games that day. That final game against the Michigan Twisters was a barn burner. The Rebels started off with a 5 run inning, leading the players to think they might have another easy win. However, the Twisters came right back in the 2nd inning with 4 runs. The Rebels replied in the top of the 3rd with 2 more, stretching the score to 7-4. The Twisters then came right back with 5 runs and put the Rebels behind 9-7. Tyler got a double in the 4th inning, and an out of the park home run by his friend Jordan, scored 2 runs, evening the score at 9-9. The Twisters came back again in the 5th to lead 10-9. Then in the sixth inning, the Rebel wheels seemed to come off, when the Twisters scored an additional 4 runs, leaving the Rebels with 5 runs to make up with 2 at-bats left.
In the Rebel half of the 6th inning, they loaded the bases with 2 walks and a single. With one out, Tyler was up to bat. A pass ball lead to a run and with runners on 2nd and 3rd, Tyler pushed in another run and advanced to 2nd base. The next four Rebels each pushed in another run and the Rebels were back on top, covering the 5 run differential and starting the last inning with a 1 run lead.
Being the "home" team, all the Rebels needed to do was stop the Twisters from scoring a run. Our best "closer" entered the game, and struck out the first Twister batter, but then walked the next one. However, he caught the runner with a pick off move to first, and combined with our short stop to catch the runner at 2nd base. The Rebels were one out from winning the tournament. The next batter hit to the Rebel 3rd baseman and reached 1st base on an error. The Twisters had the winning run at the plate. With a 2 and 1 count, he hit a low line drive between our 1st and 2nd basemen, but Tyler raced in from his right field position and made the catch, ending the game with a win.
Couldn't have a better end to the season!



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I'm a middle aged divorced father living with my two sons. We like to canoe, bicycle, fish, camp, play baseball, and spend money when we want and where we want, without permission from anybody. HA!

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