Game Story: Braves Make Practices Pay Off, Win 9-1

It's an axiom in sports that players learn skills in practice and show them in games. That's particularly true of baseball, which has so many little skills, plays and strategic decisions that can only be learned through repetition.
Clearly our Braves are paying attention in practice. Skills and situations they've worked on recently paid off in Friday night's 9-1 win over the Pirates at Water Tower Park.
Last Sunday, former Whitefish Bay High School Coach Dean Ledzian worked with the Braves on bunting. In last night's game, Coach Dave put the bunt sign on, and Matt laid a perfect bunt down the third-base line, beating it out for a hit.
That directly affected how the Pirates played Matt the next time up. Matt tried to bunt the first pitch in the same place, pulling the third baseman in. With the third baseman pulled in, Matt swung away at the next pitch. Had he connected, he had an excellent chance to drive the ball past the drawn-in infielder for a big hit.
Like all baseball coaches do, Dave, Rick, Ross and Stuart stress kids playing catch with each other, with siblings, with parents. Well, one reason the Braves have won their first two games is their outfielders can catch a fly ball. Chris made two fine catches of hard-hit balls to center field (one resulted in a double play). Matt made another excellent catch in center. At this level of competition, the outfield is a not a daisy-plucking position. Outfielders who can catch the ball and hit the relay man make the difference between winning and losing.
I can't say enough about Jason's good fielding. I watched him in practice this week Hoover up everything hit his way. Then, in last night's game, he charged off the mound to field a Pirates bunt and fired a strike to Nick at first to get a hard-charging runner. With the confidence and precision he showed on that play, Jason looked like a high school player.
When a player puts the bat on the ball, good things can happen, even if the result is not a hit. We had a number of productive outs in this game. Evan moved Connor to third in the 2nd inning with a groundout to the right side; Connor later scored. Connor later drove in a run with a groundout himself. And this is a good place to note that hustle also matters: Connor legged out two infield hits in this game.
This was not an easy game. The Pirates are a decent team. Nick subbed a game for them last year, and I was impressed with their coaches, who are quality guys with a teaching, encouraging approach to Little League, similar to the approach our Braves coaches take. Their shortstop made some outstanding plays in this game. Their final pitcher, Jack Arnold, dominated on the mound. This could not have been a fun outcome for them, and I was impressed at the calm, classy way they handled it. If we are on the losing side of a game like this in the future, I hope we will handle it just as well.
More highlights from the game:
BATTING: Ryan, in his first at-bat of the season, battled back from an 0-2 count, fouling off several pitches and drawing a walk. He went on to steal a base and score. Scott doubled in two runners. Chris, on a 0-2 pitch, ripped a double to center field that bounced up against the fence. Alec followed by pounding a double to center that brought Chris home.
Forgive me if I'm biased here, but I must give a slack-jawed tip of the cap to Nick, who did something I have never seen before in a Little League game. In his second-inning at-bat, Nick ripped a line drive about chest high in the hole between the third baseman and the shortstop. Nick hit the ball so hard it tore the glove off the third baseman's hand. The ball landed in left-center field, the glove landed a few feet away from the player. I asked Nick about it after the game. He told me that when he saw what happened, he said to himself "Oh (bleep)," because he thought he had broken the third baseman's hand.
The third baseman was fine and stayed in the game.
PITCHING: High-quality outings from all three pitchers. Connor struck out 6 batters around 2 walks. In other words, no one hit the ball when he pitched. Jason was effective on the mound, aided by good defense, including his own. Chris was dominant again as our closer.

This Day in WFBLL Braves History

First successful bunt hit: Matt
First double play: Chris (CF) made a running catch of a fly ball, threw to Nick (2B) to double up baserunner who had left early.
First steal of home: Jack

Jack's steal made me think immediately of Jackie Robinson, who famously stole home in the 1955 World Series against the Yankees. Robinson's steal was even more remarkable because it was a straight steal - no passed ball or wild pitch involved. The catcher was ready for him, and it was a close play, as you can see by the video excerpt below:



Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. Any mistakes are my own, too, and have nothing to do with the coaches. If you think I got something wrong, please tell me.