On Thursday, May 7th, the Purple Nightmares squared off against the Mighty Green Machines for a Rookie Division game of coach-pitch baseball. The Purple squad won the slugfest 11-9. The People Eaters had jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first. The game was tied at 6 in the 3rd. The Green Machine took a 7-6 lead in the 4th. But the purple squad roared back with five runs in their half. In the 5th, the greens came back with two runs. They had the bases loaded, one out, when their last two hitters were retired.
Hitting stars for the winners included Frankie Gilfillan with two runs scored; Owen Johnson who came home twice and Kendall O’Quinn, who scored twice, before being stranded at 3rd.
There were also outstanding plays in the field by the green team. James Richmond was solid at making stops on the infield (as well as driving in three runs at the plate); Tommy Pogue caught a long fly ball and Jimmy Watts made some good stops on ground balls. Thanks to the accurate pitching from each coach, there was plenty of action for the fielders, as defense is all important at the Rookie level.
First basemen from both teams were able to catch errant throws and tag runners out. Meanwhile, batters were teeing off on the tosses from their coaches. As Purple People Eater Daniel Gross said, “Hitting the ball was joyous!”
