Game 1

SC – 7

Tarpons – 13

The Storm Chasers were excited to get things started for the title defense with the first at bat. However, the first 3 swings were all good cuts by the top 3 in the lineup, they were all right at people which was an unfortunate theme for the day for the good guys. In the Bottom of the 1st the Tarpons showed their bats were ready to rock and roll, starting hot and scoring 6 runs to start their season. In the top of the second Carlos Cruz started the hitting for the season with a hard-hit line drive single, followed by a Joe Machado line drive single, followed by another line drive single by Junior to drive in Carlos and start the scoring for the Storm Chasers. JTP III hit a solid ball to score Joe which was then followed by a Muck walk to load the bases with 0 outs. Unfortunately, Rob crushed a line drive right to the SS in the perfect place for him to double off JT at 2nd to kill the momentum built up by the Storm Chasers before Omar grounded out in a fielder’s choice to end the top of the inning with the good guys down 6-2. The Storm Chasers were facing 2, 3, 4 in the Tarpon lineup in the bottom of the second who all got on in the first but were retired in order after a great play in LF by Joe Machado who also made another of the outs in that inning to keep the Storm Chasers within striking distance after 2.

The Storm Chasers came out with the bats they knew they were capable of in the top of the 3rd inning when Super Sub Donnie Baseball started things off with a line drive single followed by a Double by rookie Michael Murphy, then a Heath Jones RBI single to score DBHU, a Carlos Single to score Murphy all to setup Joe Machado to crush a 3 run fence bomb to put the Storm Chasers up 7-6 after the slow start. Junior followed that up with a single and JTP III got himself another single before the inning fizzled out at the bottom of the lineup. The Storm Chasers were able to hold the Tarpons to 1 run in the bottom of the 3rd to finish 3 innings of Shalom softball all tied up at 7.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the Storm Chaser scoring as we failed to score a run in the next 3 innings as the Tarpons put up another 6 runs in the bottom of the 4th after multiple just missed Plays for outs by the good guys ended the 4th inning 13-7. That’s where the game ended, and the Tar(m)pons drew first blood as they always seem to do.  

Offensive highlights for the game:

Carlos Lopez – 3-3 with 2 Singles, 1 Double, 1 RBI and 1 RS

Joe “Shoulder Heavy” Mochado – 2-3 with 1 Single, 1 HR, 3 RBI and 2 RS – Great plays in LF!

JT Pierce III – 2-3 with 2 Singles and 1 RBI

Game 2

SC – 5

Crawdads – 6

The Storm Chasers were looking forward to enjoying home field advantage in the second game to hopefully right the ship and get a Shalom Split. Unfortunately, the Crawdad’s had other ideas and came out with a 5 run top of the first inning after some close calls that started the game off a little chippy. The Storm Chasers unphased came back in the bottom of the 1st with a double by captain Peasey, a double by Heath Jones to bring in Peasey, a Single by Carlos to move Heath over and a SAC fly by Joe to bring Heath in before the inning wrapped up with the Crawdad’s up 5-2. The Crawdad’s would only score 1 more run the rest of the game as the Stom Chasers fizzled out putting up 0 runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings keeping the score at 5-2. The Crawdad’s would score that 1 other run in the top of the 4th before the Storm Chasers would answer with a run of their own on a Single by Heath, single by Carlos and RBI by Junior to bring Heath in before the inning ended with JTP III going down hard with a Hammy injury that we all hope he will recover from quickly.

With 0 runs scored by either team in the 5th and the Crawdad’s going scoreless in the 6th there were 3 minutes left for the Storm Chasers to pull out the bats and see if they could rally with some last-minute glory. Things started off looking great when Heath started the party with a Double and even though Carlos made his first out of the day, Joe stepped up and hit a 2-Run fence bomb (his second of the day) to bring the score within 1 at 6-5. With 1 out Junior stepped up and drove the ball into LF and it got to the fence allowing him to get to 2B. Runner on 2B with 1 out and JT stepped up to the plate in serious pain to avoid the automatic out and nearly blooped one over Scotty Do, but Scotty made yet another solid play which he did all day to get to the ball and keep Junior at 2B. Muck came up with 2 outs and Heath on 2B as the wild card runner looking for a base hit to tie the game. Unfortunately, he chased a high pitch and flew out to end the game. Storm Chasers lose a tough one for sure, but showed the heart to stay in it to the end and this captain looks forward to what this team will do the rest of the season so don’t even think about counting us out!   

Offensive highlights for the game:

Heath Jones – 3-2 with 1 Single, 2 Doubles, 1 RBI and 3 RS

Easy Peasey – 3-3 with 2 Singles, 1 Double, and 1 RS

Rob Garcia – 1-2 with 1 Single

Impact Players of the Week:

1-4 Carlos Cruz – 5-6 with 2 Singles, 1 Double, 1 RBI and 2 RS

5-8 Joe Machado – 3-5 with 1 Single, 2 HR 6 RBI and 3 RS

9-12 JT Pierce III – 2-6 with 2 Singles and 1 RBI

Super Sub Donnie Holtmann – 3-4 with 3 Singles and 1 RS