TORONTO PLAYGROUNDS BURY THE A’s WITH A FOURTEEN RUN FUSILLADE IN THE FIRST INNING AT CHRISTIE PITS TO EARN THEIR SECOND EBA MOSQUITO SELECT LOOP VICTORY OF THE SEASON
Beneath a checkered duvet of cool and overcast skies, the Toronto Playgrounds Major Mosquito Selects defeated the Annette Red 14-7 in four innings of Etobicoke Baseball Association (EBA) Mosquito Select Loop action this afternoon at Christie Pits Diamond 3.
Saturday’s game was a rescheduled affair (from May 26) to accommodate the needs of both teams so they could participate in tournaments outside the EBA Select Loop later in the 2019 season. As a result, Annette was the official home team for this game at Christie Pits.
Despite the lopsided result on the scoreboard, the proceeding was an entertaining affair between two talented and well coached teams. In the end, a gritty TP squad rode on the offensive coattails of a dominant first frame to cruise to a convincing victory over the pesky Athletics.
In the top of the first, TP sent a conga line procession of seventeen batters to the plate as they unleashed an offensive juggernaut of tsunami proportions to stake themselves to a 14-0 lead.
After a leadoff walk garnered by Momo (18), Charlie Z. (8) stroked a single that put two ducks on the pond. An Annette error on the play would allow Momo and Charlie Z. to advance respectively to third and second.
Catching the A’s defence napping, TP would brazenly execute a double steal that moved Charlie Z. to third and brought Momo home with the opening run of the game. A subsequent wild pitch by the Athletics would open the portal for Charlie Z. to come home with another run which put TP up 2-0.
As Cooper (3) swung through strike three during TP’s next at bat, the ball eluded A’s catcher Reed (10) grasp resulting in a dropped third strike. With Cooper barreling down the first baseline with a full head of steam, the throw to nail him sailed high and down the first base foul line resulting in mojo jojo error. Blazing around the horn like an Acinonyx jubatus, Cooper came sliding home and just eluded Reed’s outstretched tag attempt to score a dramatic “inside the park dropped third strike faux pas Twilight Zone solo home run”.
With TP leading 3-0, Milo (27), Dylan (10) and William (33) followed with consecutive walks to load the bases. A subsequent wild pitch would allow Dylan and William to advance a base and bring Milo home to roost.
After a walk by Julian (20) reloaded the bases, Aron (14) fought off several tough pitches before delivering a RBI single that brought Dylan home from third.
With the bases still juiced to the gills, Rocco (99) connected for a RBI single to plate William. A subsequent faux pas by the Annette defence would allow Aron to move up to third and bring Julian home to crow.
With two swans on the lake, Sean (13) followed with a searing RBI hit that advanced Rocco to second and allowed Aron to come home to roost and give TP a 8-0 advantage.
Later, with one out and runners at third and second, Momo delivered a two RBI triple that allowed Rocco and Sean to come homeward and do the shimmy, shimmy, shake.
Following a walk by Charlie Z. that put two aboard, Cooper stroked a RBI single that moved Charlie Z. to third and brought Momo home with a run. A subsequent wild pitch allowed Charlie Z. to motor home and increase the TP tally to twelve runs.
After Cooper swiped a pair to reach third base, Milo launched a RBI triple to bring Cooper home. Subsequently, Milo swiped home to bring home the peameal bacon.
Annette southpaw reliever Tristan (6) put out the five alarm TP blaze in the first inning by striking out two and inducing a groundout.
TP Major Mosquito starter Rocco (99) would coax the Red’s into a popup and a flyout in the bottom half of the first to keep the potent Athletics off the scoring ledger.
After issuing two walks to lead off the frame, Rocco was helped out mightily by a superb defensive play from his teammates. With no outs and Annette baserunners Tristan and Miles (91) respectively at second and first, Jack (19) hit an eight mile high popup to first baseman Milo for the first out. As Tristan scrambled back to second base to avoid being doubled up, Milo made a throw to nab him. However, the throw sailed away into left-centre field and that allowed an emboldened Tristan to make a brazen dash to steal third. It was at this juncture where left fielder William vacuumed up the ball like a Kirby and made a lightning throw to third baseman Dylan, who slapped an emphatic tag on a sliding Tristan to foil his grand theft dreams and chalk up a quirky 3-7-5 double play.
In the top of the second, TP would threaten again by loading the bases on a single and a pair of walks. However, Annette reliever Nathan (15) would tally a groundout, strikeout and flyout to leave the TP baserunners stranded.
Nathan also received two sweet defensive plays from his friends during the inning. A’s third baseman Jack corralled a hot shot off the bat of TP’s Julian and made a rocket throw across the diamond to first base to ring up a nifty 5-3 gem for the first out. Later, with two outs, Annette centre fielder Miles made a nice over the head catch on deep fly ball off the bat of TP’s Momo to tally the third out.
Refusing to surrender, the Red’s rallied with five runs in the bottom portion of the second to trim the deficit to 14-5. After a leadoff walk by Reed, Leland (17) was hit by pitch to put two otters on the pond. Following a walk by Elliot (5) that loaded the bases, Will (3) delivered a two RBI double that brought Reed and Leland homeward with Annette’s first runs of the game.
With two aboard, Keaton (34) followed with another two RBI double that allowed Elliot and Will to come home to roost.
After Matteo (9) and Nathan garnered walks to reload the bases, Miles drew a bases loaded RBI walk to plate Keaton.
With the bases loaded, TP reliever Julian (20) would chalk up a pair of strikeouts and a popup to extinguish the Athletics rally in the second inning.
A’s reliever Nathan would induce a pair of groundouts and a strikeout in the top of the third to keep TP off the scoreboard. Kudos to Annette third baseman Matteo for making two sweet 5-3 defensive plays to chalk up the first two outs of the frame.
In never say die fashion, the Red’s continued to battle in the bottom of the third as they scored a run to close the shortfall to 14-6. After leading off the inning with a double, Aidan (21) subsequently advanced to third on a dropped third strike. With one out, Leland hit into a groundout that allowed Aidan to come home with the Delissio pizza.
TP reliever William (33) would tally a pair of strikeouts and a groundout in the third frame to quell the Red’s uprising.
Athletics reliever Aidan (21) mowed down three batters in the top portion of the fourth to keep TP off the scoresheet.
Donning their rally caps, the A’s gamely loaded the bases in the bottom half of the fourth and scored a run to trim the margin to 14-7. With one out and the bases juiced to the gills, Nathan was hit by pitch, forcing Keaton to mosey homeward from third.
With the bases loaded, TP closer Dylan (10) entered the fray to ring up two K’s to seal the deal on the win.
The TP Major Mosquito Selects (2-0) will travel to Ravina Gardens next Friday (May 17) for their next EBA Mosquito Select Loop game versus the Annette Black at 6:00 p.m.
