Coming out of the Tiger Cage with a Victory

The Indians went into the Delta Tigers Cage at Westview Park confident they could tangle with the Tigers but with some trepidation as to how they could neutralize the Tiger's speed. Things started off well with a Sugi walk and Norris single. Stanyer ground out to first moving Sugi onto 3rd. Blight brought in the first run of the game with a single up the middle. The Indians left the bases loaded in the first wondering if they would get any more chances. In the bottom half the Tigers struck quickly with Sasaki pounding a double to left centre field on Blight's first offering. Payne followed up with a double to right centre scoring Sasaki easily. Macleod laid down a perfect bunt moving Payne to 3B and with a Cassie groundout Payne scored putting the Tigers up 2-1 after one. Coming off the hill Blight proclaimed that would be it for runs for the Tigers. Would his prediction hold?

In the top half of the 2nd the Indians took the lead back with some timely hitting of their own. Columbus drew a walk and then Cao promptly moved him to 2nd with his first hit of the day. Sugi lined out to 3rd and then grounded out 5-3 and it wasn't looking good. Columbus and Cao had moved up on a passed ball and then Stanyer drilled a single to right scoring two putting the Indians back into the lead 3-2. The Tigers put the pressure on in the 3rd with two singles by Sasaki and Payne but a baserunning gaffe by Sasaki led to him being tagged out at 2nd. Blight buckled down leaving Tiger runners stranded at 2nd and 3rd. The Indians added another run in the 4th when Cao singled for the second time and Sugi sacrifice bunted him over. Stanyer got his second ribbie by plating Cao with another single to right field.

As Blight moved toward his pitch count the Tigers again pressed the Indians defence in the 5th. With a walk, sacrifice bunt, bunt and a dropped 3rd strike, all of a sudden the Tigers had the bases loaded. Macleod tried another bunt but Columbus bare handed it and threw the runner out at home. With two out Tiger Romaniuk hit to the gap in right centre but there was just enough loft for Sugi to make an outstanding sliding catch to end the inning. All that sliding catch work at batting practice was paying off. Heading into the 6th the Indians were jacked up having defused what turned out to be the last Tiger threat. Cao got his 3rd hit of the day lining a double down the left field line dusting the chalk as it struck the grass. Sugi walked and then Norris put down a perfect bunt to load the bases. It looked like the opportunity was fleeting as the Tiger defence forced two outs at home. The first pitch to Blight was in the dirt and Norris thought he could make it home on the short backstop. He got called back to 3rd but Wilson had strayed too far off first and all of a sudden he was in a rundown. Speedster Norris played it perfectly stealing home at the right moment and the Tigers couldn't keep their defensive magic going as Norris scored. The Indians now had a 5-2 lead heading intot he bottom of the 6th. 

Burke Rae came in to relieve Blight who had reached his pitch count. Rae was electric getting one Tiger to fly to RF while striking out the next two. The Indians hoped to add to their lead in the 7th but Yee was robbed by Tiger Payne laying out to catch his line drive. Rae and Columbus then added singles off of Romaniuk but that was all the Indians were able to muster. In the bottom half Rae was on fire striking out the side to end the game. Another tightly fought Indian-Tiger tilt was in the books.