Spring Classic Tournament News: Mounties WIN!

Game 5 Championship Final Mounties 13 Narrows Baseball Club 3
The Mounties were now in the finals and were able to get a short break while the !st seed Narrows Baseball Club played the 6th Seeded Storm Baseball club for a chance to play the Mounties in the final.  Even theough it was windy, cold and rainy it was a very hotly contested match with the Narrows Baseball Club barely holding on to defeat the Storm in a thrilling 4 - 3 semi final.

It was eerie as the skies cleared for the Championship game and both teams, Umpires, parents, and fans settled in for the last game of the weekend played at Laceys Recreational Athletic Centre. (RAC)  The Rac was bustling all weekend with over 50 teams playing at this great facility.  But at this time fields 1,2,3,and 4 were all Vacant and dark and the only field lit up was field 5 awaiting the Vancouver Mounties and Narrows Baseball Club to settle who would be the USSSA Spring Classic Champions. 

The Mounties started strong out of the gate putting up 3 runs in the top of the 1st inning.  Rookie Sebbin who pitched in Pee Wee last year started the game for the Mounties.  Sebbin had made a seamless move to Bantam but obviously was having a tough time locating his pitches with the farther Midget Distance.  Narrows was able to score 3 in the bottom of the first and tie the game up at 3.

The weary Mounties who had travelled a long way and were determined that they were not going to be denied took the lead when they scored a run in the top of the 2nd inning.  Ensing once again came in to close this time a little earlier than expected.  The Mounties broke it open in the 3rd inning scoring 6 runs which seemed to take all the life out of the Narrows team.

With the Mounties leading by a 10 to 3 score  they scored 3 important runs in the top of the 5th to give them a 10 run lead.  This was important as although Ensing was cruising along he was running low on pitches.   Ensing retired the side in the bottom of the 5th to end the game with a Mercy victory, and not a moment too soon as he was up to his 90th pitch on the day and only had 5 to spare. Final Score Mounties 13 Narrows 3    

Game 4 Semi Final: Mounties 9 West Hill Vipers 5
The Mounties were a bit tired for this one and knew that this was going to be a tough test against a strong West Hill Vipers team from Bremerton.  The Strategy was simple win and play one more, lose and go home.  Early on it looked like the Mounties were going home as the Viper batters struck early against a struggling Mounties starter Younan.  Younan still trying to figure out the new distance walked the first two Viper batters,  then was pounded for a couple of hits, Younans problems were far from over as the Mountie defence botched a rundown and Younan hit the next batter.  The Mounties worked their way out of the inning with a ground out and then a double play when Younan struck out the batter and Currie threw the runner out at 3rd.  The Mounties survived the inning and were esctatic to only be down 2 - 0 after all the carnage that went on in the inning.

Younan may have had problems on the mound but he was dominant at the plate and started the Mounties off in the top of the 2nd inning with a double,  Lindeman walked stole 2nd and both runners moved around the bases on Sebbens ground out.  Kingsbury and Yang knocked in Younan and Lindeman and the Mounties evened up the score and got back in the game.

The game stayed tied until West Hill scored 1 in the bottom of the 3rd to take a 3 - 2 lead.  Younan and Lindeman once again started things off for the Mounties reaching base on back to back singles.  Currie did his job and sac bunted them into scoring position and Sebben and Kingsbury responded with rbi Singles.  The Mounties with a 4 - 3 and Younan battling back from his earlier pitching jitters shut the Vipers down in the 4th inning.

The Mounties scored 2 in the 5th and 3 in the 6th and Yang came in nd struck out a total of 5 Batters shutting the Vipers out the rest of the way, on his way to picking up his first save of the season.  Younan was a Viper killer picking up the win and offensively scored 3 runs, had 2 hits, and 2 rbi's.

 
Game 3 Quarter Final: Mounties 10 Washington Senators 6
It was an early start as the Mounties were scheduled for the breakfast game something that has been happening a lot in recent tournaments.  Both teams were a bit sluggish at the plate in the early going and the Senators took the lead when they scored 1 in the bottom of the 2nd inning off of Mounties starter Gee.  The Mounties responded in the top of the 3rd when Quito walked, Ensing singled and then Hogan executed a sac bunt to move them into scoring positon.  Younan then grounded out to score Quito.  The Mounties kept the Senators off the scoreboard in the bottom of the 3rd.

With the score tied 1 - 1 the Mounties alarm clock finally went off and they stunned the Senators with 9 runs in the top of the 4th to take a 10 - 1 lead.  8 different Mounties reached base and scored in the inning exploding for a total of 8 hits including a triple by Younan and doubles by Quito Tintero and Gee.  However as fast as the Mounties woke up they went back to sleep in the bottom of the inning committing 2 errors on the first two Senator batters and then had to fight for their lives bringing in Ensing to put out the fire.   The smoke eventually cleared but the damage was done.  The Mounties were still leading 10 - 6 but the Senators had life and were back in the game.     

Due to the time limit the umpire stated that the 6th inning was going to be the last so the Mounties were hoping to be able to put some more runs up but the Senators retired the first 3 Mountie batters to end the inning.  The Senators had life but thanks to the stellar pitching of Ensing and a diving play up the hole by Younan the Mounties were able to hold off the Senators comeback.