Stockton Grizzlies - Stourbridge Titans
Grizzlies travel for first away game of the season!
Stockton Grizzlies - 21 Stourbridge Titans - 2
Match report brought to you by Rugby Taekwondo Academy.
This past weekend the Grizzlies travelled to our buddies, Stourbridge Titans, for their first away game of the season.
The Grizzlies started out steady with our first two batters in the lineup, Mushinksi and Bird, getting on base with singles. After some pesky baserunning, keeping Titans on their toes and forcing some pickoff attempts (around 6 in a row…), Mushinski came home and scored the first run of the day taking advantage of a Titans error. Bird was brought home by Lutz who started his day at the plate with an RBI knock. A little bit of patience at the dish saw Jackson drive in another single. Playing some small ball inning one it seems. Continuing with that style of play, some smart baserunning and some consistent hits from the rest of the team both Jackson and Lutz made it home. 4 runs for the good guys after the top of the first.
It was time for the Grizzlies to hit the field with Waterton leading from the bump. Titan’s leadoff hit a sharp grounder which Mushinski unfortunately stopped with his foot due to a nasty bounce, however it didn’t knock Waterton off his game as the next two batters were soon sent back to the dugout with strikeouts to their name. With Titans taking another hit and bringing their lead batter home. Leon limited any damage in the inning with a routine flyout to the infield to get the third out. At the end of the inning Grizzlies were in the lead 4-1.
Grizzlies showed patience at the plate again and with catcher Luke Johnson taking a walk to start off the inning. With the next 5 batters all getting a single it should’ve lead to a few more runs than were actually reaped. Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, Titan’s made some outs on lead runners leaving only Mushinski making it across the plate brought home by Wilshire. We left the inning only adding one other run to the scoreboard.
Waterton and the team worked hard to get the bats back out there, so it was nice to see that effort rewarded with a scoreless inning of defense, keeping the Titans from adding anything to their scoreboard in the bottom of inning 2.
Inning 3 was another strong showing from the Grizzlies as they added more runs to the board with Mushinski, Johnson and Waterton all crossing the plate. Great time to mention the hit from Johnson that nearly cleared the fence- however the poor catcher didn’t know what to do with himself and ended up looking like a deer in the headlights. What could’ve been a stand-up double/maybe triple turned into an awkward sliding double and Johnson making an utter fool of himself… Lesson learned- maybe run next time?
Albie was dealing from the mound and with some consistency from the field we kept Titan’s scoreless once more. Grizzlies - 8 Titans - 1.
The runs kept coming in the top of the 4th inning for the Grizzlies with another single from Jackson who was brought home by Rob Cumming. The Grizzlies were making the most of Titan’s mistakes, getting on base and scoring on some errors at 1B (some rough picks to be fair to Titans) and a couple of passed balls. Have to respect the heads up baserunning eh?
Bottom of the 4th and the Grizzlies had a solid lead but they let up on their defense slightly and Titans managed to squeeze in a run. The scoreboard reading Grizzlies - 10 Titans - 2, if the Grizzlies could add some more runs there was a potential mercy in play.
All they would need is a couple more runs and then hold the Titans scoreless for another bottom of the inning.
This was the fire that set the Grizzlies off as run after run was scored. Adding a total of 11 runs to the board and nearly all the batting lineup scoring as they batted through. Some incredible work from the team, when the bats are hot, the bats are hot. All they had to do now was defend the lead and the game was done, an early finish on an overcast Sunday.
Waterton and the team knew their job and did it incredibly well only allowing one runner on base with a walk- the second one allowed all game. Waterton ended the game on a strikeout, with 5 innings of work, two walks and only 5 hits allowed. We can all agree, a great outing. Albie picking up the MVP for his excellent work on the mound and honorable mentions from Lutz and Bird going 4-5 and 5-5 respectively with 11 combined RBI’s- good look for the stat lines.
The game ended with the mercy rule coming into effect with the final score being Grizzlies - 21 and Titans - 2. It was a really great game for the Grizzlies and many thanks to Stourbridge Titans for a good game and we look forward to the return fixture at home later in the season! Next week we travel to Long Eaton Storm Chasers for the start to our stint of away games!
