You don't want a um strike out. Yeah, there's a strike out there. You don't want to end a a game like that uh on the base pass uh you know um with uh you know I think at the time you had Chris Bradica um you had Laro you had the top of the order anyway um although albeit with two outs you just don't want to make that uh out there so uh trying to create something where where something wasn't and um not yeah yep I just part of uh our discussion with him earlier uh today um you know he did bring up the Medway game and and how he he wants that one back. He wants that one back for sure. Well, here we are at the end of the third inning. Yeah. Let's see how many uh how many pitches is Grumb here. Got him at 36, George.
36. That's That's pretty good. Pretty efficient. Yep. 12 an inning. Um had a quick quick couple innings there. Yep. 12 pitches an inning. That's that's actually very good for a for a pitcher. Yeah. Yeah. Um talking with coach Messer uh before the game. Um again, Jared Grunwam, another one of these, you know, underassman who's able to do a a lot of uh um give give the team a lot of time. um he's able to do it on the mount, eat a lot of uh innings. Um he's hoping to take him, use him. Um there's a couple of guys that he goes to uh that coach Messer will go to consistently that are ready to go, but um yeah, definitely want to um see see um Grunbomb go deep. Not just because of the pitcher George, but what that's going to indicate if we're able to use him um into the fifth inning.
Uh it means that we're clean defensively. Yeah. And and that's the, you know, part of the turning the corner and and getting the train rolling and you know, you know, getting some momentum uh through the season. That ball's high. One ball, two strikes. Yeah, Jar's pretty accurate there. you know, he gets his strikes, then he, you know, tries to paint the corners. That's a high fly ball. What a catch. What a catch. Yeah, that's Aiden Cowan right there. Um, tough one now. So, he's uh right-handed and uh he's he's going over his right shoulder to make that play and um actually has to leave his feet to make sure he has a full grip on it. And not an easy play, but um but he gets it done. A great catch by Aiden Cow. You said he had had a great break on the ball running backwards over the opposite shoulder.
That's fantastic catch. Absolutely. Absolutely. He probably learned it from you, you know, back when he was playing little. That's right. With the um with the 10-year-old Reds team over at the uh minor field at Grenell. Uh you know, I believe they had a decent year that year, George, if I recall correctly. We used to do the uh the over over the shoulder running backwards catch drills. That's right. I think we called it pupfly derby. Uhhuh. Yep. All right, let's go. We got a Colin Sherman at bat. That's a strike. The count is now three and two. We got a full count here. Yep. He's uh headed down to first base a little bit early. You never want to see that. Yeah, fouls one off. Jared makes him continue to work here. So yeah, definitely saving a double if if not a triple there. Uh hard hit on the ground to Devin O'Brien.
Easy play to first base. Nice throw for the out. Good defense right here today so far for Ashlin. All right, two outs here. Top of the fourth inning. Brock Barry up at bat. No, short stop. Yep. He's got he's got good numbers offensively, George. Couple of guys um that um that coach TJ mentioned uh to us. Obviously, pitcher Payton, he brought up Brock. He brought up uh the catcher, John Sullivan. A a good um two sport athlete there. Yeah, Brock has the highest batting average on the team, although he's uh he's two and one now. That's enough for a strike. Yeah, Grump has he's thrown a great mix of uh you know fast balls and off speed stuff. There's another They caught him on that. Oh, he just buckled him George. He just did that here. He had the fast ball on the previous strike and then broke his broke his ankles on that one.
That's one of their top pers. That's one of their top uh baseball players there and he's going to hear it from his boys when he gets backed up back up. But um to your point, it's not um you know, it's it's a it's a it's a great um execution there by uh by Jared. Yeah. Yeah. Jar's really you had a little trouble the first game or two, but I think you know some people play better in a cold weather than others. You know, we definitely had some horrific weather to especially to be a pitcher. Oh yeah. Um but he was say this is a nice warm day and Yep. get loose and, you know, you just throw your balls and Yep. enjoy it. By ball flies to the air a little bit easier. Um, you know, your plays are a little bit um easier to see, cleaner to make.
A couple of spectators showing. It's funny. I, you know, the one thing I've unfortunately noticed at these games is we don't get a lot of uh high school kids or more kids showing up at the games. you know, some of the other in previous years I've seen a lot more show up and you know, certainly for the other sports you get a a huge turnout for the games, but uh you know, we have mostly parents and Yeah. Yeah. It takes a little while. You know, if I uh if I recall correctly, you know, you'll you'll get um into May um and you'll see a little a few more of the guys and girls uh show up and support the team. We had a few there on I want to say Monday. Nice. Um, you know, watching the game, not not the diehard fans like you who, you know, go Yeah.
go out and, you know, below freezing weather, standing in the cold hockey rings. Yeah. Yeah. I was um after that grafting game, that 35 degree game, I said, I don't think I've been that cold since uh uh hockey hockey season. Um our our playoff games down at the rink in Franklin. It's a hard hit ball to the shorts stop. Low throw to first base, but good job by the first baseman. Is that Soderberg? That's Soderberg. Yeah, not the swinging quite the swing he wanted to put on it. Um a little bit defensive swing there and um Brock um scoops it up and sends it over first for the out. Brings up Ian. That's high hit ball to the right fielder who tracks it down easily gets under it. Yeah. So Doug Walton out there. Yep. He's made a few few good catches out here today right in front of us here in right field.
Yeah. He's also had a uncatchable ball. So sure he appreciates those balls getting hit right. Yeah. car in a bat. Takes the first pitch for a strike. Yep. Payton Young's up to 51 pitches now, which isn't isn't terrible. Hard hit ground ball to the shorts stop. Picks it up. Nice throw to first base. Con was moving down that base path. I mean, that that was unbelievable hustle. Yeah, just can't beat it up. No, you can't. You're right. But that's, you know, that that's the way you have to run them, right? Yeah. I I think we've got ourselves a official pitching duel here, Joy. I think I think it's turned into it, you know. Um, definitely Payton like has got to appreciate that. Um, short half inning, you know, so far I think Ashlin has had uh three hits and Bellingham has had one hit. Y both pitches have three strikeouts.
Obviously there's no no runs. So yeah. No, the um yeah, Ashlin's left a couple of guys on base. Probably about three or four guys total. Bellingham has left a guy or two on base, but uh relatively clean uh game um from the mound here by both teams and we expected that. We expected both of these teams are coming in. They're not, as we said, the strongest teams in uh their divisions, in their league. Um so they're coming in here um attitude-wise that this is a game for us. This is a game we can we can u make a difference in our season. And so you you can see it in the way uh the pitches are approaching the game. You can see the way the defense is uh approaching the game. We've already seen a couple of diving plays uh both teams. Um so you know um that that word you know compete and that's where it comes uh that's where it plays out in the game George is um you know that extra effort to uh give yourself a chance.
Yep. First pitch ground ball to Deon O'Brien over a third base. Easy throw to first for the out. Those kinds of plays are great for your pitch count. Absolutely. And a good play there by Deon on the high hop. Um he attacked the ball. Right through it strike. Yeah, right through it there. It's a DHI was a freshman. flies out to left field quickly. Have two away. Eric Johnson with that. A good catch there by Yane out there in left. One ball, no strikes. That's high. Another ball. Gets in there for a strike. Look like Eric was taking all the way. A little dribbler. Close play there at first. He's calling him out. He's calling him out. What do you think? What a great play. He did not. We had We had Jared covering first and then Chris come and make the flip. Uh no signal there, but Oh jeez.
I think you got to give it give the tie to the defense on that one when you see that kind of play. Yeah. What uh and you know, so listen, maybe Eric Johnson is not the biggest guy on the on the Hawks uh roster, but he was hustling down the line. So, real close play there. That was a beauty. Yeah, that was a great play. Again, you we don't have the angle. The umpire is on top of it, but it looked like he got there. Yeah, but I think the umpire was literally on top of the base. So, you know, he saw what really happened and amazing play by Ashlin to uh be able to turn that. Yeah. Well, it all starts with that pitch from Jared. I mean, he just fooled Eric on that one. So, I mean, that's a that's a deep bunt on a, you know, a half swing, uh, which is what's happening there to to create that space.
That's probably an infield hit, uh, just for the confluence of events, uh, in that just one single play. But, uh, the hustle for Jared and it, you know, Jared starts off going for the ball, but the ability to pivot and cover first and for Chris to come over, back him up and make the flip. Beautiful baseball right there. Yeah. I think a lot of it was that J didn't want to get run over by Chris, which which I wouldn't want to be run over by Chris either. No. No. Uh yeah, he's um you know, uh Jared's um thickened up over the years, but he's not quite where Chris is at stature. So, no. Yeah, that that that would have been a tragic event. We're bottom of the fifth inning now. Finn Connory at bat. Yep. One ball, no strikes. Take that high for a ball.
Payton still throwing some throwing some heat out there. Yeah, Payton sensing Yeah, Payton sensing the the bottom half of the Yoda here and and and trying to overpower batters here. Uh Ian being um Finn being patient here. Got three balls, no strikes. F shows bunt. Although everybody knew he wasn't gonna bunt. Three balls, one strike. Hard hit ball that gets through the infield. He's going to turn it, George. He's going to turn it. He's Yeah, he's in there standing up. It's good speed. taking advantage of the inconsistent grass length in the Ashlin High School outfield that either ties up the ball or lets it skid all the way out to the fence. Yes. Yeah. Putting a hard ball through the 56 cap there between the third baseman and the short stop. Um and uh showing a little bit of athleticism there with the foot speed to get there to second standing up.
Yeah, he was flying. That's a good double forgets. Yep. And again, Ashlin runner in scoring position here early in the uh early in the inning. Yeah, with no outs and Luke O'Brien up at bat. Luke goes to Bunt and ball goes outside, but because Luke was squared to bunt, he's getting called a strike. Yeah, tough to see what the Reed over there for the if coach was wanting Finn to uh get down to third there and Luke was committed to the pitch. Squares again, pulls it back. Pulls outside one and one pitchers do it like this. just, you know, each of the coach just wants to get one run on the board. Uh pops that one up. Foul. Pton Young throws throws hard. He's he's going to be a tough guy to bunt off. Yeah. Now we have one ball, two strikes. So the bunts signal will be called off.
Yeah, definitely throwing um throwing more fast balls this end of the order. Luke takes that one for ball. Yeah, looks like a a slider there. Two balls, two strikes. Runner on second. Young steps off the mound. high. We're starting to finally hear a lot of chatter from the uh the Ashlin bench. And yeah, they sense it. They sense it here. They do. This is a chance. And uh they got to they got to they got a battle here for one full count. Oh, he rings him up. Rings him up. That was caught the very bottom of a strike zone on that one. Yeah. Well, I'm sure Luke doesn't agree with you, but uh if it if it did catch it, it was right there uh at the knee. And um that's a good battle there. It's a good battle uh at at the plate. Um not the result that I want down the third time through.
They're going to they're going to give Chris uh first base um and give themselves a um a double play opportunity here and stay away from Bradica who really ripped the ball there and um I want to say it was the third inning. Brings up Laro asked for a timeout. All right, so we have one out. Runners on first and second after the intention to walk on Chris Baratica. Sure. Chris will take it, but I I know he probably wanted to be up there swinging. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that ball's high. So, we'll see if um Payton can make the adjustment. So, we've seen him, you know, try to attack the the players at the bottom of the order with a lot more fast balls. You know, the guy's up here at the top of the order. He's trying to fool him or give him a breaking ball.
Another one that goes high. So, he's got a two and0 uh to Laro here. Uh see if he can pitch through this situation. Two runners on with an out. Three balls in a row. That's uh uncharacteristic of Payton. Yeah. Um you know, you're talking about um you a guy who's been who's been out there for uh four and a half innings so far. He's close to 70 pitches. um trying to find a spot where he can find the plate on a breaking ball and not groove a fast ball to this kid here. He does. Hard hit on the ground. Second, they can't get the runner at first. Smart play. Smart play not to throw that ball and take a chance of uh overthrowing, but yeah, you got another chance uh George to your to your point. Yep. Yep. So, Fielder Fielder's choice um to the shorts stop out at second base.
Now, we have runners on first and third. Yeah, kind of similar situation. We saw this early in the game with Finn on u I don't think it was Finn on uh third, Ollie at first, two outs. See what happens here. I got Deon O'Brien, senior up at the plate. Takes the first pitch high for a ball. Two outs. Laro goes. I don't know if the catcher was going to go for it, but he lost the ball in the transition. Yeah, I I don't think he would have thrown. I give that uh Well, we'll see how they score in the, you know, um I don't know about you, George. I'm I'm barely uh able to broadcast the game, never mind. Do the book. So, we'll leave the scorekeeping to someone who can determine whether that's a stolen base or defensive indifference, right? It depends on whose dad is doing game.
That's right. Well, I I um I slipped Mr. Grun bomb a 50 on the way past earlier, so I'm pretty sure that's a stolen base. Oh, that gets called first. It's a little low and outside from from again from here. Yeah. Yeah. And I I'm sure it was the right call. We have two balls, two two balls, one strike or two balls, two strikes. Two balls, two strikes. Runners at second and third. Hard hit ground ball that gets through the gap. That's going to score two. Second on the throw. Pay attention. Oh, he's got him there if he back picks him. What do you say? Wow. Nice job. Deon O'Brien rips a single right up the middle right over second base. Uh center field did a good job getting on it. Had a really good th good accurate throw to the plate. I think if he, you know, a little bit harder, he would have actually had the runner on that throw.