(AP - Ottawa) It's been said all year that the simple plays are what win you ball games. Above everything else, make the out. If it causes the other team to score a run or two, make the out. Outs are key. And when the left-fielder dropped the pop-fly in the fourth inning, leading to a multi-run blow-out by Valley, it proved strongly why making an out is the most important thing of all.
Seb started the game pitching, and pitched a solid game with a couple strike outs, and a minimum amount of walks. The defense made a few mistakes, over-throwing first from left-field, and mis-judging bounces in the infield. And Valley, the best team in the division, DID manage to hit very strongly, pounding as couple taters and some very strong singles and doubles.
The team had it's second best offensive game of the year, with Dan Robert, Martin Glazer and Ian Dunbar all getting some key hits. Chris Amos also laid down a great bunt.
In the fourth inning, Seb got hit hard by a couple batters and was pulled for Martin Glazer. Glazer came in and would have closed the inning down, unfortunately, one batter popped up to left field, and the anonymous Rogue seemed hand-cuffed, took some baby-steps backwards, got under the ball, then seemed to be trying to fight it off as it came down like a rocket. It bounced off the fielder's glove and into the gravel. Valley then proceeded to strike and strike hard, with a 9 run drubbing. Was this error an isolated incident?
It happened again in the following inning, when a line drive was smoked down the left field line, and the fielder ran towards it, got a beat on it, and the ball spun right out of his glove, into foul territory. Ruled a ground-rule double, the disgruntled fielder screamed an obsenity and hurled the ball back to the SS. Of course, at this point, Valley started waving at pitches just to strike out and end the game.
Would it have been close had that ball been snagged? Probably. The thing now is to look at this error as a lesson. Making an easy out sometimes isn't that easy, and no play should be taken for granted. NEVER think about what you have to do after you make the out...just make the out.
And on Wednesday against C.B.U. Publications, that's exactly what we're going to do.
