MOUNT VERNON — In the end it doesn’t always matter how the runs were scored, just that they came across the plate.
That was the case for the North Whidbey Little League 9-10 year-old baseball team on Tuesday night, as they scored two late runs via South Whidbey errors and escaped with a 4-3 victory in its tournament opener.
Up 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, NWLL hitter Grant Schroder led off the inning with a walk on four pitches. With the next hitter, Jack Richter at the plate, Schroder stole second. The attempted pick-off throw then sailed into center field and allowed Schroder to score all the way from first.
With one out, Joe Webster connected on a single to left field. He then took second on a wild pitch, stole third and came home on the same play as the result of a bad pick-off throw from the South Whidbey catcher.
“You try to take advantage of the fast kids,†NWLL manager Peter Richter said. “You don’t want to sometimes, but you’ve got to push them in.â€
The two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth proved crucial for North Whidbey, which allowed two runs of its own in the top half of the sixth and final inning.
South Whidbey finally found a bit of a groove off NWLL pitcher Jack Richter stringing together two walks, a bloop single and an RBI ground out.
Despite the little bump, Richter still ended the game with impressive stats, striking out 10 and only allowing two hits.
“He wasn’t getting the first two pitches over and their coach caught on,†coach Richter said. “But he kept coming back from a 2-0 count, it was just crazy.â€
Offensively, Schroder ended the game 2-for-2 with one RBI and two walks and Ben Miller added another RBI for North Whidbey.
FHLL 8, NWLL 1
North Whidbey dropped its second tournament game, 8-1, to Friday Harbor Little League on Thursday night.
The loss set up a loser-out, match-up between Central Whidbey Little League and NWLL last night.
The game occured too late to get results in the News-Times. Expect scores in Wednesday’s edition.