by Gabe Zoda
WALK OFF WIN. The Bonnie Rockets send it home in the bottom of the 7th with this BOMB from Willie King. F: Bonnies 3, East End Aviators 2. pic.twitter.com/Y61T17Sgvr
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 10, 2021
In the 16u division for LI Boys of Summer, the East End Aviators took on the Bonnie Rockets in a Double Header at the PAL complex.
Both of these games went down to the wire and both teams showed how evenly matched they truly are in these games. They would end up splitting the games in the DH. In the first game, the Aviators would take it by the score of 4-3. In the second game the Bonnies would take it by a score of 2-1.
To start off the first game, The Aviators would send out Hayden Preston to the hill. He would end up being the winning pitcher of the game with a line of 5IP, 6Ks, 2BBs.
The Bonnie Rockets wouldn’t make it easy for them though as they would start the first game off with a run. This inning would start with a leadoff single from Shane WIlliams. Shane would then get onto third after stealing second and third.
This gave batter Oiram Williams a clear cut job. That job was to get him in and he knew he only needed a fly ball to get that done. He would do just that and score the first run of the game.
The score would stay 1-0 for a couple of innings after that as both starting pitchers (Hayden Preston and Rene Davis (LP)). The next time the game would have any more runs on the board would be in the 4th inning.
In this 4th inning, the Bonnies would put on two more runs to give themselves a 3-0 lead. The first of those runs came from an error on an attempted DP. Oriam Williams was on 2nd base when Jalen Bryant grounded into what should have been a DP but an error was made which allowed Oriam to score the run.
The next batter, Sean Torres, would then bring in Jalen Bryant after he smashed a 2B down the third base line.
Now with time winding down in the first game, the East End Aviators knew that they weren’t going to go out in this game without any type of fight. They would show a “Never give up” approach in the bottom of the 4th where they would immediately respond and put up 4 runs in that inning.
The way they would show this is by putting up quality at bat after quality at bat. They took very close pitches and made it tough for Rene Davis. Avery Siska would start things off with a walk.
Riley Herman, who batted right after Siska would hit a 1B that would put runners on 1st and 2nd. The Next three batters (Jackson Loper, Jaden Propisil and Matt Brewer) would all get HBP and that is where the first 2 runs would score. After Brewer, James Farell would continue this streak of offensive fortune with a single that brought in the 3rd run.
The 4th run of the inning would come During Nick Daleo’s AB. With runners on the corners, the Aviators tried to get the runner at first into scoring position. Sean Torres (Catcher for the Bonnies) would make a really nice throw to get the out at second but it allowed the runner from third to come in to score the 4th run of the game for the East End Aviators.
That would do it for the scoring for the first game and the Aviators would be able to shut down the Bonnies in the 5th and the 6th to secure their win in game 1 of the DH.
The second game would be even more electric, but not in the sense of a lot of runs being scored. This game showcased really good stuff from both starting pitchers and finish that almost felt as if it came from a movie.
To start this one, the Aviators would continue their momentum that they built from the last game and score quickly in the top of the 1st inning.
Kevin Ohlsen would kick off the action in this inning by getting hit by a pitch. The next batter, Avery Siska would move Ohlsen from first to second with a single.
Riley Herman would score Ohlsen from 2nd after a 2B into RF. That run might’ve given them the lead but it wouldn’t last for long as the Bonnie Rockets would strike right back with a run of their own.
In this inning, the Bonnies would get their first two runners on (Shane and Oiram Williams) due to errors from the pitcher and the 3rd baseman. Rene Davis would then come and pinch run for Shane and would score the tying run on a Willie King.
On this hit down the line, Rene would score easily but King would get a cramp in his calf which would lead to him getting put out on a toss to first.
Willie King would not be done in this game though. The game would go quiet as Starting Pitchers Shane Williams and John Schnider would show off some really good stuff to keep their opposition quiet on the offensive side of things.
In the 4th inning this would change as Willie King would power through the calf cramp and launch a Single to the fence in left field to score Oiram Williams and give the Bonnies a 2-1 lead heading into the 5th inning.
In this 5th inning, The Aviators would immediately tie things right back up at 2. This run would score due to an error on a pick off attempt at 3rd base. Matt Brewer was able to come in from third and tie things up at 2.
As things seemed to be leading towards a tie in the bottom of the 7th, all things would change in the bottom of the 7th. THe Aviators were able to easily get the first two batters out and all signs were leading towards a 2-2 draw.
We spoke with Willie King after his 2-3 1HR 3RBI game. pic.twitter.com/KwKA9GbIOH
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 10, 2021
One man would step into the box and change all of that. That man was none other than Willie King. The man who fell earlier in the game with the cramp, the man who drove in the only 2 runs the Bonnies had scored in that game, the man who wanted to do everything he could to win.
He would blast one out to left field and also send his bat flying with an emphatic bat flip. As soon as he hit it, he and everyone else knew it was gone and the Bonnies would take home the victory in the second game to split the DH.
Both teams left that game 2-2 on the Summer season and look to get over .500 in there next games.
