by Nicholas Cipolla
Sac Fly to right by Steven Hardiman makes it 3-0 Next Level pic.twitter.com/u4DltI9flX
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 28, 2021
Olivia Pichardo has become a larger than life figure as she has become one of the best female pitchers in America. Today she showed any doubters that the hype surrounding her is in fact real.
Pichardo had an outstanding outing against the Diamond Spikes in a 4-2 win for Next Level. She had many innings where she had only 6 or 7 pitches, thus allowing her to pitch deeper into the game and continue to frustrate the Diamond Spike batters.
Pichardo finished the game with only allowing 2 hits over 5 innings of work, striking out 2 and walking only 1 batter. She even had a streak of retiring 12 batters in a row after issuing a walk in the first inning. She was getting a lot of soft contact as she mixed in her pitches very well, keeping the opposing hitters on their toes.
Offensively, neither team was able to score until the bottom of the third inning. The bases were loaded for Next Level and the Diamond Spikes were looking for a ground ball to save a run and potentially get two outs to make the situation easier to deal with.
The Diamond Spikes were able to get the ground ball they needed, they got the force at home for one. However, the catcher made a throwing error as he airmailed the throw into right field allowing for a run to score and set up a first and third with one out. A first and third double steal pulled off perfectly by Next Level made it 2-0 with one out and a man on second base. A passed ball led to a Steven Hardiman sacrifice fly to knock in a run, making it 3-0 Next Level
In the fourth inning, Brendan Connolly hit an RBI single to make it a 4-0 game.
The Diamond Spikes weren’t going away without a fight. Tyler Farrell stepped up with 2 men on in the top of the seventh inning and he capitalized by hitting a line drive right up the middle for a base hit, knocking in the first run of the game for the Diamond Spikes.
The Diamond Spikes get a run with 2 outs in the top of the 7th on a Tyler Farrell single up the middle to make it a 4-1 game. pic.twitter.com/FALMe1X2gF
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 28, 2021
Charlie Kinsie hit a ground ball to shortstop and he beat the throw to first, allowing for one last run to score. Cutting the Next Level lead to 2 runs.
Jack Coogan was called upon by Next Level to get out of the inning and all he needed was one pitch to get a groundout to end the game
