by Gabe Zoda
In the bottom half of the 1st, the Lions take the lead with 2 runs of their own. The first of which was scored with this sac fly by Jagger Franco, scoring his brother Brayden. pic.twitter.com/rb2YMfSlGg
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 10, 2022
Columbus day is always a mark in the year that lets us know that the weather is soon to change into the cold side. It also lets us know to expect playoff style baseball. Luckily for the Longwood Lions and the B1000 Seminoles-Parise, the weather held at a beautiful moderate temperature for some championship baseball. This game ended up seeing the Longwood Lions taking home the championship via rune rule with a 10-2 score.
The scoring started right off the gates in the top of the first inning. The B1000 Seminoles were looking to set the tone early with this run, Matt Denicker Would get things going with a single to left center. He would steal 2nd giving the Seminoles a scoring opportunity. With 2 outs in the inning, Dylan Keiser hit a bomb over the left fielder’s head to knock in the game’s first run which gave the Seminoles a very early 1-0 lead.
The Longwood Lions were poised to get back on the board, they weren’t going to let a shaky inning define their game. They would respond with 2 runs of their own. The first was scored by a sac fly by Jagger Franco, He scored his brother, Brayden (who reached on an error). Van Johnson would then hit a double to get the Lions immediately back into scoring position. That allowed Kyle Robinson to come up and drive Van in with a single. Those 2 runs put the Lions up 2-1 and they would never look back.
In the top of the 2nd, the Lions really cleaned up their act and kept the Seminoles off the board with a double play to close out the inning. A runner was on 2nd base for the Seminoles and was doubled off after the Lions caught a flyout. This defensive play could’ve saved a run since order was just about to turn over.
The Lions carried this momentum into the bottom of the 2nd where they added 4 runs to their total. The inning started off with 2 walks from Matt Zielinski and Ryan Greene, the runners would work their way to scoring position and then Zielinski would come around to score after a throwing error to first on a Brayden Franco hard hit ground ball. After Brayden, Jagger came up and walked which set the stage for Van Johnson. He ripped a ground ball right through the 5-6 hole which initially scored Ryan Greene, but an interference call allowed Franco to score as well. The Lions would put up one more run on a passed ball to give them a 6-1 lead going into the 3rd inning.
The Lions put together a big inning in the bottom of the 2nd pouring in 3 runs. The big hit was from Van Johnson with an RBI single and then an interference call to bring in another run. They currently lead 6-1 after 2. pic.twitter.com/SGCBSI6pu5
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 10, 2022
The top of the 3rd was a complete shutdown inning for starting pitcher Brayden Franco, who struck out the side, he would finish the game as the WP with 4 IP, 5 Ks, 2 BBs.
The Lions then would tack on one more run in the bottom half after an RBI hit from Brody Barbara. That hit scored Kyle Robinson, who started the inning off with a leadoff single.
The top of the 4th saw the Seminoles try and get back into this game. Matt Denicker would hit an RBI single to make the score 7-2. Unfortunately, it seemed as that was too much, too late as the Lions still had all of the momentum and to prove it, they came right back in the bottom half of the 4th
The Lions would tack one one more run in the 4th on a Jake Rau RBI 1B. They would then walk 2 more runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to complete their run rule victory of 10-2 over the B100 Seminoles.
The Lions showed good situational hitting to make sure to score those extra couple runs that wouldn’t have been scored without the situational hits. They also played clean defense and had shut down pitching all game. With all of those factors, it is not surprising they took home the championship.
