By Madison McEntire
WINCHESTER, Va. — One day after losing an intense 10-inning marathon, the Bryant 10-year-old All-Stars came out[more] nervous and uncharacteristically sloppy on defense in front of a large partisan crowd and quickly fell behind 12-0 to the host team from Winchester, Va., in game marred by a lightning delay and then eventually postponed by rain.
The Bryant team members are Logan Catton, Logan Chambers, Logan Grant, Cade Dupree, Nathan McFarland, Coby Greiner, Will McEntire, Ryan Lessenberry, Hunter Mullings, Ty Jackson, Konnor Clontz, Jacob Shepard, and Brock Bariola. The manager is Michael Catton and the assistant coaches are Phillip Dupree and Madison McEntire.
Bryant was the visiting team and batted first. Catton led off and grounded a hard shot up the middle but the Winchester second baseman made a nice backhanded stop, got to his feet and made the throw to first. Lessenberry then singled up the middle but Chambers and Grant both struck out to end the inning.
McEntire took the mound for Bryant and retired the leadoff batter on a fly to Catton in center. The next batter singled but Bryant recorded the second out of the inning when Mullings made a nice diving catch in left on a well-hit line drive. McEntire then walked the next batter on four pitches and then gave up as single to left to load the bases. Bryant appeare3d to be out of the inning when the next batter hit a slow roller toward short but Chambers lost his grip on the ball while removing it from his glove and all the runners were safe and a run scored. Another walk then brought a run in and made the score 2-0. Winchester’s eight-hole hitter then hit the first pitch for a pop fly to the left of second base. Chambers raced out, stumbled and dropped the ball which allowed two runs to score. A walk to the next batter loaded the bases and then McEntire gave up a line drive single to left. The ball got by Mullings in left field as three runs scored to make it 7-0. Greiner replaced McEntire on the mound and his first pitch was wild, allowing the runner to take third. The umpire then spotted lightning and the game was postponed for approximately 50 minutes.
When play resumed, another wild pitch brought in the runner from third. Greiner then walked a batter to put a runner on before giving up a line drive double to left that was just inside the foul line. The runner from first scored and the batter advanced to third on the throw to the plate. The next batter grounded to Dupree at third but his throw to first was off the mark allowing the runner from third to score and the batter to advance to second. Greiner then got a grounder to Dupree at third for the third out and the first inning was finally over with Winchester up 10-0.
In the top of the second, Dupree grounded back to the mound and McFarland fouled out to the catcher. Greiner then singled to the second baseman on a ball near the second base bag but Mullings popped to third to end the inning.
Winchester added to their lead in the top of the second. Greiner retired the first batter on a grounder to McFarland at first who flipped to Greiner who was covering the first base bag. Then a single to center and two walks loaded the bases. McFarland came in to pitch with Greiner moving to second and Grant taking over at first base. A nice diving stop up the middle by Greiner resulted in a fielder’s choice at second for an out but a run scored on the play. With runners on the corners, McFarland took the return throw after his next pitch and attempted to catch the Winchester runner off third but his throw was wild allowing the runner to score and trail runner to move to second.
With a 3-1 count on the batter, the teams were again ushered off the field at the sight of lightning. A few minutes later the skies opened and a heavy rain fell. After a delay of about 50 minutes the game was postponed with Winchester leading 12-0.
Play will resume Monday, Aug. 15 at 9 a.m. CST. Later in the evening at 6:30 CST, Bryant will play their regularly scheduled game against Willamatte Valley, Oregon.