AAA Sox go 2-3 at tourney
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EDMOND, Okla. — The Bryant Blacksox AAA American Legion team suffered not only its first loss of the season but two more at the Edmond, Okla., Diamond Classic held June 9 through 12. But each of the losses were by one run against select teams from around the region.
Bryant opened the tourney with an 18-0 romp over the Dallas Wildcats on Thursday, June 9. A scheduled game after that between the Sox and the Oklahoma Bandits was rained out. On Friday, the first loss came by a score of 2-1 to the Wichita, Kansas, Gators followed by a gut-wrenching 6-5 setback against a team from the Deeb, Nebraska, near Omaha. On Saturday, the sox gained a forfeit from Moore, Okla., before suffering another 2-1 loss, this time to Enid Okla.
The results left the Sox 8-3 going into another prestigious tournament, the Twin Lakes Classic in Mountain Home. They were set to begin pool play there against Belton, Mo., on Thursday, June 16, at 5 p.m. On Friday, pool play continues against Harrison before concluding on Saturday against Brentwood, Mo. The championship tournament for the 24-team event will be Sunday.
Bryant 18,
Dallas Wildcats 0
The Blacksox opened the tournament with a five-inning victory over the Wildcats, a Connie Mack program consisting of players from the Dallas metro area.
The Sox opened the scoring in the top of the first inning. Todd Bryan doubled and Danny Riemenschneider walked. With one out, Aaron Davidson singled to center to score Bryan, and Zack Young singled to score Riemenschneider. A wild pitch scored Davidson, and the Sox led 3-0.
The outburst continued in the second, when Casey Grisham slammed his third home run of the season to make it 4-0. Bryan walked with one out, and moved to third on a wild pick-off throw. Justin Wells’ grounder to short was booted, allowing Bryan to score, and Davidson collected his second hit, a double off the wall in left that brought in Wells to make the score 6-0 after two innings.
In the third, Richie Wood singled with one out and Grisham walked. Daniel Price laced a double down the left field line to score Wood, Bryan plated Grisham with a sacrifice fly, and Price scored on a passed ball to increase the lead to 9-0 after three.
The Sox tacked on four more in the fourth courtesy of singles by Davidson, Wood, Grisham and Price, and tallied five in the fifth on back to back doubles by Wells, Davidson, and Young, and singles by Cory Lambert, Wood and Travis Queck.
Supported by the offensive outburst, James Leigh, in his Sox debut this summer after pitching for the Texarkana College team that reached the JUCO World Series, pitched a five inning no hitter, striking out nine while walking six on 88 pitches. Leigh, a 37th round draft pick by the Minnesota Twins, relied primarily on his fastball to overpower the Wildcats as the Sox moved to 7-0 on the season.
Davidson finished the contest with a 4-for-5 performance, including two doubles and three runs batted in. Richie Wood was 3-for-4, and Young, Grisham and Price collected two hits each as the Sox banged out 17 hits for the day.
Wichita Gators 2, Bryant 1
The Sox lost their first game of the year to the Gators, a Connie Mack team consisting of players from 12 separate high schools in the Wichita area.
Price started for the Sox and kept the Gators in check through the first five innings, allowing no runs on only two hits. Meanwhile, the Sox were unable to capitalize on several different scoring opportunities. In the second inning, they loaded the bases as Davidson singled to begin the inning. With two out, Wood was hit by a pitch, and Grisham walked. However, the three runners were stranded on a 3-2 called third strike.
With one out in the fourth, Young reached on an error by the Gator shortstop, and Cory Lambert reached when the Wichita first basemen threw wildly to second on his ground ball. Wood walked to load the bases, but Grisham hit into an inning-ending doubleplay to strand the runners.
The Sox broke the scoreless duel in the sixth inning. Davidson doubled to right center and Young placed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move him to third with one out. Lambert grounded to second to score Davidson and the Sox led 1-0.
Price allowed a lead-off double in the bottom of the sixth. After a groundout and a pop up, the Gators’ designated hitter singled to left to tie the game. Price worked around a lead-off hit batsmen in the seventh, but also hit the lead-off hitter in the eighth inning. The next batter bunted and reached first when first base was left uncovered.
Grisham was brought in to face the Gators’ left-handed hitting center fielder, and induced him to hit a ground ball to Lambert at first. Lambert threw to second for the force, and the relay throw to first resulted in a collision between Lambert and the runner. Although the runner never touched first base, the umpire ruled him safe, saying that Lambert did not allow him to reach the base. The call did not factor in the outcome, as the next Gator hitter singled to left to drive in the winning run.
Davidson collected the only two hits for the Sox after they had banged out 17 hits the previous day.
Deeb, Neb. 6, Bryant 5
After the tight loss to Wichita, the Sox were back at action right away against the Deeb Mustangs, an American Legion team from Omaha. Wells got the start, and cruised through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. An error to the Mustangs lead-off hitter was followed by two perfectly place bunts to load the bases with no outs. Two singles and a walk followed and the Mustangs led 3-0. Wells induced a 1-2-3 double play, but a two out single by the Mustangs designated hitter increased the score to 4-0.
Offensively, the Sox scoring drought continued, especially with two outs, a theme that was repeated throughout the tournament. Bryan walked to open the game and reached second base on a groundout but was stranded. With two out in the second, Wood doubled to the gap in left center, but he too was stranded. And in the third, Riemenschneider and Davidson singled with two out, but a ground ball followed to keep the Sox scoreless.
In the bottom of the fourth, Wells allowed a lead off single to end his outing. Cory Lambert came in to pitch and allowed an infield single. The Mustangs pulled off a double steal which was followed by a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch and the Sox trailed 6-0 after four innings. Lambert kept the Sox in the game over the next two innings, allowing no runs on only two hits.
Meanwhile, the Sox began their comeback attempt in the sixth inning. Riemenschneider singled to open the inning, and moved to second as Young walked with one out. Grisham doubled into the right center gap to score Riemenschneider, and Price walked. Wood singled to right to score Young to cut the deficit to 6-2, but with the bases still loaded the Sox hit into an inning-ending doubleplay.
In the seventh, Devin Hurt reached on an error and Bryan walked. Riemenschneider singled to right to load the bases with no outs, and Davidson singled to cut the deficit to 6-3. With the tying runs aboard, the Mustangs called on their closer to finish the game. Young greeted him with a shot over the bag at third that was ruled a foul ball on a call that could have gone either way (and probably would have tied the game). Instead, Young grounded to the pitcher for a force out at home. Grisham worked a walk to drive in a run, and Price overcame an 0-2 count to also walk, and the Sox trailed only 6-5.
With the bases still loaded and only one out, Wood fanned. With a one ball count to Lambert, the Mustangs closer unleashed a wild pitch, and Young raced for home to tie the game except the ball ricocheted right back to the plate and he was called out on a bang-bang play at the plate, resulting in a 6-5 Mustang win.
With the loss, the Sox fell to 7-2, and were forced to play in a 10:30 game the next day against Moore, Okla. The Sox collected a 7-0 forfeit win then as the team from Moore decided not to continue in the tournament. With the win, the Sox moved into the quarterfinals at 6:30 against Enid, Oklahoma, an American Legion team considered to be one of the two favorites (the other being Midwest City) to win the Oklahoma state tournament.
Enid, Okla. 2, Bryant 1
The Sox called on Grisham to face Enid, and the big lefty responded, holding the highly-touted Enid team to no runs on only one hit through the first four innings.
For the Sox, Bryan singled to open the bottom of the first, and was sacrificed to second by Riemenschneider. Davidson continued his hot hitting with a single to right to score Bryan, giving the Sox a 1-0 lead. Young followed with a single to left, but Grisham grounded into a doubleplay to end the inning.
In the second, Wood singled to left, but again the Sox hit into a doubleplay to end the inning and, in the third, Bryan reached on an error and Riemenschneider was hit by a pitch, but consecutive ground balls left them stranded.
Working on a limited pitch count (Grisham had not worked in a game since April), Grisham was asked to get the lead-off hitter in the fifth, who promptly responded with a fly ball. However, the fly was dropped for an error and Grisham was pulled in favor of Lambert who responded by sandwiching a walk around a fly out and a ground out. But with two outs, Kirk Elliot, the Enid third baseman, singled to left to tie the game. Lambert struck out the Enid three-hole hitter to end the inning.
Riemenschneider and Davidson singled with two out in the bottom of the fifth, but a ground ball to the shortstop ended the inning. Lambert allowed a lead-off double to open the sixth, and Bryan was summoned to pitch. After a walk with a base open, Bryan fanned the next hitter, and induced an inning-ending doubleplay to keep the game tied.
Grisham singled to open the bottom of the sixth, but Wood’s bunt attempt was hauled in on a terrific play by Elliot, who threw to first to double up Grisham.
In the seventh, Enid took the lead. With one out, Bryan allowed a single, and the Enid runner swiped second on a delayed steal attempt. Travis Wilson singled to left to score the runner, but Bryan induced another inning-ending doubleplay to keep the Sox within one run.
Travis Queck opened the bottom of the seventh with a bad-hop single over the second baseman. Bryan fanned on a borderline pitch after attempting to bunt, but Riemenschneider singled sharply to right. The Sox couldn’t capitalize, as a pop up and groundout followed and the Sox lost 2-1 to drop to 8-3.
