By Kirk Stewart
Springtime in Bryant means that youth baseball teams are preparing for opening day. It seems that the Thompson Electric Rangers are more than ready.
The Rangers entered the Little Oaks 9-and-under live arm tournament and came back home with a championship. They defeated Union Bank 5-2 in the championship game to wrap up the tournament a perfect 4-0.
Team members include Austin Dulling, Garith East, Reese Graham, Logan Grant, Sawyer Holt, Matthew Sandidge, Noah Southard, Ethan Thompson and Cooper Wright.[more]
The highlight of the final game came in the top of the first with no outs. Union Bank was leading 1-0 with two runners on and their cleanup batter at the plate, appearing ready to add to the advantage. But Logan Grant, the Rangers’ starting pitcher, was able to strike him out. After the strikeout, the two Union Bank base runners were crossed up in an attempted double steal. Both runners ended up at second base. As one of them tried to run back to first, Rangers’ catcher Garith East alertly threw back to first baseman Matthew Sandidge who had positioned himself off of the bag and made the quick tag. He threw over to third baseman Austin Dulling who tagged the runner out as had tried to sneak his way from second to third during the play at first.
If you are scoring at home, that’s a K-2-3-5 triple play!
After the first inning excitement, Grant and East shared pitching duties and combined to give up only one run over the next two innings. The game was called due to time restraints with the Rangers leading and Cooper Wright at the plate.
The tournament was originally planned for March 9 and 10 but was postponed to March 16 and 17. Tournament director Sammy Meeks worked around the bad weather and ended up with beautiful, dry conditions and 70 degree baseball.
Thanks to Coach Jim Sandidge for the tournament update.
