EVENT: Tension on the rise! (Innings 4-7)
The sun was on its way down by the end of the third, and it was starting to get chilly. Luckily, the action of the game was starting to heat up.
The crowd went a little crazy in the fourth inning. The away team got a sleek double-base hit that turned into a triple - the right-fielder had slid to try to catch the ball and missed, popping back up to throw toward second, but his arm faltered and the ball fell short, bouncing twice before getting picked up, and by then the runner had made it to third. That was the first at-bat. The second hitter struck out swinging after popping one foul towards the section the Dreamers were in. Third up managed a base hit and brought in the first run. Fourth batter hit a curve at a bad angle, sending an easy pop-fly toward the third baseman, who caught it easily. The last batter for the away team managed to advance the runner to second, but wasn't fast enough to make it to first in time to avoid the third out. Still, with the run it looked like momentum was shifting away from the Lions.
It kept on looking that way through the end of the sixth, a total stand-still until the bottom of the seventh when the Lions were up again. They'd managed to hold the opposing team to the one run, but the fourth and fifth innings had seen a series of single-base-hits. The first batter of the Lions' side hit a shallow grounder toward third that would've meant an out for sure if he hadn't had the fastest legs on the team. He was barely safe, but it got the crowd pumped. The second batter watched two balls go by, fouled one off the first-base line, and then slammed the away pitcher's fastball deep out the center line, leaving a runner on first and third with no outs for the third up during the inning. Third up was 7th in the batting order, and after the count got to 2-2, he tapped the sinker toward third. The third-runner, wisely, didn't move, making for runners on third and second when the batter got tapped out at first. A scary thing for the bottom of the batting order, the next at-bat was a four-ball walk - probably from nerves, since the away team called a time-out and had a little conference on the mound.
The Lions' pitcher was up next after the conference, or would've been if the Lions hadn't decided to call in their designated hitter. The count got to 3-2 in a flash, but the pinch hitter got the sinker at a bad angle and it went foul - only to be caught by the left-fielder, who dove for it. Starting the rotation over again with two outs and the bases loaded was a frightening proposition, but the leadoff hitter was cool under pressure. He watched two balls that were just barely outside the zone before taking a swing at the first pitch he really liked, sending it straight between the shortstop and the left-fielder to bounce toward center, where it was picked up and thrown back home in a flash. The umpire called it safe, leaving the Lions with two runs and a runner on first and second. The second-hole batter was giddy from the excitement and swung smart, but his timing was off, and the side ended with the Lions finally up 2-1 going into the stretch.
The crowd went a little crazy in the fourth inning. The away team got a sleek double-base hit that turned into a triple - the right-fielder had slid to try to catch the ball and missed, popping back up to throw toward second, but his arm faltered and the ball fell short, bouncing twice before getting picked up, and by then the runner had made it to third. That was the first at-bat. The second hitter struck out swinging after popping one foul towards the section the Dreamers were in. Third up managed a base hit and brought in the first run. Fourth batter hit a curve at a bad angle, sending an easy pop-fly toward the third baseman, who caught it easily. The last batter for the away team managed to advance the runner to second, but wasn't fast enough to make it to first in time to avoid the third out. Still, with the run it looked like momentum was shifting away from the Lions.
It kept on looking that way through the end of the sixth, a total stand-still until the bottom of the seventh when the Lions were up again. They'd managed to hold the opposing team to the one run, but the fourth and fifth innings had seen a series of single-base-hits. The first batter of the Lions' side hit a shallow grounder toward third that would've meant an out for sure if he hadn't had the fastest legs on the team. He was barely safe, but it got the crowd pumped. The second batter watched two balls go by, fouled one off the first-base line, and then slammed the away pitcher's fastball deep out the center line, leaving a runner on first and third with no outs for the third up during the inning. Third up was 7th in the batting order, and after the count got to 2-2, he tapped the sinker toward third. The third-runner, wisely, didn't move, making for runners on third and second when the batter got tapped out at first. A scary thing for the bottom of the batting order, the next at-bat was a four-ball walk - probably from nerves, since the away team called a time-out and had a little conference on the mound.
The Lions' pitcher was up next after the conference, or would've been if the Lions hadn't decided to call in their designated hitter. The count got to 3-2 in a flash, but the pinch hitter got the sinker at a bad angle and it went foul - only to be caught by the left-fielder, who dove for it. Starting the rotation over again with two outs and the bases loaded was a frightening proposition, but the leadoff hitter was cool under pressure. He watched two balls that were just barely outside the zone before taking a swing at the first pitch he really liked, sending it straight between the shortstop and the left-fielder to bounce toward center, where it was picked up and thrown back home in a flash. The umpire called it safe, leaving the Lions with two runs and a runner on first and second. The second-hole batter was giddy from the excitement and swung smart, but his timing was off, and the side ended with the Lions finally up 2-1 going into the stretch.