Slappers win first place against Olive Branch 6/24/2014
Published 12:00 am Monday, June 23, 2014
By De’Issac House
In the semi-finals of pool play the Batesville Slappers faced off against the Olive Branch All-Stars.
The game was close the whole way through, then hit the time limit. Olive Branch lead off in the first where they only had two hits and one run.
In the bottom of the first, the Slappers’ lead-off batter got on base with a single. From there on the Slappers put five on base, with the bases loaded at one point.
The lead-off batter got caught coming home. The fourth batter brought everybody home on a double.
The Slappers took a 3-1 lead with only one out. Before the inning was out they put up two more runs and gave themselves a 5-1 lead.
In the top of the second the All-Stars got three hits but went down quickly with three strikeouts.
The Slappers had the same success in the second as they put up five more runs with a lot of bases being stolen. Olive Branch could not conjure up one run in the third as every batter that got on base was sent back to the dugout.
The Slappers cooled off, putting up only a single run in the third. That was their final run of the game.
For the rest the game the Slappers knew their defense would need to show up big time in order for them to win the game and advance to the next round.
In the fourth inning Olive Branch began to put it together as they could not be stopped and only had one out. Their first five batters got hits and scored.
The inning was stopped as they scored the maximum of seven runs allowed per inning. The fourth inning was not the Slappers’ best as they only got one hit and were put out on pop-ups.
In the fifth the All-Stars were only down four runs and began to come back as their first two batters scored. Time was not on their side as they began to battle with the pitcher and ran out of time.
The Slappers earned first place and won their 12 and under age group.
