Fortunately, my work schedule was such that I was able to get across town from Franklin to the game with no problem. It was a beautiful day for baseball after a lot of rain last week. Days like Tuesday remind me how lucky I am to be a father and to have the opportunity to watch JP and Joe compete in a variety of sports.
JP's buddy, Gavin, started the game pitching. He's a crafty left hander who struggles with his control at times but is a very good pitcher. He and JP are a good lefty-righty combination, one that I suspect I'll see a lot more of in the years to come. Gavin's also a fantastic young man. Polite, respectful, funny. He's the kind of boy I want JP running around with, to be sure.
Gavin hit the leadoff batter with his first pitch, the irony being he's a friend of his. He hit the same boy later with two strikes on him. That's baseball, though.
Gavin gave up a run in the first when the home plate umpire missed a call. Gavin covered home on a passed ball and swiped the runner with a nifty tag after an underhanded toss from the catcher. I sit to the left behind the backstop and had a perfect few of the play. The runner never touched home plate and Gavin tagged his foot. Still, the umpire called him safe. That's also baseball.
In the bottom of the first inning, JP, batting third, laced an RBI single to right center, plating a run. He stole second and third base, then scored, to give MBA a 2-1 lead after one inning.
Gavin ran into trouble in the third inning after recording two outs. Coach Martin brought JP in with runners on first and second in an effort to put out the fire. That's what JP did, striking out the only batter he faced in the top of the third to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, JP rolled over on the first pitch from Ensworth's pitcher - a big, hard throwing right hander with a suspect curve ball - and ground the ball to third base. The third baseman rushed his throw and pulled the first baseman off the bag. JP stole second and third base again, then slid head first into home after the pitcher attempted to look him back on ground ball before throwing to first base for the force out. 4-1, Big Red, after three innings.
Ensworth nicked JP for a run in the top of the fifth inning. JP threw an 0-2 curve ball to a hitter toward the bottom of the lineup that likely couldn't have caught up with his fastball. The batter beat out a slow roller to shortstop and later scored when Ensworth's best hitter - the pitcher I described earlier - dropped a high first pitch fastball just over the shortstop's head into left center field for an RBI single. JP got out of a jam by striking out Champ, the cleanup hitter, and a great kid that JP played basketball with for a season a few years ago.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, JP absolutely smoked a two out double to left center field. It was the hardest hit ball of the day for either team. It was nice to see him hit the ball well two his three times at bat.
I was mildly surprised to see JP walk out to the mound to pitch the sixth and final inning. He appeared to be tiring in the bottom of the fifth inning but I was wrong about that in a big way. His first pitch to the first Ensworth was a ball, a high fastball, but it had real pop. I could tell at that moment that JP's adrenaline was flowing and he was going to close out the game.
That's exactly what the did, too, striking out the first batter swinging. The second batter lined out to third base. Then, after getting two quick strikes on the third batter on fastball, JP dropped a curve ball in for strike three, looking. Three up, three down. Ballgame. MBA 4 Ensworth 2.
I was proud of JP because he didn't have his best game, catching, in a tough 4-3 loss to BGA last week. He let that game go and battled against Ensworth.
In a family text string during the game in which I was keeping everyone updated, Tracy's son, Matthew, who rarely ever responds to texts, sent a beauty to the group.
"JP Ohtani."
Indeed.
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