The offense slugged out 24 hits - albeit only three in the last three innings - and took advantage of four Blue errors. Austin Colby, Brendan Finn, and Jeff Johnson all homered as the recent power surge continued as well.
Matt Hanson and Austin shared Player of the Game honors. Hanson, a rookie to softball and any organized sport for that matter, knocked out his first career hit in the frist inning, which plated two runs. Later, he added career hits #2 and #3 and finished a perfect 3-3 on the night, good enough to capture Co-Player of the Game. Austin went a solid 3-4 from the plate with three runs scored and two RBI, including a two-run homer in the second inning. It was his exceptional defense that garnered the Player of the Game honor as he had 6 assists and three put outs without an error at shortstop. He also had a hand in three double-plays, two of which were unassisted, one while being toppled by an oncoming base-runner.
Rez came to swing and AJ Larson started things with a seeing-eye chopper up the middle. Austin followed with a knock to left and after the first out, Chris Burr laced his first of four hits scoring AJ. Lee Valle looped one to plate Austin and Eric Johnson drove one in the gap to left-center scoring both Chris and Lee making it 4-0 Warriors. Jordan Schumack started his day right with a liner to left scoring Eric. After the second out, Jeff Johnson stroked one for a single and Matt Shuster poked one through to load the bases with two outs for Hanson.
Mr. Handsome delivered with a liner to center scoring two and ending the scoring at 7 in the first.
The defense was flawless in the bottom half, keeping two runners stranded on base as a grounder to short ended the inning. In the top of the second, the Warriors put on their best offensive display of the season scoring an amazing 13 times and batting around for the second straight inning. Austin chopped an infield single to start and moved to third on Finn's single. On the throw to third, Finn advanced to second setting the plate for Chris. Chris knocked his second hit of the game this time scoring both Austin and Finn making it 9-0. Lee hit a grounder that the second baseman couldn't handle putting two runners on for Eric. Eric hit a chopper to short whose throw to second pulled the two-bagger away from the base, leaving the bases loaded with no outs. Jordan ripped another single scoring two and pushing Eric to third. Leading 11-0, Jon Engbrecht then lofted a fly to center that was dropped allowing Eric to score and keeping two runners on.
Jeff then delivered the big blow, crushing a three-run shot to dead center and making the score 15-0 Rez. Finally, Blue got the first out but Hanson stepped up and pushed his second hit of the day up the middle to start things again.
A fielder's choice cleared him off the bases but Austin stroked a two-run shot to left-center plating AJ and making it 17-0. Finn, Chris, Lee, Eric, and Jordan all hit singles in succession, the last three scoring runs and ending the inning at 20-0. Very impressive.
However, St. Andrew would not give up and started hitting the ball in the bottom half. The first 11 batters reached base successfully, using eight hits and three walks to score nine runs. Austin had his first unassisted double play on the next batter and Finn corraled a fly ball to end the inning, 20-9 Warriors.
With a much closer game, the Warriors pressed a bit in the third leaving Hanson stranded on first and scoring no runs. In the bottom half, Austin had two assists and a put-out, making quick work of Blue.
Going into the fourth leading 20-9, the Warriors added an insurance run on Finn's solo shot to left. Chris tripled after the homer but was stranded after a fine play from the third baseman robbed Lee and a deep fly-out by Eric ended the inning.
A lead-off walk set the table for Austin's second unassisted double play, this one saw the runner de-cleating him as he made the throw to first. No one was hurt on the play but it sure didn't feel good. A flyout to AJ in right-center ended the inning.
Batting for the last time, Rez went down quickly but hit the ball hard each time. Three popouts made for a quick bottom of the fifth and due to the flip-flop rule, St. Andrew got to bat its half of the sixth right away. Blue's offense managed to get three runs taking advantage of a couple errors and a walk. Another double play ended any rally threat as Eric made a nice turn at second to complete the play. A shallow pop to Finn in left ended the game, 21-12 Warriors.
Chris finished the game 4-4 with three runs and three RBI as he pushed his season average to .700. Jordan and Finn added three hits while Lee, Eric and Jeff all had two.
With the victory, the Warriors now sit alone on top of the standings with a record of 5-1. Life fell for the second straight week and is now 4-2 overall. Next week sees the Warriors playing their first double-header of the year with games at 7:50 and 8:50 on field #2. Eden Prairie Assembly of God and pre-season favorite Living Word are the two opponents. Both are playing extremely well right now.
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