Game 7 (3/31) vs. Yankees

On a cold night at Las Lomas, though blessed with great pitching performances, the Cubs bats just did not heat up in time to prevent a 3-1 loss to the Yankees. On the mound, Sean, Mario and Kaden combined to hold the Yankees to just 3 runs. In the first two innings, the Yankees only put the ball in play once. On defense, Anon made a nice play at second base and Kanade made a nice play at third. Matthew B. turned in his usual stellar performance at first base and Kaden and Sean took turns behind the plate. In the outfield, Matt tracked down a ball in left-center field and Brandon stayed prepared in right. However, the two "Web Gems" of the night were: (1) Wyatt, who circumnavigated a tough spinning ground ball at second and then alertly dove onto second base for an inning-ending and run-saving force out (see photo to left); and (2) Zach, who sped to track down a long drive into right center field, and despite his coach's doubts about the throw, fired the ball all the way to home to catch a runner trying to score at the plate on a nice tag by Sean at catcher for a key run-saving out, giving Zach his second outfield assist of the season, leading the league (see photo to right). On Zach's throw, the Cubs' coach has to admit that he heard the sounds of his old basketball coach's voice as he shouted "NO NO NO ...... YES!!") Those were two of the top defensive plays of the year and both showed energy, effort and focus.



On offense, the cold air seemed to chill the aluminum (or space age composite material) of our bats, as we just couldn't seem to get going at the right time until the final inning when consecutive singles by Kanade and Mario were followed by a smashed double by Sean (his second hit of the game), and only a perfect throw for left field prevented the Cubs from pulling within a run with the tying run on third. Earlier in the game Anon legged out an infield single and Matthew worked an important walk.

Awards:
Energy: Zach, for turning on the jets to run down a ball in right center field, air-mailing the cutoff man to nail a runner at home
Effort: Michael, who came to support his teammates while he could despite being too sick to go to school (don't tell his teachers that you saw him at the game)
Focus: Wyatt, for knowing the situation on his great play at second base. That required him to know (1) because he was at second and the ball was hit hard, he had time to block the ball and pick it up; and (2) with a runner at first, he had a force play at second so he could just dive to the base rather than trying to make a play on the runner or at first. It also had the added benefit of getting dirty, always another plus Nice job.