Sloppy Game Leads to West Lawn Loss

FROM THE PA LEGION BASEBALL WEBSITE

Coming into national regional play, there are always a bunch of unknowns. What you can generally expect though, is to find stellar defense and effective pitching that is instrumental in getting through a tough state tournament. The Mid-Atlantic Regional's nightcap, between Virginia champion Chesapeake and host West Lawn was anything but that.




Chesapeake jumped to a lead first, with two runs in the top of the third inning by way of a walk, single, error, and wild pitch. The Owls countered with a run of their own on a basehit and rbi triple by Chris Gehris. Things got real crazy in the forth, when West Lawn put up a five spot. It started with two walks, a botched throw on a sacrifice bunt, another walk, a fielders choice, a basehit and subsequent error, an intentional walk, and a bases loaded walk.




West Lawn tacked on two more, with a run in the fifth and sixth before pandemonium broke out at Ted Palka Park. It all started with a fielding error by the center fielder for the Owls. A single, double, single, walk, bases loaded triple, walk, a couple of errors and steals, another walk, and a successful double steal led to seven Chesapeake runs. All in all, six unearned runs were plated in the inning.




The Owls answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, before surrendering another three runs in the eighth. Three more walks aided in the Chesapeake, VA rally. West Lawn was held scoreless in the bottom half of the inning, failing to strike back.




Another walk in the top of the ninth led to another run for the Virginia state champions. West Lawn couldn't counter, and they dropped a 13-9 decision.




Surprisingly, despite their apparent inability to find the plate much of the night, Chesapeake hitters whiffed fifteen West Lawn batters. When you combine that stat with surrendering six unearned runs on three errors, while walking nine batters, it's going to be tough to win any night.




The total damage: 22 runs (7 unearned), 18 strikeouts (15 by VA), 18 total walks (split 9-9), 9 total errors, and one marathon of a game.




It's obvious that both teams will need to play much better tomorrow if they hope to extend their seasons. West Lawn will take on Spring City, in a battle of two PA teams. That game is slated for approximately 12:30pm. Chesapeake will take on Brooklawn, NJ in the nightcap.

http://palegionbaseball.webs.com/apps/blog/show/4453127-sloppy-game-leads-to-west-lawn-loss