Elimination Game 1, vs. LA Thunder

The Blizzard welcomed "MT" to the squad today.  The gang is together again! Also of note: Wilford decided to return to the scene of the crime and play SS again, despite a very sore face from the bad-hop the day before.  Tough as nails...

In the top of the 1st the Thunder went down 1-2-3 and the Blizzard came up with a chance to take control of the game.  Wilford gets a leadoff double, sparking the crowd (made up of mostly Boston Rebel team).  But 2 of the next 3 batters would have uncharacteristic at-bats, with Jeskey striking out and Connolly popping up to the pitcher.  In between was an RBI single by Maldonado (who features prominently in the play that ended the inning.

With two outs Gordon draws a walk, and Murphy follows up with a bloop single to center field.   Maldonado tries to score, but realizes about 80% of the way there that the ball was about to be caught by the catcher. he turns around to run back to 3rd base, when he slides in safely.   However, the umpires conferred and decided (wrongly) that Diego was out of the baseline when he ran back to 3rd base, despite the Blizzard protestations.   (This was the wrong call, as Diego was merely turning around and not avoiding a tag in any way)  This was an enormous swing in the game.  Instead of being up 2-0, with a lot of momentum, the Thunder ran off the field elated and pumped up.

In the top of the 2nd, Thunder leads off with a solo HR. That may have been all they would get, but the Blizzard made 3 uncharacteristic errors, allowing Thunder to score 3 more times.  The blizzard went down 1-2-3, despite a couple of hard-hit balls.

Thunder got 4 more in the 3rd in a clean inning,  getting 6 hits and a sacrifice fly.  The Blizzard went down 1-2-3 again in the 3rd, and now trailed 8-1.  The Thunder were held scoreless in the 4th and 5th, while the Blizzard scored 2 and 1 run respectively, cutting the lead to 8-4.

In the final 2 frames, Thunder get 1 run in each. In the final half-inning, "MT" led off with a triple, but none of the next 4 batters could manage a hit and the Blizzard would lose, 10-5.

Losers bracket, here we come!!

Hitting Leaders
Maldonado:  2-3
MT:  2-3 (3B)
Wilford: 2-4
Banks:  1-2
Murphy:  1-2