#4 Dodgers (4A) beat the #4 Gaels (2A), 4-0 tonight.
Pretty good defensive battle in this one. Both pitchers had solid outings. SE had a few breakdowns and the Dodgers put together some well-timed hits to do all their damage in the 5th inning.
Neil Flattery pitched for the Gaels and had one of his better performances of the year against a red-hot FD squad, despite the tough 5th. 4 runs on 6 hits and I believe only 1 walk. FD got 4 of those hits in that 5th.
The lead-off lined a shot at Neil, whose momentum pulled him away from the ball and it deflected off his glove. He was unable to make a play on the ball in time and FD finally had a lead-off runner aboard. That was one of those fluke plays that could've gone either way and Fort Dodge got the break on that one and pretty much the rest of the inning.
The next batter put a bunt down the 3rd base line and reached safely on an error after the ball was bobbled on the pick-up. FD followed that up with another bunt down the line that Neil had to race to. The throw was high and the ump ruled that Setterdahl left the bag to get it momentarily as the runner crossed the bag. So the bases were then loaded with no outs and the next batter hit a 2-run double.
After a sac-fly to make it 3-0, Sam Edwards hit a shot to deep center and the outfielder might've misjudged where it was landing as it went just over his head, and Edwards earned an RBI double to make it 4-0.
SE was eventually able to get out of the jam, but the damage was done and the Gaels could never muster much offense against winning pitcher Luke VanderMaten. VanderMaten throws a very good slider and that's something that you just don't see often in the lower classes.
SE scattered 3 hits but most of the time were left with their last out to make something of the opportunities when they had any base runners at all. That's been their problem offensively this season, particularly against good pitchers, at least in the games I've seen. They get some offense going but it's with 2 outs and not much margin for error, and they also still tend to be a little too selective at times.
Fort Dodge has only lost twice in the month of June, both to WDM Valley in different doubleheaders. They lead the Tigers by a game in the CIML Iowa division.
Pretty good defensive battle in this one. Both pitchers had solid outings. SE had a few breakdowns and the Dodgers put together some well-timed hits to do all their damage in the 5th inning.
Neil Flattery pitched for the Gaels and had one of his better performances of the year against a red-hot FD squad, despite the tough 5th. 4 runs on 6 hits and I believe only 1 walk. FD got 4 of those hits in that 5th.
The lead-off lined a shot at Neil, whose momentum pulled him away from the ball and it deflected off his glove. He was unable to make a play on the ball in time and FD finally had a lead-off runner aboard. That was one of those fluke plays that could've gone either way and Fort Dodge got the break on that one and pretty much the rest of the inning.
The next batter put a bunt down the 3rd base line and reached safely on an error after the ball was bobbled on the pick-up. FD followed that up with another bunt down the line that Neil had to race to. The throw was high and the ump ruled that Setterdahl left the bag to get it momentarily as the runner crossed the bag. So the bases were then loaded with no outs and the next batter hit a 2-run double.
After a sac-fly to make it 3-0, Sam Edwards hit a shot to deep center and the outfielder might've misjudged where it was landing as it went just over his head, and Edwards earned an RBI double to make it 4-0.
SE was eventually able to get out of the jam, but the damage was done and the Gaels could never muster much offense against winning pitcher Luke VanderMaten. VanderMaten throws a very good slider and that's something that you just don't see often in the lower classes.
SE scattered 3 hits but most of the time were left with their last out to make something of the opportunities when they had any base runners at all. That's been their problem offensively this season, particularly against good pitchers, at least in the games I've seen. They get some offense going but it's with 2 outs and not much margin for error, and they also still tend to be a little too selective at times.
Fort Dodge has only lost twice in the month of June, both to WDM Valley in different doubleheaders. They lead the Tigers by a game in the CIML Iowa division.
