Big win for Green Hope tonight as they climbed into fifth place in the Tri-9, and also into the last state playoff spot, by sweeping Lee County this year, winning 7-3. It wasn't a great game by Green Hope, errors were made, strikeouts were made, but there was some good "team" offensive at bats combined with very good pitching. A big difference tonight was when bad things happened, be it errors or bad breaks, Green Hope responded with renewed intensity.

Boghosian (left) pitched well but had to fight through a first inning filled with bloop hits

Adam Boghosian started for Green Hope, and had to fight through a rough first inning. After the leadoff batter struckout, the next 3 batters all hit bloop fly balls which dropped in for hits, scoring 1 run and leaving runners on 1st and 3rd with only 1 out. All 3 of those hits could have been caught, but just seemed to find holes in the Falcon defense. However Adam induced another pop up which was caught, and struckout the next batter to get out of the inning, Lee County up only 1-0.

Lee County scored a run in the first inning while DeRazo (right) held Green Hope hitters in check early

The second inning was similar for Boghosian, a leadoff strikeout was followed by a walk, then a sharp single to center, and a big base running mistake as the runner from 1st tried to go to 3rd, and looked to be out by at least 20 feet, but the throw from center was wild, allowing the runner to be safe at 3rd and the batter to advance to 2nd, with only 1 out. But once again, Boghosian responded getting a strikeout and a groundout to get out of the inning, Lee County only up 1-0 after 2 innings.

Boghosian (left) covering 1st and Povse's (right) scoop changed the momentum of the game

The momentum changed in the third inning, as Lee County went down 1-2-3, beginning with a good defensive play by first baseman Max Povse throwing to Boghosian covering, a nice scoop of a low throw by Povse, and a strikeout. Green Hope had been held in check by Lee County's Nick DeRazo's pitching, but Jonathan Grudee ledoff the bottom of the third with an infield single and Grudee going the second on the bad throw. After a strikeout, Shambley reached on an error by the short stop, setting up runners at the corners with only 1 out. The game featured alot of coaching conferences, and this situation had both coaches setting up their play for this 1st/3rd situation. The result was Shambley at first breaking for second on the windup, DeRazo (a lefty) throwing to first (in essence picking Shambley off), Shambley continuing to second while Grudee started home on the throw to second, the throw hitting Shambley in the helmet, bouncing into the outfield and Shambley hustling all the way home for a Green Hope 2-1 lead after 3 innings.

Conference (top-left) setup the 1st and 3rd steal with Shambley scoring as ball hits his helmet (top right)

Green Hope added 3 more runs in the 4th, David Josam ledoff with a walk, but a poor sacrifice bunt had him forced at 2nd for 1 out. Fortunately Grudee tripled past first down the line to score 1, and was later followed by a huge blast off the bat of Grant Shambley for his first high school home run, and a 5-1 Green Hope lead after 4 innings.

Grudee's triple down the right field line scored Munz from first

Shambley's 2-run home run gave Green Hope a 5-1 lead

Boghosian ended up going 5 innings, 8 strikeouts, 4 singles, 3 walks, a hit batter and while he always seemed in control, Lee County had alot of long at bats against him, fouling off good pitches, and after over 100 pitches, really had to be relieved after 5 innings. Povse came in to pitch the 6th, gave up a leadoff single, followed by a walk and a grounder to third which was booted to load the bases with no outs. The next pitch hit 3 feet short of home, and Joe Pistacchio was brought into pitch. Pistacchio threw 3 straight balls to walk in a run, but struckout the next batter for a out, and got a crucial double play (pitcher to catcher to first) to get out of the inning, Green Hope up 5-2.

Big double play as Pistacchio pitching (left) started it with a throw home and Colantino (right) relayed to first

Green Hope added 2 insurance runs in the bottom of the 6th, as the first 4 batters of the inning walked, but a Green Hope runner was picked off of second by the catcher, so the bases were loaded with 1 out. A strikeout for the second out was followed by a single by Boghosian to score 2, Green Hope up 7-2 after 6 innings. Lee County added an unearned run in the 7th via 2 singles and a wild throw from right field, but Pistacchio ended the game with 3 strikeouts, Green Hope wins 7-3.

What do you say about a game where you make 4 errors, and strikeout 8 times with only 7 hits ? Unlike the rest of the season, you say you won because you played a team game, got 8 walks in addition to those 7 hits and were able to score 7 runs. Green Hope moves to 5-5 conference and 8-8 overall, but need to keep winning against Cary and Panther Creek this week, else all this good effort may go to waste.