🍀 Away Game -- Reidsville Luckies @ Oak City Gliders 🍀
Reidsville Luckies make ferocious comeback, defeat Oak City Gliders
The Reidsville Luckies got their first league win of the season, besting their divisional rivals, the Oak City Gliders, nine to four.
In the top of the fourth inning, Reidsville was in a four-to-zip hole. Gavin Grouppuso headed to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, and crushed it to right field to bring in Andrews Opata, Cole McClain, and Blake Freeman, cutting the deficit to one.
In the fifth, the Luckies finally took command. Opata went up to bat, and a wild pitch allowed Travis Hammond to score a run. Opata then sent a sacrifice fly to center field, bringing Kristian Amaro home.
Another wild pitch by the squirrel and “First in Flight” based team allowed the Luckies to get a run in the top of the sixth. This gave the Luckies a six-to-four advantage.
The Luckies weren’t going to let the lead slip away. Noah Caldwell gave up a scary triple to Will Hovey of the Gliders, but he didn’t get any further.
In the top of the eighth, Grouppuso did it again! His shot to the outfield allowed Hudson Powell and Blake Freeman to extend the lead to four runs, after the Luckies were down four runs just four innings ago.
In the ninth, pinch hitter Edwin Bowman, who hasn’t seen too much action this year, knocked in another run. The final score was nine-to-four, as the state capital’s team wasn’t able to put anything on the board in the bottom of the final inning.
Extra Bases: Since I don’t travel to away games, I can’t give a “Lucky of the Game,” “Moment of the Game,” or “Fun Events” portion for this post. Therefore, I’m introducing “Extra Bases,” which will consist of something different for every away game.
On the Old North State League website, there is a “Devotionals” section. It is led by Bernie Carbo, a former World Series legend and the current chaplain of the Old North State League.
Here is a snippet of his story. H/T to the Old North State League Official Website.
“In 1965 I was the first draft choice for the Cincinnati Reds. In 1969, I was Minor League Player of the year winning the batting title (sic) of the American Association with a .359 batting average. I was The Sporting News Rookie of the Year in 1970 and participated in two world series and held the record for most pinch-hit home runs until recently (sic). I played in the majors from 1965 until 1981 hitting a famous home run in 1975 World Series for the Boston Red Sox. If you’ve never heard ofthat (sic) home run, look it up! It is entertaining!”
He goes on to speak on his substance abuse issues that ended his baseball careers. He eventually ended up in the hospital, but was in the room with a retired pastor. The pastor shared the gospel with him, and Carbo gave his life to Jesus.
Every Sunday and Wednesday, Carbo posts a new devotional. If you head to the Old North State League website, scroll down, and type in your e-mail, these devotionals will be sent directly to your inbox. I’ve signed up, and, trust me, they don’t blow up your inbox. These biweekly devotionals are the only e-mails they send.
Notes: This was a big win. The Luckies have proven that they have an immense amount of resilience, as they went down early, but fought back into it, and scored nine unanswered runs. After losing the first three games of the season, the Luckies seem to have picked up a wave of momentum, and, fingers crossed, will ride that wave all the way to a playoff spot.
Upcoming: Tomorrow, the Luckies will play the Gliders again, but this time, it’ll be at Jaycee Park. Its theme is “Triad Warrior’s Night,” and will, hopefully, produce the same result. Next, the Luckies will head to Pinehurst to take on the Sandhills Bogeys, who beat the Luckies last week.
Let’s take a look ahead at next week. The Luckies have three away games, three league games, and two divisional games. The first is on Tuesday, against the Hendersonville Honeycrisps, who have been playing absolutely out of their minds this season. On Thursday, they’ll play a non-league game against the Native American National Team, which will be their lone home game for the week. On Friday and Saturday, they’ll take on divisional opponents that we’ve seen before, when they try to take down the Bogeys and the High Point Hushpuppies, respectively.