🍀 Intradivisional Game -- Hendersonville Honeycrisps @ Reidsville Luckies 🍀
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REIDSVILLE, NC — In an extremely controversial game, one of the best teams in the league, the Hendersonville Honeycrisps, defeated the Reidsville Luckies, 4-2.
Above is my pregame interview with the starting pitcher for the game, former All-Star and former ONSL Pitcher of the Week Colin Eaton.
Eaton did an astounding job, as usual, bringing down his already ridiculous 3.1 ERA by allowing just one run through six innings pitched. What can I say? My interviews propel players to success. (By the way, I interviewed Blake Freeman before yesterday’s game, the one in which he hit an inside-the-park, Moment of the Game homer. Not to brag. All joking aside, that interview will be dropping in “Extra Bases” soon, along with interviews with Jacob Trivette and Gavin Fleming.)
The leadoff hitters for each team, Travis Hammond of the Luckies and Braeden Corn of the Honeycrisps, each made it home in the first inning. Those would be the only runs on the board until the sixth inning.
In the sixth, Gavin Fleming would drill a leadoff double, and Kristian Amaro and TJ Highsmith would help him advance home. This gave the Luckies the 2-1 advantage over Hendersonville, the most dominant team in the league!
And then the eighth inning happened.
With Bryan Webb on the mound, and Trent Turner and Joshua Morgan in scoring position, Ben Michael lined out a base hit. Turner came rushing home to tie the game, and when Morgan came in, Hammond launched it from the outfield, right into the glove of Amaro, who made the tag for a Sportscenter-esque play!
It hurts to write this.
After the home plate umpire, who initially called him out, conferred with the second base umpire, who didn’t even have a view of what was going on, he overturned the call.
Coach Chenzo Scanio lost it on the ump, slamming down his hat and having a lengthy argument. In most cases, that would get someone thrown out, but our play-by-play commentator Joe Dexter proposed that since Scanio hadn’t gotten ejected for his behavior, it was obvious that the ump knew it was the wrong call.
A furious Scanio marched back to the Luckies dugout, and Reidsville’s players watched it on our livestream, which has a short delay. They watched it live, and became even more irate when they saw how clear it was that Amaro had made the tag.
Long story short, bad call, deflated momentum, 4-2 loss.
Lucky of the Game: Colin Eaton — Eaton was absolutely lethal on the mound. He was a terror to arguably the best batting team in the Old North State League.
Moment of the Game: Kristian Amaro’s play of the century — It’s called “Moment of the Game,” not “Play That Officially Counts of the Game.”
Notes — If anyone was more furious than the Luckies, it was the Brunswick Surfin’ Turfs. Now, Brunswick and Hendersonville are tied for first in the league, while a loss by the Honeycrisps would’ve allowed the Surfin’ Turfs to essentially lock up the top spot in the postseason.
On-Deck — Reidsville gets a one-day break, prior to a doubleheader at Tramway Park against the Sanford Spinners on Thursday. Friday, they’ll have another divisional away game, this time against the Oak City Gliders.
Travis Hammond, not Blake Freeman, made the throw to Kristian Amaro at home plate. My mistake.
If this one seems a little unprofessional, in my defense, I was a bit fired up.