All good things must come to an end. A heart breaking loss for the team in green.

Our defense had ups and downs in the game. In the first Alex had a 1-4 with Christian for the 1st out, Reilly caught a pop up for the 2nd out. But the damage had already been done with team Windermere scoring 5 runs on us.

Christian pitched a brilliant 2nd inning shutting down the side. He got two 1-3 combos with Reilly and Jordan caught a pop-up at catcher.

Being down 5 runs we had our work cut out for us. But we scored our first run in the third inning when Sean had a nice double to drive Chris home.

Christian struggled in the 3rd inning giving up a hit and 4 walks for 2 earned runs before striking out the fifth batter. Chris relieved Christian in the third inning finishing with a line drive on the mound for the 2nd out and a 1-3 with Reilly to finish the inning.

In the fourth, we score 4 more runs to get us in the get us to 5-7. Alex R walked, Reilly had a base hit, Ian had an RBI single with boys in scoring position, Alex B had a sacrifice RBI single and Christian also had a sacrifice RBI single.

Chris had a nice 4th inning facing 4 batters. He had another 1-3 combo with Reilly and 2 strike outs.

In the 5th inning, Benji gets a clutch 1st pitch single, Alex R and Reilly are walked. Ian you had a big hit in the last inning gets out on an Infield Fly Rule. Next our MVP of the game Jack comes in with a big 2 RBI hit to drive in 2 runs! The score is now 7-7.

Chris started the 5th strong, but then they started getting hits on him. Jordan came in to try to shut them down, but Windermere’s hot bats got 2 more hits before Jordan got his 1st strike out and Chris got another pop up at short.

In the bottom of the sixth, with the top of our order Christian strikes out looking on a high pitch over the shoulders. Chris gets on board on a single. Jordan also strikes out looking. Sean gets a single. With 2 runners on board, Benji hits a big hit to center field which was caught by Windermere, game over.

Congrats to the Echelbarger Phantoms for an awesome season! 12-4 record or 13-3 if you want to correct the umps call for the 5/15 game. Then go 2 and 2 in the post season. They should feel good about getting themselves this far.

I’d like to thank our coaching staff; Hans, Jeff and Mike. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to mold these raw players into a true baseball team. Thanks to Carolyn and Becky for being our team moms, Jesica and Karin for keeping the score book and to all that have helped with pitch counts and score board. Thanks to Tyler Echelbarger for supporting Pacific Little League and coming out to practice with us. Thanks to the Meadowdale High School players Taylor, Tyler and TJ. Mike Heck for helping us out. Finally thank you parents for bringing the players to practice, games and supporting the team.

The Phantoms fought hard to the end. They broke my Field 1 curse with 5 wins. It has been my pleasure coaching this team. See you next season!

Final Score: Echelbarger 7 – Windermere 10

A day in the sun! Team Echelbarger starting off strong! But the defense collapses in the 5th and the Phantoms go down to the lower bracket just like that.

The bats were alive in the 1st inning with Chris getting a double, Jordan drives him in with another double, Sean gets walked, Jordan steals home and Ryan drives in Sean with a single. In the 3rd inning we loaded the bases with no outs with Chris at bat, hits a line drive to the 3rd baseman who then tags Alex R at 3rd for a double play. Sean strikes out looking the end the top of the 3rd. The Phantoms get shut down for the rest of the game.

On defense, Chris gets a 6-3 with Reilly in the third, Alex R gets an 8-6 with Jordan and Jordan gets a 6-3 with Reilly in the 4th. Jordan gets another 6-3 with Reilly for the 2nd out of the fifth.

Our MVP was Sean going 3.2 innings pitching for us facing 15 batters, 25 strikes of 41 pitches, 4 strikeouts, 1 walk, 6 hits and 3 earned runs.

Chris pitched the finishing the 4th inning, going 1 inning facing 8 batters 15 strikes of 19 pitches with 1 strikeout, 1 walk, 5 hits and 3 earned runs. Jordan closed us out with 1 strikeout in 4 pitches.

What should have been an easy inning with the bottom half of Wilcox’s line up, they had 4 solid hits score 3 runs.

Final Score: Echelbarger 3 – Wilcox 6

A nail-bitter of a game for Team Echelbarger. We had solid pitching and great fielding. We just couldn’t get our runners on base home and stranded 5. The Phantoms out hit Interbay 7 to 5 and we were even on walks with 4 a piece.

We have Pitching! Christian who pitched a great game for us in the last regular season game started us off, but struggled to throw the ball down over the plate. He had walked 2 runners, hit a player and earned 1 run. So I had to pull him early. Chris relieved him going 2.2 innings facing 10 batters with 30 strikes of 47 pitches, 6 strikeouts, 2 walks, 2 hits and 1 earned run.

We have defense! This is one of the best fielding teams I’ve coached. For the most part we are taking care of the baseball. Chris had a 6-3 with Reilly in the first inning. Alex R started a 9-6 combo with Sean in the second. Sean caught a huge pop-fly to left field for the final out of the fourth and Benji caught a pop-fly to center for the 1st out of the fifth.

We have bats! The coaching staff and I took too many risky base running moves today and we got burned 3 times. We under estimated their catcher and third baseman. Chris hit a single in the bottom of the first, but got tagged out on a single from Sean. In the bottom of the third inning, Alex R & Alex B got walked. Christian hits an RBI single to get Alex R home, but Alex B got tagged out at 3rd.

The MVP of the game was Jordan. He pitched 3 innings facing 11 batters with 29 strikes of 42 pitches, 7 strikeouts, 1 walk, 1 hit and 0 earned runs. He gunned down the runner leading off at 1st with a 2-3 with Reilly for the 2nd out of the second. Jo Jo went 3 for 3 at the plate. A single in the first, a lead off double in the fourth on which Sean had a RBI sac fly to left field to tie the game, and a single in the bottom of the sixth inning to become the winning run on a single hit from Benji!

The Phantoms have the entire 6 man pitching staff ready for Friday’s game against team Wilcox. We are going to need them as we will only have 1 day of rest for Sunday’s Championship game. Wilcox is a sleeper team that was off the radar until the playoffs. Their bottom 5 players of their lineup has combined for 5 hits in the regular season. But their bats erupted in the sixth inning against Bennett & Bennett with 12-0 runs. The score reverted to 2-0 as they didn’t complete the sixth inning.

I am hopeful that the team in green will persevere and play in the Championship game!

Next game is 5:00 pm Friday, June 11th on Lynndale Field 2. See you there. Go Phantoms!

Final Score: Interbay 2 – Echelbarger 3