National Semi-Final
Lightning Baseball vs. Tampa Heat @ North Myrtle Beach High School
Friday July 29, 2005
The 29th day of July in 2005 will be a day that thirteen baseball players, and three coaches, will never forget. On Friday morning, the Lightning 13’s squared off against a prominent Tampa Heat team that had been storming through tournament.
Greg Ladd (Danvers, MA), pitching on one-day rest, took the mound for the Lightning as they continued to strive towards a National Championship. Connor Lyons (Bedford, NH) started off the game with a single, a stolen base, and later scored on a two out triple by Evan Bunker (Topsfield, MA). Ladd followed Bunker’s blast with a line drive base hit, scoring Bunker, and was thrown out at second while trying to take the extra base. On an extremely humid morning, Ladd had some control problems in the early innings allowing three runs in the first and two in the third before settling down.
The Lightning offense backed Ladd’s efforts by scrapping out a run in each of the next two innings, highlighted by a one out double from Gavin Mahoney (Winthrop, MA) in the second as the scored remained 5-4 until the fifth inning. Lyons led off the fifth with a hit by pitch, Chris Splinter (Middleton, MA) walked, and Bunker delivered with a base hit which scored Lyons. Splinter and Bunker would end up scoring on a sacrifice fly from Ladd and an RBI groundout by Geoff Lynch (Georgetown, MA).
With the score 7-5, Ladd was determined as ever and battled through the heart of the Tamp lineup in the bottom of the fifth, allowing one run on one hit and one walk. In the top of the sixth, the Lightning offense again answered their opponent as Lyons singled with one out and later scored one of his three runs on a Jason Federico (Wakefield, MA) RBI single. With the score 8-6, Ladd dominated the last two innings, retiring the side in order in the sixth and allowing only one base runner in the seventh en route to yet another dramatic win for the Lightning 13’s and a birth in the championship game that was to be held at Myrtle Beach High School later that afternoon.
