The wrong day to show up short-handed...

There are three ways you can lose to the Lions:  You can be out pitched. You can be out hit. Or you can be out defensed. On a day when all three happen together, the results will be devastating.

Let's start by showing some respect for today's opponent, Salesian. They had to play without their two best players (one missed the game to go to the Stuart Hall High School Ice Cream Social, which Liam, Morgan, Ryley and Stephen E cut short/missed to make their game). In spite of that, they played hard, kept their heads up, and showed a lot of class and poise. This was clearly not the rematch they had hoped for after dropping the previous meeting 8-6 (or 8-7, depending on who was keeping score).

To compound their troubles, our Coaches put Nick S. on the mound this afternoon, where he retired the first 9 batters he faced. By the time the 4th and final inning was complete, via a strikeout, Nick had pitched a no-hitter (a couple walks, a missed double-play and an error spoiled his perfect game). At one point, somewhere around retiring the 6th batter, Nick had only thrown 3 balls. What a performance!

Defense? Thanks to Nick's outing, there wasn't as much a need for it as last game. However, Stephen P's running catch of a ball struck deep to Center Field, a great dig at 2nd by John K for the throw out, and solid work all game by John C at Catcher demonstrated that the Lions have maintained focus - and for a change, the Lions didn't even spot their opponent a first inning run!

So a "no-no" backed by solid defense leaves only hitting... and wow, how to describe today's performance? The term "juggernaut" has been applied to these guys earlier in the season, and we have seen tastes of it in all of our games. But today, the Lions moved their offense onto another level entirely. Some highlights:
- Everyone scored. At least once (there were 20 runs).
- Batters 3 through 5 (Nick, Stephen E, Andrew) went 12 for 12 at the plate, scored twelve times, and drove in 13 runs.
- There was a home run (Stephen E), two triples (Nick, Stephen E), a number of doubles, and singles (when guys couldn't think of anything better to do).
- In 4 at bats, Stephen E hit for the cycle (Home Run, Triple, Double, Single) had 7 RBI's, and scored 4 times.

Here's a taste from one inning. They all went something like this:

Oh, and a final piece of news. With their 5-0 record, the Lions now hold sole possession of first place by 1/2 a game over 5-1 Epiphany. Let's keep this up!

Go Lions!