Thursday, April 24, 2008
The Daily Pooch Punt 4/24/08: HOW DO YOU WRAP SWAGGER?
So Jeremy Hahn has himself a rough second inning. He walks two Cougars and, after a fielder’s choice, it’s suddenly bases loaded with nobody out for the Little Giants’ ace southpaw. Now you’re wondering if the senior could find the strike zone if he had Google Earth downloaded to his glove.
But, hey man, this is a big game, like all Southern Valley District contests are (duh, of course), and Hahn is doing everything he can to become that big-time pitcher the Giants are going to need if they hope to get a sniff of a deep postseason run. So, what does he do? Well, he turns it around and strikes out the next three batters.
No runs that inning for the Cougars.
No runs that inning for the Cougars.
Yep, Happy Birthday Jim Critzer.
“[Hahn] wasn’t throwing a lot of strikes,” Critzer said. “But he did a heck of a job getting out of that second inning.”
(Sniff, sniff) I smell some much-needed swagger.
That was all for The Swag Man (Hahn) after his get-out-of-a-jam second and in comes Joseph Lucas who, once again, shuts down the Cougar bats, strikes out five and proves that when it comes to quality lefties, the Little Giants have the market cornered and sure as heck don’t look like they’re going to sell anytime soon.
The result: An 8-1 Little Giants’ win and the season sweep of the Cougars.
Somebody tell me what the heck has gotten into Josh Craig? Really? Seriously, the Giants’ big dog (or Hammy as the team calls him) drives in three key runs and finished the night 3-for-4. The past two years everybody clad in a purple and gold shirt (or jersey, or jacket, or hoodie) has been waiting for Craig to come into his own at the plate. It’s pretty safe to say that, yeah, he’s here.
Josh Craig, you know your table is ready.
“The team was relaxed and they guaranteed me a win today,” Critzer said.
Like we said, Happy Birthday Jim Critzer.
Hey, how about Eric Hall? Both teams’ bats were pretty hush-hush for the first two innings until Waynesboro started to go the work in the top half of the second. (Well, the Giants did score one run in the first.) After a Lucas single, Hall waits for walk, showing a good batting eye, to set up Thompson’s sac-fly that turned into a run scoring error on the Cougar outfield. Guess who drove in Thompson and Hall with a single to make the score 4-0?
Hey, Josh Craig, you sitting at the table yet? Make room for Eric Hall, you know, the kid that slapped that first-inning RBI double. The guy you drove in with a single. Remember, one your three RBI?
And another thing: “On the way here, on the bus, we were all pumped up to play Draft. We wanted to shut them down,” Hahn said.
Happy Birthday, Jim Critzer.
A question for you: How does one wrap and put a bow on swagger? Hey, I’m just asking.
This isn’t the pits: When it comes to the long jump at Waynesboro, you’re usually only hearing two names — Will Walter and Tim Brown. So where the heck did Kevin Jackson come from?
The freshman (yes, I just said typed “freshman” ) held the mark to beat for the most of the day during Waynesboro’s lone home quad-meet Wednesday with Stuarts Draft, Rockbridge and Grace Christian.
Holding onto the top spot until the end (Walter, of course, eventually won the thing): Lots of hard work.
Being humble, and smart, enough to say it’s all thanks to hard work: Classy.
For a freshman, eliciting this quote from Walter, “First off, I don’t know what Kevin came out of. He’s in the ninth grade, but he killed it today.”: Priceless.
Kevin Jackson, welcome to the big-boys club. Enjoy your stay.
One last thing: Driving through Greenville (is that place a town too?) last night, I saw the sky lit up just east of U.S. 11. Getting closer I could make out what it was. Yep, Greenville (town or no? Clue me in) has lighted baseball fields.