Queen City Invitational: No Wins but Still a Success

The Queen City Invitational is in the books, and though the Heaters Baseball Club came home with zero wins and three losses on their trip to Cincinnati, the tournament was still a huge success in the eyes of the coaches of the Heaters.  Last season, a group of players from Wise went to Cincinnati to compete and came home 71-5 losers in four games.  This season, the Heaters competed in all three games, and with a little better defensive play, the final 34-7 margin the Heaters lost by this season would have been a lot closer.

In the opening game of the tournament, the Heaters faced the MTM Stars (Lorain, Ohio).  The Stars traveled from near Cleveland to participate in the tournament.  The Stars scored three runs in the top of the first inning and then two runs in the top of the second inning to take a 5-0 lead.  The Heaters, showing that they weren't overwhelmed by the level of competition, rallied back for three runs in their half of the second inning to trim the lead to 5-3.  The pitchers then settled down as neither team would score in the third or fourth innings.  In the top of the fifth inning, the Stars managed to add an insurance run to the score, to make the lead 6-3.  Then, something you don't see often occurred.  With one out in the bottom of the 5th inning, the sprinklers came on, causing a 10 minute delay in the action.  Considering the hot temperatures, I'm not so sure the delay wasn't a welcome one by both the players and coaches on the field.  The Heaters would manage back to back walks after the delay with one out, bringing the potential tying run to the plate.  But it wasn't meant to be for the Heaters as the club was unable to score again, handing them a 6-3 loss in game 1 to the MTM Stars.  The Stars would go on to be the #6 seed in the Championship tournament on Sunday.

In game two of pool play, the Heaters would take on a familiar foe in the NKY Wildcats (Northern Kentucky).  Familiar in that the Wise Baseball team faced them a year ago and lost 23-1.  The Heaters showed again they were an improved team.  The Wildcats scored three runs in the first inning but the Heaters managed a hit and put three balls in play in the first inning to scratch out a run of their own to make the lead 3-1.  The Wildcats scored another run in the second inning and tacked on three more runs in the third to carry a 7-1 lead into the bottom of the third inning.  The Heaters led off the third inning with a triple and a single to cut the lead to 7-2 after three complete innings.  The Heaters made a pitching change going to the 4th.  After a strikeout led off the inning, the Heaters looked as though they may claw back into the game and take another team to the limit.  But then defensive miscues bit the club.  The Wildcats tallied four hits in the inning, which was made worse after four Heaters' errors and a walk in the inning.  When the top of the 4th inning finally ended, the Wildcats had crossed home nine times to stretch their lead to 16-2.  The Heaters would now need seven runs to extend the game to a 5th inning, or else be handed a loss via mercy rule.  After a leadoff out, the Heaters would put four balls in play and earn a walk.  That would not be enough to score the needed seven times, but it did give the Heaters two more runs to provide the final 16-4 deficit.  The final score looks a lot worse than the game really was.  If the Heaters could have eliminated the fourth inning errors, this game would have gone the distance and been a lot closer on the scoreboard.

Game three of pool play would also hand the Heaters a familiar opponent in the Cincinnati Flames.  Last season, the Wise Baseball team lost to the Flames 20-2 in the final game of pool play as well.  The Flames would go on to win the All-American Blast in 2011.  If you want to know more about the Flames, just look them up.  They're a legit travel baseball organization.  Miscues would bite the Heaters again in this contest.  The Heaters managed to get three runners on in the first inning, but baserunning mistakes prevented the Heaters from scoring in the top of the first.  The Heaters showed that they weren't accustomed to getting leads and stealing off of pitchers first moves as two runners were thrown out at third base on steal attempts.  In the Flames half of the first inning, the Heaters defense managed to get two of the first three batters out.  It appeared as though the Heaters may take the game to the 2nd tied at 0-0.  But the Flames bats came alive and the Heaters couldn't make the plays.  Three Flames hits and three Heaters errors would allow the Flames to cross home six times in the inning and take a 6-0 lead after an inning.  In the second inning, the Heaters would draw two walks, but again, failed to score a run.  Then the Flames bats really woke up. The Flames would tally five hits in the second inning, three of them going for extra bases.  The Heaters infield did manage to record three ground ball outs in the inning, but the damage was done.  The Flames scored six more runs to take a 12-0 lead after two innings.  The Heaters would need three runs to force the Flames to bat again or else face another mercy rule.  Two of the first three Heaters batters would draw walks to give the club a shot.  However, it wasn't meant to be again.  After a strikeout put two outs on the board, the Heaters would hit a hard ground ball to third base that the Flames 3b made a play on, fired across the diamond, and recorded the final out of the game.  The Heaters lost 12-0.  The Flames finished the tournament in 2nd place.

With an 0-3 record, the Heaters would be granted a consolation game on Sunday against the Cincinnati Red Stockings who were also 0-3 in pool play.  Unfortunately for both teams, an overnight thunderstorm washed out the consolation game, meaning both clubs would go home with an 0-3 record.

As was the case with the Heaters in our first tournament of the season in Knoxville, trying to adapt to a new style of play with no experience proved to be a difficult task.  With no experience at leading off, holding runners on, and pick-off moves, the Heaters were just out matched by some more prepared teams.  But as was shown then, give the Heaters some time and we can get better and be successful.  Had we had more time, more games, and more opportunities with this style of play, I am confident we'd see better results.  The final margin of 35-7 is not a true reflection of how much better this team played compared to last season.  We were competitive in the first two ball games.  Only some defensive errors in the fourth inning of game two prevented the Heaters from having a shot at winning that game.  In the final game, defensive errors and some base running inexperience cost the Heaters again from being more competitive than the score showed. 

The Heaters Baseball Club, a collection of kids from rural Wise County, Virginia did NOT go to the big city and embarrass themselves.  The Heaters went to the Queen City and showed a lot of people that we can be competitive with programs that have been around for far longer than ours.  The Heaters have nothing to hang their heads about after this trip.  They can be proud in knowing that the went to Cincinnati and were extremely competitive.  Job well done, Heaters!