"Rumble on the River" Rally gives Heaters Runner-Up

The Heaters Baseball Club played in their first fall tournament of the season yesterday and came home with second place medals after going 2-1 in the round robin style tournament.  The "Rumble on the River" tournament played at Kingsport's Domtar Park in Tennessee saw four teams take part in the 9u action from Virginia and Tennessee.

The Heaters started play yesterday at 11:45 in some rather warm weather.  The Heaters struggled to get much going against the Greenville Wildcats (Greenville, TN) and walked away with a 14-5 loss in their opening contest.  Many of the Heaters five runs came in the final inning, when the game was pretty much out of reach.  But late runs would be the theme of the day/night.

After a lengthy time off between games 1 and 2, the Heaters returned to action at 5:00 to take on the Washington County Nationals (Washington Co., TN).  The Heaters scored early and often in the top of the 1st inning, crossing home four times for an early lead.  However, the Nationals quickly erased the deficit, scoring eight times to post an 8-4 lead after an inning of play.  Each team's pitching settled down after that, only allowing two runs each over the next 2 innings.  With time limit running out, the 4th inning would be the final inning.  The Heaters, trailing 10-6, would need at least four runs to extend the game.

The first three batters would reach base for the Heaters, setting up a possible comeback.  After a strikeout recorded the first out of the inning, the Heaters bats came alive.  A swinging bunt would score the first run of the inning.  A couple of hits and a hit batsman later would tie the game up.  With the bases loaded and still one out, the Heaters took a huge lead when the final batter in the lineup belted a ball to the RF fence, clearing the bases for an inside the park grand slam.  Suddenly, the Heaters 10-6 deficit turned into a 14-10 lead.  The game would see plenty more excitement as the Nationals would score three runs in their bottom half of the inning but the Heaters prevented the Nationals from scoring the tying run as the Heaters took a thrilling 14-13 victory.  The win set the Heaters up for a chance to claim 2nd place with a win in their finale.

The finale would be played under the lights and would complete a long day of baseball play.  The Heaters scored three runs in their half of the first inning and never looked back.  The Tazewell Storm (Tazewell, VA) would keep the game close, but could never take the lead.  The Heaters led as much as 9-1 and 11-4 in the game and would hold on to an 11-8 victory with the game being stopped after four innings due to the time limit.

The runner-up finish allowed for each member of the Heaters 9u squad to come home with a silver medal.  The Heaters organization has now come home with hardware in three of its last four tournaments dating back to the spring season.