Rocky Mount, NC- It was opening night for Rocky Mount Little League at the Rocky Mount Sports Complex. In a season that normally starts in April but was delayed due to Covid-19, it was great to be back at the ballpark. All of the fans in attendance were practicing social distancing. They were here to see some baseball and ready to get back to a sense of normalcy.
Both coaches wondered how there kids would play tonight giving the delay in the season. Travis said ” With young kids you never know how their nerves will be and you are not sure how they will react until you get out on the field”. I asked Alexis Rodriguez the same thing and he echoed Travis thoughts, he said “Both teams came out to play and they were a little nervous at the start of the game”.
It was great to be covering Hester & Tucker, Atty’s. vs Pizza Inn. Here you have a first time Majors Divison coach in Alexis Rodriguez and the defending champions Pizza INN Coach Travis Ward. Both coaches were eager to get the season started.
Peyton Harris started pitching for Pizza Inn and Hester & Hester & Tucker, Atty’s. and he struck out two in the 1st inning. Vincent Wilson started pitching for Hester & Tucker, Atty’s. In the bottom of the inning, Benjamin Parks walked to lead off the inning and then two players got on when they were hit by a pitch. Benjamin Parks and Colson Gay was able to score after two wild pitches . Toby Bailey was able to bring one run home with an RBI single through center field to make it 3-1 at the end of the 1st inning.
In the second inning, Cane Whitehurst was able to score after a fielders choice and that made it 3-1 in the middle of the 2nd inning. Then in the bottom of the 2nd, Pizza Inn was able to score two more runs and made it 5-1.
In the bottom of the third inning, Pizza Inn was able to get the first three players on with walks and this opened up them scoring 8 runs and made it 13-1 after 3.
Payton Harris pitched 3 innings and then Pizza Inn brought in Colson Gay to finish the game off in the 4th. The final score was 13-1 after 4 innings.
Talking with Travis Ward after the game he was happy with the effort his team put forth tonight. He said “I thought our kids played really well tonight for game one: We hit the ball really well and played great defense throughout the game.” Although Travis was happy with his teams performance tonight he told his players ” Not to be satisfied, this is the first game of the season and we got a long way to go. We will continue to work and work harder.”
We also spoke with Alexis Rodriguez after the game, he said ” Both teams came out ready to play and we were a little jittery. We are not as experienced as Pizza Inn and it showed tonight”. Although this was the first time that many of his players had played in a Little League Majors game, Alexis wanted to tell them “It’s all about attitude and effort. As long as you give me those two things, I’ll be okay. Errors and mistakes are going to happen and that’s part of baseball.” He learned what he has and moving forward he will be able to make changes and help his team. Since this is his first season as head coach he said ” I have leaned on other coaches and asked questions to try and learn as much as I can. We are friends outside of the lines but in the lines I want to win”.
ENC Sports Review 