By MIles Toogo-Photos by Kathy Jones and Laura Stubbs
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NORTH AURORA─ Of the major sports in this country, baseball is overwhelmingly viewed as the most difficult to play.
For some, baseball on its surface is simple; a bat, a ball, four bases and running around to score because the most proficient in baseball make it look easy, but for most, it is an extremely difficult task to succeed at.
One part of the game is offense. You have a round bat trying to hit a round ball heading towards you at an accelerated speed.
Then there’s pitching. You’re throwing a baseball, attempting to keep your toss in a precise area without it being struck to gain an advantage. You have to do that three times with accuracy, control and velocity.
Defensive fielding requires positioning. Whichever of the nine positions you take, whether infield, outfield, catching or on the mound, each one has different requirements. Possibly the hardest simply because you have to reset constantly with every batter.
Another aspect of the game that comes into play is the mistakes. Mental and Physical mistakes are part of every game. At every level, they are unavoidable; Errors just happen.
This is a sport where the best at it; the very best teams at every level occasionally have a game where nothing seems to go right, and a rout is their destiny.
When the Illinois-Lisle 12U Wolves visited the North Aurora Storm on May 2, the Wolves were riding a 13-game streak without a loss. When they left, the streak was emphatically over after taking a 13-3 shellacking in four innings.
The Wolves started strong scoring a run in their first at-bat but it quickly fizzled away.
The host evened up the game in their first efforts at the plate and then put up a seven spot in their second inning that left the Wolves down 8-1. In essence, the game was over at that point.
A diminutive hurler on the mound for the Storm wasn’t over-powering or deceptive but he certainly frustrated the Wolves hitters. The Wolves mustered just three hits and a single run against him in three innings.
The Wolves defense also gave the Storm additional outs that factored in the one-sided game. Both infield and outfield had their struggles from ground balls to fly balls, the Wolves didn’t make the plays.
The vaunted pitching that has carried the Wolves all of the early season was suspect at best. Two of the Wolves’ better pitchers struggled as neither found the strike zone consistently and when they did, defensive help was missing on several plays.
Give the Storm credit, they did hit the Wolves pitching well and earned the victory, but the Wolves were sleep-walking this game and nothing they did was the norm.
The Wolves did try to rally down 12-1. They needed two runs to keep the game going in the top of the fourth inning.
Graham Johnson began with a double. It was his second hit of the game. Christian Slazak followed with a double as well, plating Johnson.
Nico Villanueva next singled to center, scoring Slazak but trying to extend his hit into two bases, he was thrown out at second.
Quinn Robinson followed with the fourth consecutive hit in the inning. Brian Grogan added to the hits with his single immediately next. Unfortunately, the inning stalled with just two runs scored.
The Storm iced the game in their bottom half of the inning needing just a run to end the game. After two quick outs, a single and a stolen base followed by two wild pitches concluded the game at 13-3.
The Wolves ended the game with 8 hits to the Storms 9 with each with two doubles but quite the disparity in runs scored, a telling sign of the defensive struggles for the Wolves.
This was a game that even the best teams endure, not the norm for this Illinois-Lisle Wolves, simply their Destiny today!