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LIVEBLAG: Quintessence of Dust "@" ZwangzugPosted by MetaNarrativesFTLT1.0: Eckhart winds up, wait, ARGH HE'S FALLING OFF THE MOUND! oh, no, that's just his wind-up and the pitch is rather good, actually, and Masami is late on her swing. Eckhart with the pitch and OH MY QOD HE'S GOING TO FALL OVER!! oops, no, that really is how he pitches, and again, it works well, and it's a broken bat grounder to the mound, Masami will not beat out the throw.
T1.1: Emily up to bat. Eckhart pitches, COLLAPSES IN PAIN! no, hang on, he's fine, and the pop fly is snagged at second base.
T1.2: Up to bat is Huang Li, batting left. Eckhart's action is going to take some getting used to. Ball. Fouled off. A rare swish outside the zone. Collared that one, drive across the field, it's heading toward the short fence, could be gone, it's over Pratt's head - hits the top, and bounces down into the corner, Li is heading round and will head to third - Pratt with the throw and a nice slide by Li to evade the tag from Mercer. Triple! And Quintessence of Dust put a runner onto third.
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Swing and a miss for strike three, and Natalia leaves the runner on. Just a 13 pitch first inning by Eckhart, and with four swinging strikes he's obviously getting a lot of break on his pitches early on. Or else the batters are just mesmerised by his action.
B1.0: George Jones to pitch, originally scheduled for Game #3 against Yafor 2, but given the ball today instead. Kersten batting for the Zebras. Fastball pitch, and cleanly hit, driven - all the way back! A leadoff shot by the second baseman to clear that short leftfield wall that was the bane of the Yaforite staff, and now proving tricky for Jones. Pratt to bat next. Another first pitch swing, another drive to left field - Pratt batting left handed however - this one doesn't look like it has the distance though, and snagged near the warning track by Emily Sanderson, good running catch.
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B1.2: And after the first three batters all put their first pitches in play, a rather more typical at bat for Arzaga, taking nine pitches before grounding out to Jones. Zebras lead, 1-0.
T2.0: Momoko Koumura at bat. She looked good in the field in Game #1 against the Yaforites and hit a homer as the DH in Game #2 - she's scheduled to start on defence in all three games of this series, so we can only assume there's been a full recovery on that knee. Ball. Strike on the corner, Koumura doesn't agree, informs the umpire that he is wrong and can go drown in a ditch of his own blood, charming. Groundball, and running hard, might just beat out the throw. Good hustle there from Momoko, and certainly her baserunning is a valuable asset that that injury jeopardised, so good to see her running groundballs aggressively.
Anna Alaja, back in the lineup after sitting out the Yaforite series. Very susceptible to left handed pitching, but scheduled to start even if the Zebras play Bargmavis - so perhaps that's because they're teammates, and Zhou wants to keep his only Republican batter in the lineup. Who knows. High foul ball behind the plate. Ball. Swing a miss, 1-2 count. Cursory glances at first from Eckhart - I'd like to see his pickoff action - but no move from Koumura. Good hit, it's past Kersten, and that could be a double, Koumura slides in to Turner and he can't put the tag on. Anna Alaja with her 12th hit of the World Baseball Classic, pushing her average back above .300, and driving in an equalising run.
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T2.2: And strikeout number three already, Eckhart proving a sterner obstacle than Cieger. Still a runner on second, Grubensek to bat. Called strike. Ball. Swinging strike. Line drive to short, past short, and it's into shallow centre, Scircle in pursuit still, but Alaja will score here, to give Quintessence of Dust the lead. Grubensek a player who seems to relish batting in the World Baseball Classic, and once again he's hitting much better here than in the domestic season. Back to the top of the order, Masami with her second at bat of the day. Tags a grounder towards Kersten, who will throw to Scircle for the forceout.
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B2.2: Two outs, Turner on second, Scircle to bat. Strike. Ball. Looks like a hit, it will get past Momoko, but she puts in a good dive, and Turner will not risk the throw to home. Possibly could have been more aggressive with his baserunning, as her arm has never been very highly rated, and that means two runners on with Eckhart, the pitcher, to bat.
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Another ball to 3-1, and Jones in danger of giving an easy walk to load the bases. This one's a strike, and Scircle heading for second - plows through the infield dirt, close call, but safe. Scircle and Amanda Jonsdottir very similar as players, both quick defensively, disappointing on the basepaths - but no complaints there, and quite a valuable steal - worth a +0.041 bump on the Wally the Win Expectancy Worm chart. Foul ball, still 3-2 count. Swing a miss, and Jones is relieved to sit down Eckhart, finally, and leave two runners on, with Zwangzug possibly letting a chance to score slide there.
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T3.1: Yet another swinging strike. Driven hard by Li, this time to the right, and a brilliant play by Kersten! Diving catch to his right to rob Li of a certain hit.
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B3.0: ...and he slides into second, Kersten can do no run so far. Two hits, a home run, a stolen base, and a web gem at the top of this inning. Jones to Pratt, takes the pitch for a strike, Kersten going again, hard throw to third - and out, this time! Gina Croes looks unhappy with that decision, but a good throw by Grubensek. He's thrown out 4 of 12 stealers this WBC, so perhaps batting better and fielding worse than at the domestic level.
B3.1: Pratt connects on that one, between first and second, and it will be a hit - and of course, there is no Kersten to score now.
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T4.0: Ball. Hit! Momoko goes 2 for 2, and the line drive clears Throop in centre field, another single. Anna up to bat. Swings at her first pitch, hard grounder to Scircle, and Momoko won't beat the throw, Kersten relays to first for the double play!
T4.2: ...Anna has grounded into five double plays this Classic, which is many as all the other regular starters put together. Foul ball. Ball, to take the count to 3-2. Swinging strike, and another K for Eckhart. Amanda's 10th strikeout of the WBC, and her second of this game. Still 2-1, going into the bottom of the fourth.
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B4.1: Fouled off again. Throop taking her time here. Too low, 2-2. Foul ball. Line drive, into left centre, and that will be a single. First pitch swing by Turner, and it's into right, and his second hit of the game. Throop could stretch it out to third, runners on the corners now. Ball to Scircle. Another hit, and Throop will score. Turner moves onto third, scores level.
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B4.2: Ball. Fouled off. Put a charge on that one, and it's gone! Kersten's second round-tripper of the day, and it gives Zwangzug a huge jump. Wally the Win Expectancy Worm almost breaks his back on that one, from .572 to .870, and suddenly it's looking very bleak for Quintessence of Dust. It's also looking very bleak for George Jones, who departs after just 3.2 innings pitched, having given up 5 earned runs, two of them on homers by Jamie Kersten, nine hits, four strikeouts, no walks in total. Herbie Black, in to pitch relief...
...and Pratt drops a bunt down the third base line, Amanda is in quickly but it won't be quick enough, and a great bunt hit puts Pratt on first, Zwangug still going here in the fourth. Ball. Foul ball. Ball. Fouled off. Ball. And - sharp move to first, and Pratt is picked off to end the inning!
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T5.1: ...strike, and Lai is sat down. That's Eckhart's seventh K today, and Lai is batting .036 this Classic. No, we didn't get our decimal point mixed up.
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B5.1: Chikafuji throws a ball. Ball. Strike, looked high. Ball. Having real trouble finding the zone so far. Weak groundball, and that will force Arzaga out at second, but he nails Koumura with the slide and there's no throw to first. She gets up very slowly, and lets the departing Arzaga know she didn't appreciate that. Zhou watching with concern, but she looks to be moving ok.
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B5.2: And that's ball four. Under half his pitches for strikes so far as Chikafuji walks Throop, and Turner, who's 2 for 2, to bat with runners on. Zwangzug lead 5-2 in the fifth. Swings at the pitch, looping foul down the first base line, but Anna will chase it down and make the play.
T6.0: Emily to leadoff the sixth. Ball. Ball. Strike. Ripped to deep right centre, and it could be gone. Home run! Her third longball of this Classic for Quintessence of Dust's all time leader, and she overtakes Natalia in the slugging column too. 5-3, and Wally takes a nose dive.
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T6.1: It looks like to me like Momoko Koumura's day is over, because there are some animated conversations in the dugout as Toebacca the Wookiee walks out to bat. Evidently that collision at second did for her knee once more. Very disappointing. They don't have any reserve infielders left - I'm not sure why they had Lai pinch hit, but it's going to mean, I would expect, having Toebacca play third, Amanda shift over to short, and Huang shift to second. Amanda did start at short in WBC11, of course, and Huang at second in WBC14, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. Toebacca takes a ball. "Ah rasc rcworawaro aooo waoo scro akrarcao!!" he bellows.
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B6.0: And the players take the field as I predicted, Huang-Toey-Amanda at 4-5-6. That breaks Huang Li's streak, having played every single inning at shortstop thus far this Classic. With 55 plate appearances and 26 assists she also leads the team in those categories. Very indefatigable, seemingly, unlike her mercurial middle infield partner, who is presumably off in the treatment room now. Still Chikafuji on the mound. Scircle tags a grounder down the third base line, and there is immediate action for Toebacca.
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B6.1: Eckhart has a swing, and drive out to right! Well, this one could go, Natalia's in pursuit but I think it'll clear the fence, and the pitcher celebrates as he rounds the bases, a home run for Eckhart which surely puts the game beyond Quintessence of Dust, who are now 6-3 down. The third home run of the day as the Zebras show off some slightly uncharacteristic power in the BEF.
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T7.0: That's all the way down past a sprawling Mercer, away from Pratt, and running up the warning track, as third basewoman/shortstop/Olympic field hockey medalist/decent fry cook Amanda Jonsdottir streaks round for extra bases...
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And it has not been much of a Classic for Nea, with 4 strikeouts in 6 at bats as a pinch hitter.
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T7.2: And Masami Tamagotchi strikes out for a second time as Eckhart collects Ks number 9, 10 and 11 to leave Amanda stranded.
B7.0: Into the attack is Tal Isaachar. Ball to Mercer. Hit well to left centre, and it will fall in for a hit. Not an auspicious start for the starter turned reliever.
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And another hit, Arzarga driving the ball down the right field line, rolling all the way into the corner and he is round to second, Anna with the relay throw but it is way late and Mercer will score easily to take it to 7-3.
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B7.2: ...and Amanda steps onto the base for the out. Good recovery from Tal, but a costly run, and the gap now 4.
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T8.0: Emily with a looping fly to right centre. Looking for two, she will have to chance Throop's arm, slides into second - and the call is out! Thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, and perhaps the tense situations getting to Emily there.
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T8.2: Natalia's double, incidentally, means she once more leads the team in total bases. Behind Momoko and Sakiko in slugging, but with more plate appearances than both of them combined. The new pitcher is...Gordon Chane, bringing their closer straight in. Toebacca takes a ball. Ball. Hit, and it bounces to the fence in deep right, could be a double, and Natalia will score, to bring the score back to 7-4. Certainly things still interesting - Zwangzug have surrendered bigger leads than this before. Still hope...we hope?
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B8.0: Zwangzug pinch hitting now, Keigenbey at bat, with Derly next up. Swings and misses. We will face this guy as a starter tomorrow, when the DH is in use, incidentally. And that looks like a hit, ominously, as he punches a groundball between third and short, and Toebacca will hurry across.
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B8.2: ...and the needle tips 100! Not too sure how much of that Arzarga saw, but Mazio's second K ends the inning. He's struck out 9 in 6.2 innings pitched so far this WBC. But it's relief work that won't count for much if Quintessence of Dust's hitters can't produce a spark at the top of the ninth.
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T9.2: ...and Rustrian snags it. That's the game! Sakiko hangs her head, but really it was all about the pitching - and hitting! - show Eckhart put on, and a very solid offensive showing from Jamie Kersten. It's really going to be tough now for the Quodites to come back.