Pirates found themselves on the wrong end of the gangplank Thursday afternoon with a loss to the Southern Maryland Cardinals and a score of 1 to zero. The game was a pitching duel and tied, zero to zero, into the ninth inning. In the ninth the Cardinals paired a triple with a single to produce the game’s only run. Reed Bromley took the mound and helped keep the game within reach with a big strike out with the bases loaded to end the inning. Unfortunately the Pirates could not “make hay” with their final at-bat of the game. Still, it’s important to remember that the 2008 champion (last-seeded Beltway Blue Caps) lost early and came up through the loser’s bracket and won the whole enchilada, so don’t kick the dog yet!

Click this to see the Pirates’ box score from the July 30 game.

UPDATE: Click to see the play-by-play from the CGL “live webcast”.

Friday at 4PM

Well as predicted, right on these very pages, this tournament will be very competitive. The Pirates play the Senators Friday in the losers’ bracket, because the Nationals defeated the Senators in the day’s second tightly contested game 6-5, decided by a double play in the bottom of the ninth. The winner of  Friday’s game plays Saturday at 3:00pm, the loser unfortunately finishes their summer baseball. Get ready for another tense afternoon  Friday, 4PM at Waters Field (click to see a map). See the Wednesday game report (below) for info and directions to Waters Field. This message brought to you by our sponsor Tums, when apparently two nail biters back to back aren’t quite enough.