Washed Out...Again.

Once again, Larry Bell Park was better suited for a Swim Meet or Bassmasters Tournament than a baseball game.

The Marietta Knights' Sunday night NABL game against the Cobb Coyotes was washed away by heavy thunderstorms. It was the second straight rainout for the Knights. Their Monday night match up with the North Georgia Outlaws in Milton was washed out by heavy rains and tornado warnings. After taking Easter weekend off, the Knights will try again to take on the Coyotes at their home park at Walton High School on April 3.

Hopewell Edges Knights 5-4 in Austell

The Knights get pumped for the start of the GSA Point Chasers Tournament in Austell

Will Nelson was great on the
mound in a 1 run loss to
the Hopewell Hawks

It wasn't always pretty for the Marietta Knights at the GSA Points Chasers Tournament in Austell this weekend as they dropped both pool games to the Georgia Marlins and Strike One Sports Slammers. But the Knights buckled down in bracket play and battled the 3rd seeded Hopewell Hawks in a great defensive battle before finally falling 5-4 at Legion Field. Will Nelson was brilliant on the mound once again in his second tournament start. Will struck out 3 in 4 innings and held the Hawks scoreless in the 3rd and 4th innings. He also provided the Defensive Play of the day when he made a diving catch on a foul fly ball across the 3rd base line. The runner-up defensive play of the game came when Will made a diving catch on a foul fly ball across the first base line (the only reason this play was the runner up was because it lacked originality). Will had 3 assists including a pickoff and 2 putouts from the mound.

Mason Doyle went a whopping 5 for 8 with
3 RBI's and 2 runs scored on the weekend

Presley Field and Mason Doyle continued their hot hitting for the Knights. On the weekend, Presley went 3 for 4 with 4 RBI's and 3 walks while Mason was 5 for 8 with 3 RBI's and 3 stolen bases. Austin Hansell added 2 RBI's and Isaac Zefo had the longest hit of the weekend when he blasted a double off of the base of the Blue Monster in left field against the Slammers. On the defensive side, Cal Hughes recorded 3 assists and 4 putouts while Mason added 2 assists and 4 putouts.

The Knights take a week off from the tournament circuit next week and will take on the Mt. Paran Patriots in NABL-West action next Sunday.

A Meeting of the Marietta Knights Ladies Auxiliary was held on the banks of the beautiful Austell River

Knights Advance to Semifinals in Cartersville with Win over Scorpions

The Marietta Knights celebrate their 8-7 quarterfinal victory over the SBA Scorpions

In weather better suited for the Iditarod, the Marietta Knights were trying to close out their best all around performance of the season, but the favored SBA Blue Scorpions had the tying run on 3rd base and the winning run at the plate with 2 outs in the final inning. Austin Hansell delivered a low fastball that the Scorpions' batter scorched up the middle. Shortstop Mason Doyle ranged to his left and calmly and cleanly fielded the ball as it hopped towards his chest and threw a strike to Presley Field who squeezed it for the exclamation point on a great 8-7 Knights' victory and the celebration was underway.



Austin Hansell had an RBI single and closed
out the final 1 2/3 inning on the mound

The Knights were committed to being more aggressive at the plate and it showed early as Will Nelson, Austin Hansell and Presley Field each hit 1st inning RBI singles as the Knights exploded for 6 runs out of the gate. Will Nelson got the start on the mound and protected the lead by completely shutting down the Scorpions in the 1st and 2nd innings striking out 3 to only 1 hit and 1 walk.

SBA finally got their big bats going in the 3rd including a monstrous homerun that hit the roof of the concession stand to cut the Knights lead to 7-4. It started to feel like the Bush Leagues as the Scorpions resorted to heckling and catcalling Will in an attempt to rattle him, but with runners on 2nd and 3rd he stayed cool and coaxed a high pop up to short that Mason hauled in to stop the threat. Cal Hughes walked and later took home on a wild pitch to provide the final run the Knights needed.

After Will got another flyball out caught by Gil Hastings in RF, Austin took the hill and cooly closed out the final 1 2/3 innings with a strike out and some great defensive help from his teammates. In the defensive play of the game, SBA hit a high pop in foul territory. SBA's 3B coach held his ground forcing JD Rinehimer to run around the coach and make a diving catch, scooping the ball just above the frozen grass. Garrett Wells got the 2nd out on a grounder to 2B leading to the final grounder to Mason. It was a great win for the Knights as it showed them what they can do when they're aggresive at the plate and on the basepaths. Best of all, it showed how cool these boys are with a game on the line and they sure did deliver.

Cal Hughes had a double, 2 runs scored
and a started a double play on the day

The win advanced the Knights to a rematch with the Oregon Park Phantoms, the eventual tournament champions. The Phantoms jumped out to a 9-0 lead when it was determined that they were using a gas heater to heat their bats. USSSA rules call for all batters found to have used altered bats to be ruled out and the coaches ejected. Unfortunately, the field umpires simply told them to turn off the heaters. Once the heaters were off, the Knights outscored the Phantoms 3-2 the rest of the way but fell 11-3. Garrett Wells hit a 2 RBI single that scored Cal and Hunter. The defensive play of the semi-final was by Cal Hughes who caught a shallow flyball in left and doubled a baserunner off at 2B.
All in all, it was a great day for the Knights as they advanced in their first tournament of the season and gained some great experience that will come in handy as the season progresses.

Snow Day in Cartersville

Is this Wrigley? With temps in the low 30's Mason prepares to make a play in between the snow flakes.

The Marietta Knights arrived in Cartersville for the USSSA Champs Wear the Rings Tournament Saturday morning to temperatures in the low 30's and played several innings in a steady snowfall. The Knights knew they were facing very tough competition in their pool play games but solid starting pitching kept them in both games until big innings and not enough offense ultimately doomed the boys from Marietta.

JD Rinehimer started game 1 against the Oregon Park Phantoms striking out 5 in 3 innings. The offensive highlight of the game was Will Nelson's big blast to the CF fence in the 2nd. But the Knights' offense couldn't get anything else going and Oregon Park used a 5 run third to put the Knights away 9-0.


Will Nelson played all 5 innings of Game 2 behind the plate
and had a big hit in Game 1.

In game 2, Austin Hansell was great on the mound against the SBA Scorpions in his first start of the season. Austin struck out 4 and only allowed 3 hits in 3 innings. He also fielded the position very well helping himself with 2 assists from the mound. The Knights were very much in the game trailing 3-0 after 3. The Scorpions big inning came in the 5th when they put up 6 runs to complete the 11-1 victory.

The Defensive Play of the Day was a perfectly executed run down in the 2nd when Austin caught a Scorpions' baserunner off of 1B, threw to Presley Field (1B) who threw to JD(SS), who threw back to Austin who threw to Mason Doyle (2B) who applied the tag. It was a beautiful play and the boys went crazy when Mason showed the ump he still had the ball and got the out call.

Presley had 9 putouts
on the day

Despite the losses, 2 Knights had very good days. The freezing temperatures couldn't cool off Isaac Zefo's hot bat as he went 3 for 3 with an RBI. Meanwhile, Presley Field picked up where he left off last season at 1B. In addition to his part in the run down, Presley recorded 9 put outs at first on the day.

The Knights will start bracket play Sunday morning at Rudy York Field in Cartersville.