Friday, June 6, 2008

Jackson Giants Tie in Close One as the Lights Go Out on

Bear Lake
JACKSON, Wy. (JHYB)
By, Chris Moulder

Giants Line-up-

1. Charlie Wild Catcher

2. Charlie Keegan Shortstop
3. Grant Smith 1st Base
4. Sky Garnick Center Field
5. Colter Huhn 3rd Base
6. Bryn Windle Pitcher
7. Lucas Moulder Right Field
8. Patrick Renz Left Field
9. Cam O’Donahue 2nd Base

Substitutes-

Robbie Caesar Ethan Moulder

Charlie Keegan zeros in on a pitch at his first at
Carlos Toledo Ian Chapman bat since returning to the Giants
Bryan Weber

Our Hometown Hero Jackson Giants played in their first

game of their home tournament against the Bear Lake
Bears of Montpelier, Idaho. The 8:00pm game started
out cold and windy with cloud cover and eventually the
conditions became colder and windier along with dark.
Bryn Windle took the mound for the Giants in the 1st and
immediately got rocked for a first pitch solo homerun
over the left-center field fence. The Bears Trent
Alleman stepped in and crushed a 370 foot shot that
looked for a moment to bring rain. Windle regained his
composure though and worked his way through the first,
forcing his opponents to ground out to Grant Smith for
an unassisted force at 1st, Nate Crane reached base by

Starting pitcher Bryn Windle

way of a walk and was forced out at second by a routine grounder to returning veteran shortstop
Charlie Keegan who threw to the waiting Cameron O’Donahue at second for the second out.
Morris Bunn reached first on the fielder’s choice and the steal was on. The Giants were ready
though as Bunn has been long remembered by our men as a stellar base runner and athlete from
years past in Little League and Babe Ruth. Windle’s quick step to home and Charlie Wild’s
laser throw to Keegan busted Bunn for the 3rd out before the Bears could get anything else going
in the first.

Veteran catcher Charlie Wild captained the infield by throwing out 2 runners and stopping an in-the-park homerun in
its tracks
The bottom of the 1st had the Bears pitcher
Nate Crane dealing strikes and although the Giants
leading offense comprised of Charlie Wild and
Charlie Keegan all hit the ball, they just hit to a
waiting defense. Grant Smith smacked a sharply hit
ball the other way and while the Bears 1st baseman
Jordan Crane knocked down the ball, he couldn’t
recover in time to beat the smoking Smith. Garnick
grounded into another routine grounder to short who
converted the out to 2nd nabbing Smith.
The second inning was a bit of a yawn for both
sides as Colter Huhn tried to bunt and wound up
getting trumped by the pitcher, Crane and Windle Lucas Moulder on 2nd and Patrick Renz leading
off first
grounded out to 1st for the unassisted put-out.
 Lucas Moulder and Patrick Renz both reached base on errors, but Cam O’Donahue hit a
grounder to 2nd baseman, Bailey Thomas who threw to the 1st baseman Crane to retire the side.
The same was true for the Bears offense in spite of a lead-off double from Jordan Crane, the
following Bears could not convert.
With the Giants down 1-0 going into the 3rd, Charlie Wild got things moving with a lead-
off single to left. Charlie Keegan was up and was allowed to swing away but as luck would
have it, he ripped the ball to a waiting Colby Dixon at shortstop who threw to get the lead runner
Wild at second. With the powerhouse, Grant Smith at the plate, Keegan stole second in a close
play. Keegan must have been eating his Wheaties while away at school this year as he seems to
grown a couple of inches and has more speed in his
legs. Grant Smith followed with a rocket to center
and while it scored a base hit, he reached 2nd on a
throwing error by the Bear Lake centerfielder Trent
Alleman thereby scoring Keegan who had a good
jump on the ball as the mastermind, Coach Pat Euart
had the hit and run on. Smith reached 3rd on a
fielder’s choice throw to 1st to get Sky Garnick and
the Mighty Huhn again with an almighty blow,
dribbled another one back to the pitcher for the easy
out to first.
As the game progressed into the evening, the
newly installed lights provided by and funded by the
joint powers board of Jackson, Wyoming and Teton
County, Wyoming were in full night game mode.
The scene was becoming a peaceful, tranquil one even
though a great conflict was in full force beneath its
illuminated dome. More on that later…. Bryn
Windle, the 6’-4” right-handed pitcher was still on the
mound dealing from the bottom of the deck to lead-off
Bear batsman, Trent Alleman who hit a ground ball to Granthitting
Smith making his way to second after
a single turned double due to an error in
3rd baseman Colter Huhn who misplayed it and did not the field
get Alleman at 1st. The next batter, Dixon sacrificed himself with a bunt to advance Alleman to
2nd and with a man in scoring position, Bailey Thomas drilled a base hit single to right center
scoring Alleman for the go ahead run. Nate Crane followed with a double to left but did not
score Thomas who only advanced to 3rd. Morris Bunn grounded to Windle who gave Thomas
the hairy eyeball at third and threw Bunn out. The next batter Jordan Crane whiffed on a well
placed fastball on the inside corner, crossing Crane up.
The Giants struggled defensively with errors at the top of the 4th as lead-off hitter, Trent
Michel reached base on an error by first baseman Grant Smith, then Windle walked Justin
Saxton. With men on 1st and 2nd, leftfielder Sage Arnell popped up to Cam O’Donahue at 2nd
bringing up the top of the order, Alleman who was whiffed by Windle. Colby Dixon then
stepped to the plate and drove one up the middle scoring off of a throwing error by the shortstop,
Keegan.
The home half of the 4th was another sleepy inning for the Giants offensively as Bryn
Windle couldn’t hit the ball squarely and popped up to 1st and Lucas Moulder fanned. Everyone
held their breath as Patrick Renz was hit in the numbers by a fastball that got away from pitcher,
Nate Crane. Renz doesn’t have a whole bunch of meat on his bones and the fear was that one of
those bones could break, something his parents do not want to have as Patrick’s younger brother
Andy was watching the game from a wheelchair after breaking his ankle while helping to move a
piece of football equipment. After collecting himself at the plate, walking slowly to first and
then taking some more time to regroup, he thankfully seemed well enough to continue on.
Needless to say, he’ll have the stitches of the ball clearly imprinted on his back for awhile.
Unfortunately, the pain was in vain as O’Donahue only managed a squib back to the pitcher who
threw to 1st to retire the side.
The 5th was rough on Windle as he continued
throwing strong but the Bears came on hard with a lead-
off hit by Nate Crane and followed by a perfectly
executed bunt by the speedy Morris Bunn who beat the
throw for an infield hit. Before succumbing to one of
Windle’s devastating curveballs retiring Jordan Crane,
Nate Crane stole 3rd advancing the threat. Trent Michel
stepped in and drove one to the fence to score both
Crane easily and Bunn from 1st. Saxton went down
swinging and Arnell grounded out to Windle to end it
for Bear Lake.
The bottom of the 5th was a wild one as the lead-
Charlie Keegan slaps a ball to first causing an
error off batter for our Hometown Heroes, Charlie Wild was
hit by a pitch bringing up Chucklin’ Charlie Keegan but Keegan was all business as he drove a
hard hit ball the other way forcing an error on the Bear Lake first baseman. With men on 1st and
2nd, Grant Smith put down a
textbook sacrifice bunt
advancing the runners.
Now with Sky Garnick at
the plate, he unloaded and
hit a 2 RBI single to right
scoring Wild and Keegan.
With 1 out and Garnick on
first, Colter Huhn again
proved that he could not hit
the ball past the pitcher as

Center fielder Sky Garnick drives in 2 with a base hit

he grounded out but advanced Garnick to 2nd. Bryn Windle then slashed one to right field for an
easy out but the right fielder misjudged the ball getting Windle on base by way of an error and
allowing Garnick to score for the RBI bringing the Giants within 1 run of the Bears lead.
Bryn Windle continued into
th
the 6 striking out the lead-off hitter
Alleman and walking the next batter
Dixon before hanging a pumpkin for
Bailey Thomas who hit it to the
fence for a triple. Nate Crane
followed with a sharply hit ball to 3rd
baseman Colter Huhn who threw a
strike to first for the 3rd out. The
bottom of the 6th was somewhat
lack-luster as Renz struck out
looking, O’Donahue grounded out to
2nd and Wild popped out to 1st. 3rd baseman Colter Huhn scoops and fires a strike to first baseman
With our Heroes down by 1 Grant Smith getting the Bears pitcher +ate Crane out by a mile
th
going into the 7 inning of the game, Coach Euart relieved Windle with Grant Smith, a surprise
as it was thought that he would not return as a pitcher this year due to his shoulder injury. But
Smith pitched well, real well although he was tagged for 3 hits before the Bears sat down after a
nifty 6-4-3 double play combination of Keegan to O’Donahue to Windle, holding the Bears
scoreless.
The Giants were now faced with a do or die situation heading into the bottom of the 7th as
Charlie Keegan promptly grounded out to 2nd, Grant Smith reached base on an error at short, Sky
Garnick scorched a base hit advancing Smith to 3rd which brought up long ball hitter Colter
Huhn. Huhn in true fashion creased another one back to the pitcher, who after checking Smith
at 3rd threw to get Garnick out at 2nd . But the perfect timing and speed of Grant Smith was too
much for the Bears as he scored to tie the game. Extra Innings……
Smith continued to pitch spectacularly through the 8th and 9th innings as offensively our
Giants must have been up past their bedtimes as they fell asleep, when in the top of the 10th
Justin Saxton hit a base hit single, Sage Arnell gets on base by way of an error by 3rd baseman
Colter Huhn, Trent Alleman hits a huge double scoring Saxton and then……….THE LIGHTS
GO OUT! 11:00 o’clock, the Parks and Rec bewitching hour. Those beautiful, brand new,
high-tech lights that the Jackson Youth Baseball program had been working on getting with the
Teton County Parks and Recreation Dept. in order to replace the much older failing lights of the
past, in an ironic twist of fate, went out. Perhaps mercifully for our Hometown Heroes as the
game was ruled a tie.
Box Scores-

Player AB R H RBI SO BB E SB B.AVG

Wild 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 .250
Keegan 5 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000
Smith 4 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 .000
Garnick 5 1 3 2 0 0 0 1 .600
Huhn 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000
Windle 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 .000
Moulder 4 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 .000
Renz 3 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 .000
O’Donahue 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .250

Team Batting Average- .135

Game Score- Jackson Giants (home) 5

Bear Lake Bears (visitors) 5

Pitcher Statistics-

Pitcher W/L/S/T IP AB R H SO BB HB

Windle - ( 1-1-0-0) 6 31 5 10 5 3 0
Smith T ( 0-0-0-1) 3 12 0 4 1 1 0

The View From the Cheap Seats-

The time that the Giants

have had off due to weather and a
schedule that gave the team a week
or so off has not helped them at the
plate. Offensively our Hometown
Heroes hit .135 for a team average.
Batting leaders for the Giants this
game was Sky Garnick who went 3
for 5 with 3 singles hitting .600.
Charlie Wild and Cameron
O’Donahue each hit .250 going 1

Cameron O'Donahue drives an 8th inning triple to the fence

for 4 respectively. Wild had a nice base hit but O’Donahue crushed for a triple. The rest of the
team hit big fat goose eggs.
Defensively, Windle and Smith combined to
hold an aggressive Bear Lake squad to 5 runs.
Although there were not many errors by the Giants
in the field, the runners reaching base on errors
accounted for 2 of the runs. Defensive highlights
include an enthusiastic effort by middle infielders,
Charlie Keegan at shortstop and Cameron
O’Donahue at 2nd in their debut game of the season
combining for a snappy double play. Colter Huhn
had a long running grab at 3rd, charging a bunt and
throwing the runner out at 1st. Patrick Renz pulled
in a couple of long running fly balls for outs. And
Lucas Moulder turned a fielding goof into one of the
most dramatic plays of the weekend when a hard hit
ball to right got by Moulder on an errant bounce and
rolled all the way to the fence. The runner, Trent
Michel had visions of heroics and tried to turn the
error into an in-the-park homerun. Moulder ran
back to the fence and from the 350 foot mark picked
up the ball, turned and fired a strike to a waiting
Relief pitcher Grant Smith came in and shut down Cameron O’Donahue as a cut-off. O’Donahue
the Bear Lake team in the 7th, 8th & 9th inning turned and launched a rocket from deep 2nd to home
before the lights went out in the top half of the 10th
thereby securing a tie. that seemed to take an eternity to come down to
where Charlie Wild was set up about 5 feet in front
of the plate waiting for the throw. The runner,
Michel was committed and barreling for home when
he dove for the plate when Wild wheeled and dove
for Michel. The collision happened about 3 feet off
of the ground and about 3 feet in up the 3rd base line.
Michel lay on home plate, face down obviously
exhausted while Wild casually looked up at the
home plate umpire and showed him the ball. The
umpire promptly punched Michel out at home to end
the threat in the top of the 9th.
The truly great thing about attending this
game was being within earshot of Jackson sports
announcing icon Danny Mayer who despite the cold
temperatures and the lights going out, continued to
Colter Huhn hitting a scorcher back to the mound
 broadcast through the thick and the thin of the Giants innings. Danny will be on the air of the
FM station KZ95 giving the play by play of all games both home and away.

Jackson Giants announcer and former Legion coach, Danny Mayer A diehard Jackson fan braving the arctic
giving the play by play from his heated skybox seat temperatures

Figure 1The Jackson Giants Booster Club cheers on our Hometown Heroes

Footnote:
Interestingly, the exact same thing happened some 6 or 7 years ago in Montpelier when while the 11-12 year old Jackson team was winning a
game against Bear Lake in an All-Star tourney being hosted by the Bear lake club, the field we were playing on did not have lights. Although
we were one out away from an official game, the umpires took their time moving the game along, they then said after much deliberation that they
were going to move the game to another field for some reason, rather than letting the last out be played and all players able to get to sleep for the
next days games. Long story short our team protested and pleaded to finish the last out, the other team’s coach became irate and threatened that
we would forfeit if we did not go to the other field, people eerily came out of nowhere to support the Bear Lake team and we took our boys and
went back to the campground to get them to bed. I am glad that this game was able to be reconciled in a mature rational manner, regardless of
who may have won or not.