At the end of an exciting game yesterday against a very good 18U team, we came out on the losing end of a 10 to 2 score.  There were a few exciting moments for Matthew; although this time they were of a defensive nature.

First of all, the opposing pitcher was a fireballer who'se fastball was consistently in the low 90s.  Matthew had 2 at-bats where he drew a walk after fouling off several pitches and working the count to 3 and 2, afterwhich he hit a hard ground ball to the third baseman and was thrown out at first.

His bright spot in the game came in the 4th inning in right field after the lead off batter hit a stand-up tripple and the following batter hit a 250 foot fly ball to right field that shold have easily scored the runner at third.  Matthew fielded the ball with a perfect two step forward motion and threw a rocket to the plate that never hit the ground and never got more than 10 feet off of the ground caching the runner by surprize who thought that he could easily tag up and score from third.  The catcher tagged him out without having to do anything but catch the ball while blocking the plate and make the tag.

I always had an above-average outfield arm, but i never made a throw like that.  Come to think of it, i don't remember ever seeing it done quite like that before.

Pretty impressive kid...