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CHASE MURPHY’S PRESS BOX SCRIBBLES — Bottom 8th
Enter Bill Lane: The lefty slinger. Soft-tossing but deceptive. Calls his curve “The Porcupine” because “it backs up and makes you nervous.” (That’s a quote from spring training. No one knows what it means.)
If Lane gets through the 8th, then cue the curtain: Juan “The Wizard of O’s” Hartman in the 9th — the closer with ice in his veins and no concept of fear.
CHASE MURPHY’S PRESS BOX SCRIBBLES — End 8th
Red Springs 6, Angier-Fuquay Springs 3
Bill Lane gets two quick outs, and I start scribbling “clean frame” in my notes. Then Billy Moore steps up, and I literally mutter “Not him again.”
Moore launches a hanging curve into the trees beyond left field. Glad I didn’t park in the lot back there. His 11th dinger of the year. No bat flip, just a slow walk and a cold stare toward the Red Springs dugout. Dude’s been a one-man thunderstorm all season.
But Lane recovers, gets the final out and that’s all the Bulls get. One run, no rally. The lead is down to three. But with Juan Hartman trotting in to finish the 9th, there’s still plenty of magic left in this script.
Scoreboard update: Whiteville hung on to beat Warsaw 3-2. We needed that! I thought I heard someone in the press box say Clinton scored in the eighth on Sanford to go up 4-3. TSL scoreboard still hasn’t updated on my phone. I’ve refreshed 14 times in the last minute. Still spinning. Hope the Sanford Spinners aren’t.
CHASE MURPHY’S PRESS BOX SCRIBBLES — Middle 9th
Nothing for the Robins in the top of the ninth. The tension is palpable. People are staring at me with that look. What did I do? I am just here to cover a baseball game. (And cheer for the Red Robins to whip Angier-Fuquay Springs back to stone age).
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