Player of the Week Will Tucker Cal Ripken Baseball League
Published 12:00 am Monday, June 2, 2008
Traeger&8217;s Red Sox
At the Cal Ripken level, numbers don&8217;t always properly quantify an individual player&8217;s impact on a game. While his strikeout total and overall efficiency on the mound may have been impressive, there is no statistic to accurately measure just how big Will Tucker&8217;s last at-bat stand was for the Red Sox.
With his team on the verge of blowing a four-run last inning lead in the 11-12-year-old championship game, Tucker was inserted with the tying run standing on third base.
His re-insertion on the mound came as a total surprise to Tucker, who thought he was out of innings. The 12-year-old all-star had already logged innings as a second baseman, shortstop and pitcher during the game.
With the game on the line, Tucker came in throwing strikes, narrowly missing on a full-count pitch to put the potential winning run aboard. With the situation even more pressure-packed, Tucker stood strong and retired the last Cardinal batter on a fouled bunt attempt, sealing the victory for his team and recording the save in the process.