Joey Lippo (back row, far left), during the summer little league season. (Joe Lippo photo)
Coupeville Middle School eighth-grader Joey Lippo is at national baseball spring training, the only player in his age group from Washington state.
The following is dad Joe Lippo’s first hand account of the adventure:
Live from Mesa, Arizona, it’s 73 degrees and partly cloudy.
By “partly cloudy”, I mean “somebody might have seen a cloud. Maybe.”
Since the drills, conditioning, and education were similar or the same as yesterday (https://coupevillesports.com/2014/01/19/and-then-joey-lippo-got-a-hit-off-a-major-leaguer/), we can get right to the Main Event — Joey’s Black team vs. the Navy team.
He was put in to bat in the #3 slot, and his first at-bat resulted in a single into right field, just past the outstretched glove of a diving second baseman.
He advanced to second on a walk, and stole third on a passed ball (which scored a run), but a pick-off and a couple fly balls later stranded him there. The inning ended 1-0 in favor of the Black team.
The next time Joey saw the plate was in the third inning and the score was 3-1.
This at-bat was a little more stressful as the Navy pitcher was finding his groove. The count ran up to 2-2, and Joey stayed alive by fouling off two more pitches, then drove a single into shallow left field.
He was again stranded, on second base this time, but another run scored, and the inning ended with the Black team up 4-1.
On defense, Joey played shortstop, soaking up whatever was hit in his direction, throwing runners out at first and second, helping preserve his team’s lead.
On one particularly hairy play, a hard hit ball took a hard skip off the grass and Joey was just barely able to get a free hand up and bat the ball away before it rearranged his face.
Even so, the trainer was up and on her feet, and the spectators were cringing before everyone realized that he was OK, and had escaped with a slightly stinging hand.
His last at-bat was a hit that the pitcher knocked down and threw to first for the out, but also resulted in an RBI, running the final score to 7-1.
Joey’s stats through two days: .500 batting average (3 for 6), one stolen base, one RBI.
Not too shabby, considering the level of competition.
Coupeville Sports 