The width of a shoestring.
Thursday afternoon, it was the difference between out and safe. The difference between a good effort and a spectacular play. The difference between the start or the end of a potentially lethal rally. The difference between a win and a loss.
Thursday afternoon, the width of a shoestring was exactly what Carson third baseman Mike Handley needed to make what may go down as one of the best defensive plays in the Northern 4A this season.
Handley sprung off his feet, going flat parallel to the ground, to intercept a sharp line drive off the bat of Douglas' Roman Davis and then sprinted and dove back into third base to record the third and final out of a 5-3 Carson win over Douglas at Tiger Field.
Handley's acrobatics brought to a quick end the last-stitch rally by Douglas, which loaded the bases with one out before an extremely close, and questionable, call at third ended the game.
Douglas' Brandon Huff was just one of about everyone else in the ballpark that assumed that Davis' hit would land safely in the outfield before Handley came out of nowhere to catch it.
Unlike everyone else, however, Huff was standing about 10 feet off third base at the time.
He and Handley sprinted furiously back toward the bag, and Huff appeared to dive in just before Handley got there, but the second-base umpire judged differently.
"I just knew the ball couldn't get by me or else the score would be tied up," Handley said. "I just laid out for it and something good happened. I saw him (Huff) leading off third pretty good, and it worked out pretty good for me."
Douglas head coach John Glover refused to question the call.
"It's not the call," Glover said. "It's the things we didn't do earlier in the game. We made too many errors and didn't swing in the situations when we needed to."
Douglas was able to put several potential rallies together before the seventh. Kyle Luken doubled to lead off the sixth but was stranded there and Luke Rippee singled and Chad Walling reached after being hit by a pitch with no outs before both were stranded.
"We just have to go in with our chins up on Saturday and play better baseball," Glover said. "We just have to, it's a good club and we have to play better than that to win."
Carson got on the board quickly with a three-spot in the first, scoring runs on a balk called on Douglas starter Bryan Miller, on a passed ball, and on a Handley single to score Willie Bowman.
The Senators put up two more in the second as Bowman scored and Cameron Leck scored on an error. It turned out to be all they would need.
Carson's Wes Osmer picked up the win, striking out seven and scattering four hits through six innings.
"He got a little tired and he got to his pitch count so we thought it was time to get him out, but he did a great job for us today," Carson head coach Ron McNutt said.
Bowman and Handley each went 2-for-3 for the Senators as Bowman doubled twice.
Huff and Chris Honer each drove in a run for the Tigers and Luke Rippee went 2-for-3.
Tyson Estes struck out six and walked none in five innings of relief.
The two teams will meet up for a doubleheader this weekend at Carson beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday.
"This gives us some momentum and now we are going home to play two so we just have to keep working and working and working," McNutt said. "Not just these next two games but also for the zone tournament coming up."
