Close call for UTS
[attach]6014[/attach]After leading for six innings UTS came close to blowing its chance at a Tier Two South Region championships after Jarvis C.I. drew even in the top of the seventh.
With two on base, Steven Truong of Jarvis made contact with the ball, bouncing it over UTS centre fielder Joseph Kates Rose’s head. As Truong rounded the bases, an attempt to stop him at third was overthrown into the dugout of UTS, bringing Truong home to knot the score at five.
In the bottom of the inning, Kates Rose led off, getting on base and then stealing both second and third.
All UTS needed was a base hit to win, which came courtesy of Ajay Shah.
“Ajay hit it to short but it was close enough that I couldn’t run home so I paused,” Kates Rose said.
“Then Ben [on second base] charged at you, ” piped up Shah.
“Oh yeah, but I only ran after [the third baseman] threw to first,” says Kates Rose.
“I just put my head down and ran I guess.”
Kates Rose slid into home plate to clinch the championship for UTS.
“It felt awesome,” he says. “I had made a huge error that almost cost us the game in the top of the seventh, so it was sick because then we didn’t lose.”
Coach Adam Brown says that getting Kates Rose on base was the reason UTS won.
“They tied it in the top of the seventh which was disheartening and we got the lead off man on,” he says. “Once the lead-off man is on you can score a run and that’s how we won the game.”
First baseman Ben Zolf says winning was incredible.
“It was like something rose up inside of us and it destroyed the other team like a tsunami it was unbelievable,” he says.
Jarvis left disappointed with their almost comeback.
“It’s still pretty fresh, so it kind of hurts,” says Jarvis Coach Mike Didier. “But the guys battled really hard to come back from three runs in the 11th hour and I’m proud of them. They played really well. It was a good season.”
For a school with more of an academic rather than an athletic reputation, winning the championship meant the world for UTS’s players.
“I’ve been on the UTS baseball team for the past four years and we’ve always had mediocre results but going into this year there was a lot of enthusiasm around the team,” says captain Umesh Haran. “I had never won a playoff game over the last four years so winning these three in a row, especially the championship, was huge for me.”