Goliaths drive in one giant victory
[attach]5825[/attach]The East York Goliaths opened up their boys baseball season on an interesting note when they took to the plate against the Monarch Park Lions in a 9-0 victory at Stan Wadlow Park.
In addition to having only one umpire for the first few innings, the teams also had to deal with high winds blowing infield and a streaker of the canine kind.
East York’s Chris Fuller started the game on the mound and after walking the first batter he settled in to a rhythm and struck out two in the first inning.
On their first try at the plate the early season jitters were apparent as the Goliaths went three up and three down, two of the outs coming on pop flys. One out raised protest from East York’s bench as a member of the Lions’ coaching staff, who was filling in as a second umpire, failed to call what East York felt was a pitch off one of their batter’s leg.
After the game though, Goliaths coach Rob Greco said he wasn’t concerned about having a member of the opposing team sub in as an official.
“I didn’t mind,” he said. “It’s high school baseball. Fair play is the number one priority so I didn’t have a problem with that.”
The players kept the game rolling too. As the pitchers got into their grooves the game turned into a show down between the Lions’ Tyler Bertin and Chris Fuller but it was Bertin who blinked first.
“Both teams, the pitching was great for four innings,” Greco said. “One little mistake or one little break could have been the difference for either team and we just got lucky and it was us.”
East York opened up the scoring in the bottom of the third after a single by catcher Nik Collett brought home two runners. Collett and another runner also made it home in the inning making the score 4-0 heading into the fourth.
Lions coach Nick Cunjak had his pitcher and catcher switch positions to start the fourth.
“We had a great pitchers duel going on,” Cunjak said. “Unfortunately our pitcher … his arm got a little fatigued, a little tired.
“We made the switch cause he was getting tired, he was opening up a little bit.”
The fresh arm of their opponents’ new pitcher was no match for the Goliaths’ bats. East York scored another five runs in a very long inning, including another hack from Collett, which brought home another two runners.
Although East York went on to win 9-0, the opposing coach thought the score could have been higher if not for the weather.
“The wind was actually a positive factor for us,” Cunjak said. “Our strength is our defence and the wind really helped us today in that sense.”
Both teams had a doubleheader on their schedule that day. The game was called in the fifth due to time limits but not before a dog interrupted play momentarily by running on the field.
Greco, whose team lost in the semi-finals of the South Region playoffs last year, said he was pleased with his team’s performance in the opener and also mentioned he has his sights on the division championship this season.
“It’s going to be tough in Tier 1,” he said. “There’s a lot of good teams but I hope it’s a fun year.”