The varsity baseball team ended their regular season and began their playoff run with a 4-1 over Whitman.
On Mar. 21, the Wildcats faced Blake Highschool’s Bengals, producing an electrifying game. Despite the Bengals gaining a 3-0 lead by the third inning, the Wildcats were able to pull themselves back up and picked up a 4-3 lead in the sixth. Both teams continued playing hard through all seven innings, the final score was 6-3, Wildcats starting their season off with a win.
“It was really what set the tone for all of our wins in the first half of the season, just coming out there and getting a win, high intensity. Yeah, it was a good time,” sophomore catcher Casey Gaines said.
Junior pitcher Leo Simpson and sophomore pitcher Jay Wandell had struck out three Bengals players each.
“Starting with a win really set the pace for the rest of the season,” Simpson said.
The Wildcats rallied winning 17 out of 19 games, one of which being to rival BCC. After three years, the Wildcats finally won a baseball game against the Barons. The game was hard fought but the Wildcats ultimately won 7-0.
“[Wandell] pitched a really good game. It was a good time, just being there and all coming together at the end of the game,” Gaines said.
The last game of the regular season was played on May 4 against Clarksburg who had an okay season, 7-13. The game started slowly but quickly picked up pace during the third inning when Sam Grande’s hit allowed Wandell to cross home plate and open up the score. In the sixth inning, Nico LaCola struck a three-run homerun, hitting the ball out of the field. After seven innings, the final score was 9-1 to the Wildcats.
The two losses in the regular season were to Whitman, 0-5, and Churchill, 4-6. Both games were played well by both teams.
“I think it’s just important to move on from [the losses] and play our next game as if they didn’t happen,” Gaines said.
With such a strong regular season, hopes are high for the playoffs which begin on May 12. Walter Johnson are currently second in the region, behind only Churchill who have won every game so far, including their 6-4 win over the Wildcats, and have a 16 game winning streak. Although the Wildcats have had a good season, they need to improve base securing and tagging out opposing players, the Wildcats have 59 runs against in contrast to Churchill who have 58.
Despite the need for improvement, the baserunners have been quick in rounding the bases with 176 runs. The Wildcats have proved strong with pitching from Wandell and Simpson who has an ERA of 3.00, both of which have struck out several players per game. Bonior has also set a high standard for catcher, receiving almost every ball pitched. Overall, the Wildcats have shown they are more than capable of making a run for the state championship in the playoffs.
The first game of the playoffs was on May 14 against Churchill. Despite the loss to the Vikings in the regular season, the Wildcat’s came back strong and won 4-1 bringing them to the quarter-finals of the class 4A bracket. Their next game is going to be played on May 17 against Churchill who won 4-1 against BCC.