The week in sports
Published 9:10 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
Wildcats joust Knights
Notching its first win of the week, the Mount Si Wildcats’ junior-varsity baseball team defeated Newport last week on its home field 9-6. The ‘Cats shut down the high-powered offense of the Knights by recording 14 strikeouts, 12 of those coming from the arm of Ian Opsal.
The Knights finally got to Opsal for three runs in the sixth to cut the lead to two. Newport tied the game in the bottom of the seventh but the resilient Wildcats would not go away, pounding out four consecutive hits by Evan Hillburn, Matty Secord, Opsal and Jay Lewis.
Combining the bats with some aggressive base running produced four runs in the top of the eighth to take a 9-5 lead. What looked to be an easy bottom of the eighth for reliever Mike Lindor ended up letting the Knights make one last charge. With two outs and one run already scored in for the inning and the bases loaded, Lindor ran the count full before fanning the last batter with his second strikeout of the inning.
‘Cats battle Patriots
Despite a last-minute surge by the Liberty Patriots, the Mount Si junior-varsity baseball team recorded an impressive 10-8 win over the visiting team last week.
Once again, the Wildcats made it interesting after recording five innings of good baseball. They allowed the Patriots back in the game after leading 8-2 heading into the sixth. Alex Van Oeveren had allowed just two hits through five innings before getting in trouble.
With the bases loaded due to a breakdown in the defense, and four runs in, Van Oeveren turned the ball over to relief pitchers Jason Smith and Mike Lindor. By the end of the inning, the Patriots had two more runs, which tied the game at 8 each. Again, the Wildcats did not give up, as Matty Secord led off the bottom of the sixth with his third double of the game. He then scored on Jay Lewis’ double to the gap.
Ian Opsal followed with a single, scoring Lewis in what turned out to be the game-winning runs. Lindor closed the door in the seventh with two of the 10 total strikeouts recorded by Mount Si pitchers.
Wildcats shut down Cardinals
The Mount Si junior-varsity baseball team played host to the Cardinals from Franklin Pierce and came away with a 4-0 shutout win.
A dominating performance by Wildcat pitcher Nick Kirschner and some timely hitting by Ian Opsal, Matty Secord and Nick Johnson provided all that was needed to collect the win.
Kirschner pitched a complete game, recording 12 strikeouts and allowing only three runners to reach base, two of those via hits. Johnson’s two-run RBI triple put the cap on what was a big win for the Wildcats in posting their third straight win of the week.
Wildcats post win over Islanders
The Mount Si junior-varsity baseball team completed a sweep in posting a 5-2 victory over the Islanders from Mercer Island, going 4-0 for the week.
The best game was saved for last, as the Wildcats played error-free baseball and held on for a 5-2 win in 10 innings.
Ian Opsal pitched a solid seven innings, striking out six and allowing only two runs before turning the ball over to relief pitcher Mike Lindor. Lindor allowed just one hit and struck out two, keeping the Islanders from scoring. Then in the top of the 10th, Mount Si scored three runs, giving Lindor the win.
The ‘Cats were perfect for the week with wins over Newport, Liberty, Franklin Pierce and Mercer Island.
“We played some good fundamental and team baseball, and it showed with some big wins this week,” said coach Warren Sheldon. “It was great to see them play and execute so well.”
