Season opener first time on grass for the Cards
The Card baseball crew dropped their first game against Kiona-Benton in a 2-1 match-up on the road Thursday, March 21.
But the loss isn’t something second-year head coach Austin Sharp is losing sleep over. In fact, he sees plenty of positives in the game, considering it was the team’s first time on the grass — even in practice — this season.
“A two-one loss we can work with for the first time on the grass this year,” Sharp said. “We’ve only been in the parking lot so far.”
The Card’s only score came in the second inning. In his first high school at-bat, freshman Joe Oliver got a base hit, then advanced on a fastball pitch before scoring on a Nick Thompson RBI.
Medical Lake had two other scoring opportunities that were dashed by the Bears fielding. With runners on first and third, Seth Mayer hit a bomb to centerfield, but Bears centerfielder Ethan Hansford tracked it for the put-out.
In another chance, with Thompson on first, Jacob Edison hit a smoker to left center field, but Hanford again made the catch.
Defensively, Sharp felt both teams played well.
“Offensively we still have some stuff to work on,” he said. “We need to limit strikeouts.”
Overall, Sharp expressed satisfaction with the way the Cards played, and optimism for the slow-starting, soggy season.
“But it was good,” he said of the game. “Better than last year when we had seven errors in the first game.”
Medical Lake had zero errors in their first outing of the season. They had seven hits on 27 at-bats and nine strikeouts.
Seth Mayer opened the game, facing 24 hitters in five innings, with eight hits, two earned runs and three strikeouts. Weston Thomas relieved, pitching the final inning and leaving three Bears batters hitless.
Games and schedules continue to be moving targets due to the lasting affects of unseasonably late winter weather. The Cards game on Tuesday, March 26, verses Newport was canceled, and Sharp said he was working to arrange a double-header in Medical Lake today (March 28) against Colfax.
A scheduled game on Saturday in Lakeside was still a go at press time.
“Our field is probably the best out there right now,” he said.
That may not be saying much considering it’s still soggy, Sharp said.
Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com.
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