Youth baseball season opens
- Published: June 11, 2015
Reds win Minor League opener
The 2015 Minor League season is off to an exciting start, with opening games on Saturday, June 6, resulting in hot bats and some even hotter defense, including the rarest of the rare: a triple play.
The season opener saw the Peach’s Reds jump out to an early lead on the Tom’s Market Pirates and capture a 15–7 victory. Seven runs in the first two innings, including first inning RBI singles by rookies Mateo Basora and Lily Rainey, allowed the Reds to put the game away early.
Anthony Macola led all Reds with three runs off as many base hits, while Mateo Basora racked up three RBIs on four base hits. Lily Rainey also knocked in three runs on as many base hits and scored once herself. Max Lugo and Corrine Totty also each scored twice, with Sophie Lawson, Carina Basora, Avry Bell-Arment, Kian Rainey and Jake Ortiz-Thornton all scoring one run each for the Peach’s Reds.
The Reds’ Ortiz-Thornton hit a high pop fly in the top of the third with the bases loaded and no outs that resulted in a rare triple play. That fly ball was caught by Scout Espinosa for the first out. The alert defense then doubled up Kian Rainey on first and Avry Bell-Arment at third, both of whom failed to return to their respective bases after Espinosa’s catch. Congrats to the Tom’s Market Pirates’ for a rare and outstanding defensive play!
Scout Espinosa was also perfect at the dish, going 3–3 and one RBI, off singles in the second, fourth and fifth innings. Malcolm Blunt and Marissa Goodman led the Pirates, each scoring twice, with Noah VanHoose, Ben Espinosa and Sebastian Thompson each adding a run.
Nine runs in the first three innings, including a pair of home runs, helped the Winds Cafe Indians blow out the Vintage Truck Dragons 16–1 in Saturday’s second game. A magnificent effort by Krishan Miller led the Indians when he smashed a three-run homer in the first that scored Henry Smith-Heston and Isaac Grushon. The same two scored again on a Lucas Dunn home run in the third. Miller then led off the fourth inning with a solo home run, finishing the day at 2–2 with four RBIs and two runs scored. Smith-Heston and Grushon both went 3–3 at the plate, and each scored a pair of runs, with two runs also added by rookies Regan Dunn and Jason Reinscheld. Sam Miller, Brady Baker, Joslyn Herring, Sameer Sajabi and Ava Schell all added one run each for the Winds Cafe Indians.
Missing several key players, the Vintage Truck Dragons struggled, although veteran Gabrielle Perkins hit her first home run in the bottom of the third on a hard fly ball to center field for the Dragons’ only run. A tough Indians defense shut down the rest of the Dragons offense, including a perfect double-play in the bottom of the second. Sam Linden’s hard hit grounder was fielded by second baseman Henry Smith-Heston who tagged out Quinn Creighton on his way to second. Smith-Heston then fired to first baseman Lucas Dunn, beating out Linden by a step for the season’s first double play. But veteran Linden and his team had their own defensive highlight earlier in the top of the second when the Indians’ Camilla Dallas-Gonzalez hit a long fly ball to left. The Dragons hustled and got the ball back in just as Dallas-Gonzalez reached home plate where catcher Linden made a great catch and tagged out the runner at the plate to take away what could have been the Indians’ fourth home run.
Indians jump ahead in Majors
The 2015 Major League season opener saw the Sunrise Café Indians prevail 17–8 over the Sam and Eddie’s Open Books Reds on Sunday evening, June 7.
Despite the Reds taking an early first inning 4–2 lead, the Indians jumped out in front for good with four second inning runs. Pitching proved to be a challenge for both teams, with most runs coming off steals of home on passed balls. Tyson Housh and Vaughn Hendrickson both crossed the plate four times for the Indians, while Dylan Rainey scored three runs, including a fourth inning three run home run. Eamonn Cary scored twice after three walks, while Colton Bittner, Matt Duncan, Jason Lansing and Kai Maruyama each scored once. Lansing’s final at bat resulted in an RBI double when Rainey crossed the plate.
Sean Adams led the way for the Sam and Eddie’s Open Books Reds, scoring three runs including a fourth inning hard hit triple that sent De’Andre Cowen across the plate. Austin Turner-Smith scored twice on three walks, while Eli Schell, Dyllon VanHoose and Payton Cooper each scored once.
Minor League games are played Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. and Monday and Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. Major League games are played Sundays at 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. All games are played at Gaunt Park. The latest scores and other information can be found on the league website at leaguelineup.com/ysoyouthbb.
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