By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The Blanchet-Taft Baseball game lived up to the hype late Monday afternoon into the early evening.
The two squads, who entered the 3A Special District 3 contest ranked in the Top 10 in the State, had their jitters. Both squads gave up a run in the opening frame, but despite the 1-1 score after one, they settled in behind their ace’s and went to work.
The Cavaliers Drew Bartels and Taft’s Zach Hankins were the commanders on the bump on this day to start. The two combined for 28 strikeouts in their outings, Bartles with 12 and Hankins with a game-high 16, and both only surrendered two hits each in a game where four hits in total occurred.
It was a mental test to be locked in and ready to go for every pitch and every play that came their way.
“We knew that it was going to be a big game. Two number-ones, Pitcher of the Year-type guys on the mound. We knew it was going to be a really competitive game. We had to win every pitch, win every inning. I trusted the defense, threw strikes, and trusted myself,” said Bartels. “We tried scratching runs across the board, we had a good first inning getting a run there and worked off some mistakes. Great team win.”
“It’s a great game. It was a battle. We came out and scored one, gave up one, and then we were tight after that,” adds Hankins. “This is what we play for. It’s what we like to see. Grinding every pitch, trying to do our best. Close game, a one-run game. We just gotta put it in the past. We know we can compete and try to grind one out on Thursday.”
The good thing is, these two teams will meet up again on Thursday on the coast.
Blanchet will look for the sweep following their 2-1 victory, a Dylan Cuff RBI single in the bottom half of the third proved to be enough for the Cavs to come out with the victory in Round One as Carson McNally closed out the save opportunity. McNally came in for relief of Bartles in the seventh and picked up the quick three-up, three-down inning to close out the game.
“I was looking forward to it all game. You’re just hoping for a chance to get in, and when they gave it to me, I was looking forward to it. Big league win, and we got the win,” McNally said of the save.
Taft, who saw Ezra James collect their two hits, will look for the series split on Thursday at Taft. First pitch is at 4:30pm
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
