Wood Routs Handley In Baseball, 12-0

Posted: April 11, 2015
By MARK SAWYER
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — What started out as a rainy, miserable, dreary, Friday morning that saw little hopes of any baseball games being played turned out to be a nearly perfect night, literally, for the James Wood baseball team.

With an overwhelmingly chance for rain in the forecast the Colonels showed up not knowing if they had any chance of getting Friday night’s game against Northwestern District rival Handley in or not.

But once it was apparent the rains would hold off the Colonels took the field and went right to work with a business-like effort.

Three Colonels’ pitchers shut the Judges out on three hits — and only allowed four base runners total — as Wood rolled past the Judges 12-0 in a game stopped after five innings at R. Charles Hott Field.

It was the Colonels second straight run-rule shutout win following a pair of one-run loses. It was also Wood’s third win in their last five games, all by shutout.

“We just try to keep our composure,” Wood coach Brent Lockhart said. “I told the guys at the beginning of the game to make sure we swung at good pitches. Let’s not do more then we can and take what bases are given to us.

“The guys did well to put the ball in play and I thought our pitchers did a real good job. They went right after the hitters and threw strikes. Hopefully this weather breaks and we get outside and we start playing two or three games a week.”

After Colonels starting pitcher KaCee Duggan retired the Judges in order with a pair of strikeouts in the top of the first, his teammates scored the only runs they would need in the bottom half of the inning.

James Wood (4-3 overall, 1-2 Northwestern District) batted around in each of the first two innings and sent eight hitters to the plate in the third.

Duggan led of the Wood first by drawing a walk, and back-to-back singles by Brady Hepner and Zach Thompson loaded the bases with no outs. One out later Eli Warren walked to force in a run, making it 1-0.

Catcher Cohen Kerns made it 3-0 when he blasted a two-run double to the fence in dead center field, and Reid Barber closed out the scoring in the first with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Warren and made it 4-0.

Handley (0-6, 0-3) went down in order once again in the top of the second, setting the Colonels up in fantastic shape to add to the lead.

Duggan again led off the inning, this time reaching on a Handley error and stealing second. Hepner’s infield single put runners on the corners and allowed the Colonels to pull off a double steal for their fifth run of the game.

Thompson then doubled to center to score Hepner, and because of an error he came all the way around to score on the play for a 7-0 advantage. Later in the inning two more Handley errors led to another run, and an RBI single by Reid Barber made it 9-0.

With one out in the top of the third, the Judges put together their biggest offensive threat of the night.

Ben Nelson broke up the perfect game with a walk and Cam Bentley came right behind him and ended the no-hitter with a single to center. Both moved up 90 feet on a passed ball and were in scoring position with one out. However an infield popup and a strikeout ended the inning for the Judges and kept them off the board.

Handley collected only two other hits in the game, a two-out double by Matt Wagner in the fourth and a two-out single by Bentley in the fifth. Bentley, the Judges No. 9 hitter, finished the game 2-for-2 with a stolen base.

“It was a tough day,” Handley coach Patrick Wingfield said. “We had two of our seniors that weren’t here today and for a small team it kind of throws you back when you have two guys that are in your everyday lineup not here. It would throw anyone back and with the way we’re rebuilding we need those guys here.

“After that to be honest with you it looked like we were out of place today. In the field I don’t think we were mentally prepared but some good things happened. There were some positives. It’s just a lot of inexperience. There are a lot of situations, especially at this level, at a lot of different positions that we uneasy with.”

In the bottom of the third the Colonels put the run rule into effect by sending eight more hitters to the plate and scoring three more runs.

For the third consecutive inning Duggan led off the inning, this time with a single and a stolen base. Hepner walked again and Thompson followed with his third hit of the night, an RBI single that scored Duggan for a 10-0 lead.

Kris Malsch drove in Hepner with an RBI groundout and Thompson scored later in the inning on the Judges sixth error of the night.

The top three hitters in the Colonel lineup, Duggan, Hepner, and Thompson all scored three times. Thompson had three hits, including a double and drove in two runs. Hepner added two hits.

“They beat us last year. It felt good to come back and win this one,” Thompson said. “We’ve got some seniors stepping up and working harder in practice. We’re doing what we have to do to get better. Everybody was hitting the ball well (tonight), everybody was seeing it well. It was a great game.

“Within the conference we’re 2-0 and we have a big game coming up against Dominion. That’s what were worried about right now.”

Wood outhit the Judges 10-3 and despite the wet field and rough track the Colonels didn’t commit an error, while Handley had six miscues, including five in the second inning.