Zamir Omaid (for Cosumnes River Athletics)
At Conway Field this last Tuesday, March 4, the CRC Hawks baseball team hosted the Santa Rosa Junior College Bear Cubs.
No teams scored in the first three innings. The stalemate was broken when the visiting team scored two runs at the top of the 4th inning. While the bases were full, the Hawks' coach decided to make a pitching change to #19, Matt Richardson. Still, the Bear Cubs scored their second run on a passed ball. At the end of the 4th inning, the scoreboard read 2-0 with the Hawks having zero runs.
At the bottom of the 5th inning, #24, Tyler Blake, was at bat and hit a single which allowed Hawks' #7, Trevor Ray, to score for the team. Just when the Hawks thought that they could catch up, the Bear Cubs caught the ball on the third strikeout and ended the inning. Santa Rosa Junior College was ahead with a 2-1 lead.
Once again Tyler Blake hit a single to score our 2nd base runner #1, David Pettengill, at the bottom of the 7th inning. At last, the CRC Hawks caught up to tie the Bear Cubs with the score reading 2-2.
Pitcher #19, Matt Richardson, did well to prevent the Bear Cubs from scoring any runs for the last three and a half innings.
The CRC Hawks switched up the pitchers again and the Bear Cubs started strategizing better. At the top of the 8th inning, the Bear Cubs earned two unearned runs. At the bottom of the 8th inning, #12, Austin Friello, hit a double which earned Hawks' #11, Gabriel Abelia, a run to home base. At this point, the scoreboard reads 4-3 in favor of the Bear Cubs.
To tie up the score with the Bear Cubs, Tyler Blake was at bat and reached first base on an error by 2b while David Pettengill was at third base and ran home. This Hawks play scored our fourth run. Great job Tyler Blake! The scoreboard read at 4-4.
The CRC Hawks strategized a great win by ending the top of the 10th inning as quickly as possible. Then while this was a close game, we had all of the bases covered and just needed #12, Austin Friello, on third base to score a run. We can thank #1, David Pettengill, for his sacrifice fly. Pettengill was at bat and the ball flied out to center field which got Friello to score our walkoff win! The audience was anxious in these moments but cheered excitedly when the Hawks won the game! Go hawks!