Bishop Kenny (12-5) took the field against West Nassau (8-5) last night to decide who would be in the driver’s seat in the first place slot of FHSAA 5A District 4. The Crusaders proved too much for the Warriors on Tuesday night as they beat the Warriors 7-0.
Parker Kennedy, senior pitcher for Bishop Kenny, was on the mound first throwing different variations of pitches to the opposing West Nassau Warriors as they were first up to bat. The first hit came from sophomore catcher Jordan Rosepilar singling up the middle, followed by two more singles by designated hitter Robert Jacobs and left-fielder Cameron Kersey before Justin James struck out looking, leaving two runners on base. The first inning for the Crusaders started off the same, they had a quick out but catcher Max Hefner came up to the plate and hit a long single almost to the center field wall that sent second baseman Charlie Pellicer home for the Crusaders to take the lead 1-0. West Nassau was able to end the inning with some momentum going their way as some stellar defense by the infield closed the inning, after a quick turn two by the pitcher, first and second basemen.
The second through fourth inning looked roughly the same for both teams, both were having trouble at the mound, each pitcher walked a player and the pitch counts were mounting with balls. Errors took over in these innings as well, both teams had multiple fielding errors, overthrowing the base and fumbled balls. They both were able to start warming up their bats though and get some hits but neither team was able to capitalize in their offense, leaving a total of six men on base during these two innings.
At the bottom of the fifth, the score was still the same at 1-0, Crusaders lead. Crusaders senior Cade Sams came in the game at the top of the fifth in center field and on his second swing at bat he hit a line drive double up the middle, followed by a Pellicer single that sent Sams home and put the Crusaders now up by two runs. The Warriors still fighting back picked off Pellicer trying to steal 2nd base to end the inning.
At the top of the sixth, Warriors looked to come back from being down by only two runs after Conner Nobles, Austin James and Malachi Moore all loaded the bases as the top of the order came back around and lead off man Christian Nobles was up to bat. Kennedy took an early lead in the count, 1 ball to 2 strikes before he was able to get a third strike on Nobles looking. The bottom of the sixth opened up the lead for the Crusaders, after another walk and fielding error by his team Nassau’s Coach Green called for a pitching change and brought in reliever Cameron Peterson. Peterson did his best but the bats for the Crusaders were alive and they lit up the scoreboard adding 5 more runs. The Warriors ended the game with a three up, three down inning.
The Warriors and the Crusaders take the field against each other again tonight, this time West Nassau has home field advantage at 6pm.
