Coming off a previous win against West, baseball hoped to beat them again on the Warriors’ home field. Despite a slower start to the game, the Sea Hawks came back hard with quality at-bats and strong pitching to win the game, 8-3.
Leading off, the Sea Hawks got a single right away. Despite two consecutive outs from popping and grounding out, Redondo managed to get their runner in scoring position on third base. Off of a grounder to West’s second baseman, the Sea Hawks’ speed was displayed as they beat out the play, and got a base hit RBI, making the score 1-0.
“We had a decent first inning [especially since] we scored a run,” senior Ian Brown said. “But we let up a couple [runs] off some defensive miscues. I think the first inning was pretty rough, but after the first inning [the game] was pretty smooth sailing.”
In the bottom of the first inning, West took the lead. Senior Jandon Rosadini started on the mound. Rosadini walked his first batter, putting a runner on first base. Striking out the next batter, the next batter stepped up to the plate. After a steal and a walk, West had runners on first and second base. Rosadini had another strikeout, but the Warriors came to the plate swinging with two outs. A single through the middle of the infield led to West scoring, and runners on first and third. West managed to produce two more singles on the plate, and by the end of the inning, the score was 3-1.
“Coach Torp [came onto the field], he gave us a little pep talk and he was giving us confidence,” junior Taehan Kim said. “He was giving us information about what the hitters were doing, what we need to do better, and eventually, it all came down to communication. I think that was a key part of the game today and also the win today.”
Despite a strong offensive inning for West, Redondo wouldn’t let them score again. At the top of the second inning, a runner was on base straight away after a walk. After a sacrifice bunt down the third base line, the Sea Hawks moved to second base. With two outs from a groundout, Kim doubled deep into left field and Redondo scored. With West unable to get a run, the score at the end of the second inning was 3-2 with Redondo still one run short.
“We know we’re a better team than our first inning,” Brown said. “So I feel like we just came together. We know we can do better, so it’s kind of just thinking more about what we’re supposed to do instead of just going through the motions.”
After a clean third inning, the Sea Hawks came into the fourth ready to hit. With a walk, single, and a successful bunt down the third base line, Redondo had the bases loaded with no outs. After getting hit by a pitch, this pushed the Sea Hawks to come across home plate, tying the score 3-3 with bases still loaded. On a deep popout to center field, Redondo managed to tag up and score again. The Sea Hawks changed pitchers in the bottom of the inning, as Senior Geno Guerrero took the mound, and with clean defense, Redondo took the lead 4-3.
“We kind of saw what kind of a team they were, and [we saw that] they give up kind of early,” Brown said. “So we knew once we got ahead, we were going to stay ahead.”
In the top of the fifth inning, West had a pitching change. The pitcher struck out and produced a groundout from the first two Sea Haws at the plate, but Redondo adjusted and came back with a hard hit over the left fielder for a ground rule double. The Sea Hawks hit a single RBI, and with Guerrero striking out three consecutive batters, Redondo increased their lead to 5-3.
“Rosadini started off today, and it wasn’t his best stuff, but he worked with it [and] he got a couple of good innings in. Geno came in, and he absolutely shut it down, lights out,” Kim said. “That’s our key to momentum right there. Our pitchers start the game. They shove, they absolutely shoved today, and that sets the tone.”
The Warriors changed their pitcher coming on to the field in the sixth inning. Redondo got a double right away, and stealing third, a single RBI got the runner home. In the seventh, the Sea Hawks had bases loaded with two outs, and with an error on a pop fly, the Sea Hawks sealed the score with the last run of the game. Defensively, Redondo locked up West, and the final score was 8-3.
“’We’re a good hitting team. They weren’t making very good contact early in the count [and] we were taking advantage of the opportunities we got, especially when they pitched a ball to us,” Brown said. “When we had runners on base, we got them in, but when they had runners on base, they did not get them in. So, we were better, [in] executing [and] getting runners in.”
Redondo had strong hits against West, and moving forward, they hope to continue their execution and achieve their goals.
“I think we just stayed as one unit, and I think that’s one thing we do really well here,” Kim said. “The only goal we have right now is making playoffs, and that’s the only goal we’re going to continue to have [as well as to] have fun.”
