Plenty of Offense Backs Hiler’s Strong Start vs. Cy Creek

On Tuesday, the JV Spartans once again crossed the border into Cypress to do violence to our neighbors to the north; this time against the Cy Creek Cougars. Kenna Wong created immediate action with a single up the middle. After walks to Laura De La Rosa and Allie Richardson loaded the bases, Shelby Thibodeaux hit a grounder through the left side that moved everyone up 60 feet and scored Wong. Additional damage in human form came to the plate in the person of Anna Burgman. With one swing, Burgman’s liner into the right centerfield gap accomplished everything short of peace in the Middle East - it scored three runs, discombobulated the outfielders into allowing Burgman to score on an error, ended the inning, and gave the Spartans a lead that they would never relinquish.

Emerson Hiler dominated the first two innings in the circle, allowing no runs on only two hits, striking out 3, and making two put-outs in the field. Burgman contributed the other out on a grounder to short.

Hiler led off the second with a single up the middle, joined on the basepaths by Kate Sanantonio after a walk. Wong then hit the hardest ball of the day but lined it directly to the center fielder, leaving Stratford with a scoreless inning.

In the third, however, the Spartans piled on. After Thibodeaux singled for the second time, Wookie Grunenberg smashed a grounder that the second baseman was not physically, emotionally, or spiritually prepared to deal with. Hiler was hit by a pitch, and Mackenzie York doubled into the left centerfield gap. After Isla Hildebrand walked, Leila Vazquez drove a grounder over second base that bedeviled the center fielder. Vazquez rounded second hard and steamed to third ahead of the throw. However, Hildebrand had held up at third base and was joined there by Vazquez in one of the most unfortunate meetings since Neville Chamberlain traveled to Munich. Vazquez was ruled out and the Spartans were limited to 4 runs in the inning.

Keely Meeks came in to mop up in the third but struggled, allowing 3 runs on a series of walks and an error. However, Vazquez and Cacey Valencia came to her aid by picking off a runner at third base, and Meeks fired a strikeout to secure a 9-3 Spartan win.

Decisive 15-0 Victory Over Northbrook on Home Turf Keeps The Good Times Rolling

The Raiders came out swinging at starting pitcher Emerson Hiler, with the first four batters putting balls in play to the left side of the infield. However, Cacey Valencia at third and Keely Meeks at shortstop were up to the task, retiring 3 of the 4 to make it a quick inning.

The Spartans threatened quickly when Hiler was hit by a pitch and came around to score during the at-bat of Shelby Thibodeaux, who walked. Allie Richardson then took the measure of the third baseman with a ground ball and found her wanting. Thus were two runners on base when Keely Meeks blistered a line-drive off the lower extremity of the third baseman, upon which it vectored into the left centerfield gap for a two-run triple. Leila Vazquez drove in Meeks with a single, and after a Cacey Valencia walk, Isla Hildebrand popped out to first base. Sensing disorder in the infield, Vazquez tagged up and scored an opportunistic run, reminiscent of Rusty Koontz’s infield sac fly in the 1984 World Series.

Hiler dispensed with the Raiders quickly in the second. One batter reached base on a walk, but when Thibodeaux fired down a pickoff throw to Allie Richardson at first, the runner lost all form and function, like George Clooney off his spacewalk tether in Gravity, the bag tantalizingly close but without any hope of reaching it.

Stratford was relentless in the second inning. Riley Naman walked and then worked her way around the bases to score. Dulce Soto also walked and Thibodeaux singled, bringing up Meeks. She hit a high pop-up to deep short, and as the third baseman and shortstop drifted gingerly in the direction of the ball, gazing uncertainly into the high blue sky, the inevitable result began to take shape. The ball landed helplessly in the grass and both runners came in to score. After Vazquez, Valencia, and Hildebrand were awarded first by a hit batter and two walks, Naman came up for the second time in the inning. This time she drilled a single to center and capped off the 5-run inning.

In the third, Northbrook got a runner on base and tried to get her to third on a single to left, but Naman had other ideas, coming up throwing to Valencia at third and getting the key out.

Stratford tacked on another 5 runs, with Hiler, Bella Sulma, Meeks, Vazquez, and Anna Burgman scoring on back-to-back triples by Sulma and Meeks and a single by Burgman. Kate Sanantonio also reached on a walk, and Kenna Wong forced another third base error.

The 10-1-1 JV Spartans next travel to Spring Woods on Tuesday, April 9.