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KATY ISD TOURNAMENT
vs. Katy Taylor Mustangs, February 20th
The Varsity Spartans opened the KISD tournament against one of the best left-handed arms in the State Thursday. The University of Texas Commit would prove to be a formidable test to open up the Varsity campaign. It was no surprise the game was an instant classic. Drew Emery would get the ball in Game 1 and dominate the Mustangs for five full innings. The Junior right-hander opened up the season for the Spartans in the best way a starting pitcher could. Emery would not allow a hit over five innings while striking out four and walking two. He kept the Mustangs off-balance all day with his mix of pitches, and they were unable to overcome it. At the plate Stratford would struggle against the big lefty for Taylor. The Spartans managed to push across a run in the 4th inning when Senior Rylan Reichenau led the inning off with a walk. He would advance to second on a wild pitch to set the table for Junior Luke Zilafro. A hard single to left would plate Reichenau and give the Spartans a 1-0 lead. With two outs in the bottom of the 5th in a 1-0 game, the Mustangs' batter lined one off the bat to left field Senior Peter Vescovo…Peter wasn’t having any of it and sold out with a parallel dive to his right to snag the line drive and end the inning for the 3rd out. The team would get a jolt of energy from the play and race to the dugout on FIRE. In the bottom of the 6th, Coach Richards called on the Junior lefty Zack Christie to silence the Mustangs over the final six outs. Christie responded…The bottom of the 6th saw the Mustangs go down 1-2-3. Sparty would add an insurance run in the top of the 7th when Zilafro doubled and Sophomore Ryan Lamon drove home the second run with a sharp single to right field. Christie would answer the bell again in the 7th with a 1-2-3 inning to give the Spartans the season-opening victory and a COMBINED NO HITTER. Emery and Christie combined to strike out seven Mustangs, only walk two, and allow ZERO RUNS and ZERO hits. It was a great performance by everyone today to kick the season off on the right foot!
vs. Katy Tigers, February 20th
Game 2 was Thursday night in a cold, damp Katy Texas against the State’s 8th-ranked team, the Katy Tigers. The Spartans came out cold and sluggish and were never able to solve the Tigers. Katy jumped out to an early 9-0 lead in the first inning. The deficit would prove too tough to overcome on this cold Thursday night. Junior Will Tacker would lead off the third inning with a single and advance to second on a stolen base. Senior Gavin Mundwiller drove in Tacker to get the Spartans on the board. The boys would post another run in the 5th on Senior Blake Barry’s single to score Mundwiller, who reached by way of a walk earlier in the inning. The nine-run inning 1st proved to be too much to overcome as the Spartans fell to a good Katy Tiger team, 10-2.
vs. Ridge Point Panthers, February 21st
It was another cold start in Game 3 for the Spartans. Big Senior right-hander Caden Cooper (University of Houston commit) would toe the rubber in Game 1 against the state-ranked Panthers. Cooper was his usual dominant self over one-plus innings of work. The righty would strike out five and allow 0 earned runs. The Panthers were able to capitalize on the Spartans' miscues in the field through the first five innings, putting the boys down early 0-5. Stratford would post a run in the 5th inning when Junior Brandon Phillips produced a one-out single to right. He would advance to second on a wild pitch, and Junior Matthew De Jager would drive Phillips home on a line drive to centerfield. It was a strong pitching performance from Senior Raines Denman out of the bullpen. The righty went 2 and 2/3 innings, striking out three and not allowing an earned run. The Spartans would fall to Ridge Point 1-7 to drop Game 3 and fall to 1-2 on the season.
vs. Katy Tompkins Falcons, February 21st
The second game of the day was against the Katy Tompkins Falcons. The Spartans would open the scoring in the top of the 1st to take a quick 1-0 lead. Junior Matthew De Jager would draw a one-out walk. Senior Chris Johnson would follow with a sharp single down the right-field line to move De Jager to third. Junior Luke Zilafro would drive home De Jager with a ground-out to give the Spartans the lead. Sophomore righty Quinn Fitzpatrick got the start in Game 2. The big fella would show his overpowering stuff over three innings of work in his Varsity debut. Fitz struck out four Falcons over three innings, allowing two ERs and walking three. Tompkins jumped out to a 4-1 lead after three innings. Stratford would answer in the top of the 4th with three runs to tie the score. Senior Sammy Salas would lead the inning off by wearing a fastball and landing on first with a hit-by-pitch (HBP). Rylan Reichenau would follow with a walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Gavin Mundwiller would then walk to load the bases. After a Will Tacker RBI ground-out to score Salas, Senior Owen Bennett would step to the plate. Bennett would lace a line drive to right field to score Reichenau and Mundwiller, tying the score at 4. Tompkins would add four runs in the bottom of the 5th to make it 4-8. Stratford would close the gap to 5-8 with an RBI single from Owen Bennett, scoring Raines Denman that was on via a walk. The Spartans would drop Game 2 on the day 5-8, taking their record to 1-3.
vs. Seven Lakes Spartans, February 22nd
Stratford would travel over to Seven Lakes High School to take on the other Spartans to close out the KISD Tournament. With rain in the forecast and temperatures in the 40s…this was a cold and wet one to attend. Stratford would jump on Seven Lakes in the 1st to take a 1-0 lead. Ryan Lamon and Blake Barry walked to put runners on base. Sammy Salas once again wore a pitch to get on base to load 'em up. Senior Pacer Daniel would then hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Lamon. Senior left-hander Ford Givens was on the bump Saturday. He would go two innings, only allowing a hit and striking out four in a classic Fordy performance! Seniors Nick Gioco and Burke Malloy would come in on this cold and rainy day to close out the game with two more innings of relief. The skies opened up in the 5th inning, and the game was called due to more rain in the forecast. The Stratford Spartans fell to Seven Lakes 2-1 in a shortened game.
This week for the Spartans: