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Behind outstanding starting pitching by Dave French the Centurions blanked the St. Edwards Kings 11-0 in the first round of league tournament play.
French not only retired the first nine batters he faced, but struck out the first eight.
The performance was complemented by offensive production in every inning for the Centurions who entered tournament play with a sterling 10-3 record, among the best in the league.
In the first inning Scottie Dibble singled and after stealing second base was driven in by another single delivered by Joey Batuello. Batuello, after also stealing second, was driven home by a third single off the bat of Andrew Parks. French slugged a drive over the centerfielders head to drive in the third run of the inning for CAL.
In the second inning, Christian Read also doubled over the centerfielders head to move Craig Lesmeister, who had walked to open the inning, to third with no outs. Dibbles double drove in both Read and Lesmeister to make it 5-0, but he was thrown out at third trying to steal off his double. Matt Spencer made it 6-0 when he drove in Batuello, who had reached second base on a St. Edwards error. Another error scored Spencer to make it 7-0.
Scoring continued with three more runs in the third inning. Lesmeister advanced Brett Bennett to third on a perfect sacrifice bunt. Bennett scored on a botched pick-off throw by the Kings’ catcher. Batuello got another RBI when he singled to drive in Read and make it 9-0 CAL. Both he and Spencer, who had walked, came home when the St. Edwards leftfielder misplayed a ball off the bat of Parks to make it 11-0 going into the fourth and last inning of a game that reached the leagues one hour-fifty minute time limit.
In CAL’s last at bat Matt Dilbeck scored on a wild pitch after reaching base on a fielders choice.
CAL 3-Farnsley 11
An outstanding season came to a sad end with an over-matched 7th grade team substituting for the 8th graders and losing 11-3 to Farnsley Middle School in tournament action Tuesday night at Skyview Park in Jeffersontown.
The 7th graders didn’t go down without a fight, however. After one inning the Centurions held a 2-0 lead achieved on a Sam Stone single and a second single by Spencer Swift that drove home Stone after he had gotten to second base on a wild pitch. After Swift stole second, an error by the Farnsley third baseman on a grounder by Steve Bidwell scored him to give CAL the early lead.
Starting pitcher Swift, throwing a tantalizing sinking pitch that had hitters guessing and guessing wrong, shut down the Farnsley batters in their first at bat.
The floodgates opened for Farnsley, however, in the second inning as they scored nine runs on only one hit combined with a series of errors and bases on balls. They added two more runs in the third inning off CAL reliever Austin Kurnick, who was effective against Farnsley.
Drew Shadburne scored the last CAL run after walking, stealing second, and coming home when Derek Towriss grounder to second was misplayed.
The loss follows an outstanding 10-3 regular season record by the 8th graders and a tournament win in the first round against St. Edwards.
This second season for middle school baseball marks the second year also that a 7th grade squad has had to substitute for the 8th graders because of the annual Washington, D.C. field trip for that class.
