District baseball had the Chargers facing off against the Bolts.
Districts for baseball started Monday with the Strawberry Crest Chargers facing off against the Ridge Community Bolts. Crest entered Monday’s game on a three-game winning streak and Ridge Community was cold, winning just two of their last 10 regular season games.
Chase Conti drew the start for the Chargers and Ridge made an instant impact, starting the game with a single, a walk, and another single, loading the bases. The cleanup hitter lined to Saxon Shah, then he got the runner on second making it two outs with runners on the corners for Ridge. The runner on first stole second. Conti struck out the next batter leaving two on for Ridge.
Reuben Vasquez started Crest off right with a leadoff single. Toby Highsmith was next up. During his at bat, Vasquez successfully stole second. Highsmith executed a perfect bunt. The Ridge third baseman overthrew to first, leading to Vasquez scoring and Highsmith advancing to second. Dillon Knight was hit by a pitch on the second pitch. Chase Conti got his first at bat with two on and no outs. He hit a soft one to the second baseman and he had trouble scooping it up, forcing another error, throwing it past the first baseman. Highsmith scored in the process and Knight/Conti both advanced. Akhil Nimmala struck out but it hit the ground so he got to try and beat the throw out to first. The catcher got Akhil out at first, but Knight scored in the process. Nico Cappucci hit it right to the pitcher for the second out, which brought up Matt Hall. Hall struck out but Crest went to the second inning with a 3-0 lead.
Conti hit the first batter to start the second. Conti struck out his second batter and shortly after, they caught the leadoff batter stealing second. Conti struck out another batter for the third out of the inning.
Kevin Kenny led off in the bottom of the second for the Chargers and struck out. Shah flew out deep to right field for the second out and that brought up Vasquez. Vasquez drew a walk, bringing Highsmith back up. Vasquez stole second, followed by an RBI single from Highsmith, extending Crest’s lead to 4. Knight was back up and flew out to left field to end the inning. Crest led 4-0.
Conti walked the leadoff batter for Ridge in the top of the third. The second batter grounded to Shah who threw him out at first. The lead-off runner advanced to second with one out. The third batter of the inning for Ridge singled, putting runners on the corners. Ridge hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring their first run of the game. Conti struck out the Ridge batter for the third out of the inning.
Conti led off in the bottom of the third for Crest and grounded out. Nimmala drew a walk, putting him on first with Cappucci up. On a wild pitch, Nimmala stole second. Cappucci singled, bringing in Nimmala. Matt Hall flew out to left field for the second out of the inning. Kevin Kenny was next up and during his at bat, Cappucci stole second. Kenny grounded out to end the inning, Crest was up 5-1.
Conti was back out for the top of the fourth and Ridge lined out to Nimmala on the first pitch of the inning. Conti hit the second batter of the inning, putting one on with one out. The third batter of the inning for Ridge singled, putting two on. The next batter popped up and was caught out by Toby Highsmith. Another pop-up by Ridge ended the top of the fourth.
Shah was hit by the first pitch in the bottom of the fourth. That brought Vasquez back up for the third time. He reached base for the third time with a single, putting runners on the corner with Highsmith up. Vasquez stole his third base of the game after the first pitch was thrown. He ended up getting out on a line drive to third. Knight popped up to right field, advancing Knight to second, and Shah scored. Conti grounded out to first, but Vasquez scored. With two outs and Knight on third, Nimmala was up. He flew out to end the inning. Crest led 7-1 going into the fifth.
Conti was pulled for Damien Lariz. On the second pitch of the inning, the Bolts lead off batter popped up foul for the first out. The second batter grounded out to Nimmala. It was 3 up, 3 down for the Bolts as they had another ground out to retire the side.
Cappucci led off in the bottom of the fifth for Crest and walked. Cappucci got to third on a stolen base, followed by a bad throw bringing up Hall. He ended up flying out to center field, bringing in Cappucci for the run. Kevin Kenny struck out for the second out. Shah was walked during his at bat. During Vasquez’s at bat, Shah was caught stealing second to end the inning. Crest led 8-1 as they headed to the sixth.
Lariz was back out to start the inning. The leadoff batter for the Bolts popped out to first. Lariz struck out the second batter and the third batter was walked, putting a runner on first with two outs. The fourth batter grounded out, keeping it clean for Lariz through 2 innings of work.
Vasquez led off in the bottom of the sixth reaching base for the fourth time in the game. Highsmith was back up and during his at bat, Vasquez stole second. Highsmith walked, putting runners on the corners with Dillon Knight up. Highsmith stole second during Knights at bat. Knight tripled, clearing the bases, bringing in Vasquez and Highsmith. Conti popped up to the catcher for the first out. Nimmala ended the game on a walk-off, 2-run homer! The Chargers mercy-ruled Ridge Community 12-1 and faced off against the Durant Cougars on Tuesday.
The Plant City Raiders lost their district game to Lennard by a score of 5-3.
