Roundup: Young Raiders fall to 0-3

Published 11:33 pm Monday, March 3, 2008

Southeast’s baseball team might be close enough to smell the victories, but they haven’t been able to taste them yet.

The Raiders followed up a pair of one-run losses from the season’s first week with a 4-0 loss to visiting Sonoraville on Monday, struggling to reach base and failing to capitalize when they did.

Along with defensive mistakes that took away from a solid effort from starting pitcher Kalup Bartley, it was enough to keep the Raiders out of the win column again.

“We’re not being aggressive,” Raiders coach Jason Keller said. “We’re letting too many good pitches go by. We’re not looking to get on base. We have to be aggressive at the plate and we have to execute at the plate.”

Sonoraville starter Chris Fletcher struck out nine and carried more than one base runner at the same time just twice.

The Raiders (0-3) came away empty-handed after Bartley and Dylan Gazaway drew back-to-back one-out walks in the second inning when Fletcher struck out the next two batters. In the seventh, a Sonoraville error and a two-out single by Trey Parris — one of only two allowed by Fletcher in seven innings of work — created a little hope for the Raiders, but right fielder Y.J. Glover ran down a fly ball to his left to end the game.

Correcting their choices at the plate is something the Raiders have already talked about plenty and will continue to, Keller said. But it comes down to making it work with the scoreboard on, he added.

“It’s a mental approach to hitting,” Keller said. “We address it all the time. But there’s a difference between practice and the game. We’ve got to be able to take what we do and learn in practice and apply it in a game situation. We’re still learning.”

Bartley wasn’t exceptional against Sonoraville (1-1), but allowed just four hits, struck out three and walked two in four innings before being pulled. The senior right-hander exited with Southeast trailing 3-0 — Keller said he pulled Bartley, likely to pitch again later this week, to give some other players needed innings on the mound — but all three of those were unearned runs, with a pair of Phoenix baserunners coming home on consecutive infield errors in the fourth.

“I thought he pitched well enough to win,” Keller said. “We made some defensive mistakes behind him early that allowed those three runs. When you only give up four hits in four innings, you’ve got to expect to win. … We’ve just got to learn from mistakes. We’ve made some critical mistakes early in the last two games that have cost us.”

The Raiders had at least one defensive highlight, though, turning a nifty 4-6-3 double play with runners on first and second in the fifth inning. Parris triggered the play, tossing over to Michael Simpson before he went to Dylan Massengill.

Sonoraville’s final run came in the sixth as Fletcher drew a one-out walk, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and came home on Wes McMahan’s single. Taylor Sims also had an RBI single in the second.

Blake Ellison pitched the fifth and sixth for Southeast, allowing one run and two hits while walking three and striking out one. Colby Cook worked the seventh, giving up a leadoff double before recording three straight outs, including a strikeout.

Simpson singled in the third for Southeast’s other hit. That was also the only inning besides the second and seventh in which Fletcher did not face the minimum.



Varsity tennis

— Northwest Whitfield swept boys and girls matches in Region 7-4A competition, topping Gordon Central 5-0 in both with two-set victories across the board.

For the Bruins (2-0, 2-0), singles winners were No. 1 Brandon Wykoff (6-1, 6-0), No. 2 Daniel LaVelle (6-0, 6-0) and No. 3 Jonathan LaVelle (6-0, 6-0). In doubles, the winners were No. 1 Josh Ellison and Matt Bailey (6-0, 6-0) and No. 2 Ethan Goode and Josh Buttenhoff (6-1, 6-1).

For the Lady Bruins (2-0, 2-0), singles winners were No. 1 Lauren Morgan (6-0, 6-1), No. 2 Adrienne Orem (6-1, 6-2) and No. 3 Kelsey Harmon (6-0, 6-0). In doubles, the winners were No. 1 Aubrey Biddle and Kelsey Rice (6-1, 6-2) and No. 2 Lindsey Denton and Ashley Miles (6-1, 6-4).

In exhibition matches, Angel Brown was an 8-2 singles winner in pro set play and Jordan Greene and Alex Warren won 8-2 in doubles.



JV soccer

— Rome 2, Northwest 1: Eduardo Aguero had the lone goal for the Bruins as they fell to 2-1 on the season.



JV tennis

— Northwest won several junior varsity matches against Ringgold.

For the boys, Alex Powell (8-4), Dillon Flood (8-1) and Tyler Hungerpillar (8-1) all won singles matches in pro set play, while Austin Poole and Nathan Davies (8-1) teamed up to win in doubles.

For the girls, Haley Dobson (8-6), Rachel Sheed (8-4) and Melanie Farmer (6-2) won in singles, while Stephanie Sewell and Hannah Hagan (6-0) and Amanda Lindsey and Caitlin Brackett (4-2) won in doubles.



MS soccer

— Valley Point girls 3, North Whitfield 0: Monica Moreno, Brenda Alvarez and Alejandra Montelongo all scored goals and Anahy Rangel had an assist as the Lady Greenwaves improved to 3-1.

— Valley Point boys 2, North Whitfield 0: Dandy Fraire’s goal and a converted penalty kick by Byron Miranda lifted the Greenwaves (3-1) to the victory and completed the soccer sweep of their north end rivals.

— New Hope boys 3, Westside 1: Jose Cruz scored twice and Victor Pascual added another goal as the Kodiaks picked up the win. Mario Perez scored the goal for Westside.

— New Hope girls 1, Westside 1: New Hope’s Melissa Garcia and Westside’s Anna Nunez each scored a goal as the two sides played to a draw in Whitfield County Middle Schools Athletic League competition.