Recap
La Palma, CA — In what had to be one of the most productive afternoons in their history, Kennedy High School trounced the Wilsonville Wildcats Monday afternoon, by a score of 23 to 4. The offensive onslaught was coupled with an impressive performance on the mound by Wyatt Johnson who struck out an incredible 11 batters in only 4 innings.
After Wilsonville jumped out to a one-run lead in the first inning, Kennedy answered back in the bottom half of the frame with their second 10-run inning in as many games. Taking advantage of Wildcat wildness, they sent 15 batters to the plate, putting together 7 hits, 2 walks and two hit batters to push across their 10 runs. In the game, a total of 9 Irish batters reached first as a result of being plunked with wild pitches.
The hitting attack was well balanced with three batters, Johnson, Johnny Soto and Robert Zeoli leading the way with 3 hits apiece. Chase Leonard, Albert Munoz and Tyler Beckler followed with 2 hits each and Sebastian McSherry, Jason May and Noah Avila each added one.
There were plenty of RBI’s to be shared around in the contest with Johnson collecting 4, Beckler and Evan Anderson adding 3 each and Leonard and McSherry driving in a pair apiece. Munoz, Soto, Ryan Cathcart, Avila and Zeoli all drove in solo runs.
There is little to note on the defensive end since most of the outs were recorded by way of strikeout. Jaelyn Edds did make one beautiful play, ranging deep into the hole in the fourth inning to take a hit away and bring that frame to an end. McSherry turned in his customary sound performance behind the plate, blocking multiple pitches in the dirt and throwing out the one runner who tried to test his arm by stealing in the first inning.
Coach Tom Monahan has the Irish playing relaxed and loose and gaining in confidence. They return to action Tuesday night against Montclair at Glover Field in a game under the lights. The starting time for that game will be 7:30pm.