CALGARY— The Cochrane Crush baseball club visited Calgary on Saturday (July 25) for back-to-back games against the members of its cohort.
The Crush opened the day against the Centennial Little League team at the John Laurie Ball Diamonds.
They got off to a slow start, scoring no runs in the first inning, but slowly started to gain momentum.
The Crush managed to get a few runners on base in the bottom of the second, with one making the rounds to score before Riley Boychuk connected on a swing sending the ball clear into the outfield.
Boychuk’s hit allowed for two runners to round home.
The Crush wouldn’t score again until the bottom of the fourth, when #11, Bo Anderson got himself on base and managed to make it around the diamond and back to home.
Going into the fifth inning the score was 4-3 for Cochrane, with Centennial trailing by one.
Centennial then scored two in the fifth, putting them up by one.
The energy on the Centennial bench was palpable, the players and coaches were visibly excited.
They managed to hold off the Crush’s batters with some tight defense in the fifth and went into the final inning still up by one.
Centennial managed to score once more in the top of the sixth, bringing the score to 6-4.
The Crush needed at least two runs in the bottom of the sixth to make a comeback. After two outs, the bases were loaded when Braeden Bohach-Murray stepped up to the plate.
Braeden got a hit, and it looked as though the ball would bounce low out of the infield, but it was scooped up by Centennial's second baseman mere seconds before Bo Anderson slid into second. Bo was called out and the game came to a close with a final score of 6-4.
It was the second loss of the Crush’s season, and the first win for Centennial this year.
Head coach of the Crush, Corey O’How said that he felt the team got out of the gate a little too slow during the first game of the day.
“We were a little flat in the beginning, and kind of got some energy in the last inning or two there, but it wasn’t enough to come back,” he said.
But the loss wasn’t for nothing. O’How said it was a good opportunity to highlight the areas in which the kids can improve.
“Anytime you lose a game there is something to be learned, right? We’re pretty good at talking about that as a team and that kind of thing. We talked about why we lost and what can do to mitigate those problems moving forward. The kids understood that they were flat and that they didn’t have the energy they needed at the beginning,” he said. “They’re a really good group of kids that way. They hold each other accountable, and they understand what they need to do better.”
The Crush played again that afternoon against the Foothill Little League team.
O’How said that the boys brought much more energy to the second game of the day, which he suspects is due to the rivalry that has existed between the two teams for a few years.
“It’s always a good game with them, and the kids are always up to play those guys,” he said.
The Crush earned a little redemption in the game against Foothills and won 4-3.
