Parkland High School Baseball

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times andthankfully for the JV Trojan 9, it ultimately became the spring of hope versusthe winter of despair as Parkland won their first game of the youngseason.   In this tale of two games whichwas anything close to a classic, Parkland scored early and then they scoredoften as they accumulated a 10 run lead of 11 to 1 after 4 innings of the firsthalf of this unique game.   In whatappeared to be a probable mercy rule game, the visitors from the Wilson WestLawn took advantage of some freebies to get on base, both in walks, hit battersand even some soft pop ups that seemed to find the green grass to extend thegame to the full 7 innings.   The finalscore of 11 to 10, which initially was a laugher ultimately turned into a nailbiter as Taiki Horiguchi came in the game in the top of the 7th to record hisfirst save of the season as he got the enthusiastic Wilson team to fly out toCenter and then finessed a pop up to 3rd baseman, Sean Superka, who squeezed theball into his glove to put an end to the 2nd half of this unique game.   The amazing adventure of how we got to thisunexpected ending is a story that needs to be told.

The JV Squad took an early 1 to nothing lead in thebottom of the 1st when consecutive batters let the Reading Area team fromWilson know that they would be in for a fight. Opposite field singles by TaikiHoriguchi, Jake Donmoyer, (1 for 2 with 2 bb’s and an rbi) follow by a walk toJoe Algard got the team off to the fast start that they wanted.   Luke Meehan who had his 2nd best at bat ofthe game (more on that later) hit a scorcher to right field for a single to getthe first run on the board.  Continuedclutch at bats in the 2nd inning got another run on the board for Parkland asTremba (3 runs scored with 1bb, 1 hbp and 1 single) walked, Andrew Nguyen hit asingle to right and then Joe Algard got his first hit with a liner rbi tocenter.   The 3rd inning is whereParkland did most of their damage as Aaron Atiyeh, AJ Carpenter and Ty Trembaall singled and then walks and just putting the ball in play got 2 moreruns   Another rbi single by Joe Algardgot the team up 7 to 0.   This is whereit became a truly special day for Freshman Luke Meehan (2 for 2 with a bb andgot plunked in his last at bat) as he launched a 2 ball 1 strike pitch againstthe Wilson Lefty over the 325 foot sign in left to give the team a comfortable9 to 0 lead.   Luke’s hit was clearly thetalk of the game.  Congrats to Luke onhis first home run as a Trojan.  Walksand hit by pitches plus an Andrew Nguyen single gave the team an 11 to 1lead.  

Owen Lehr was cruising in his first start of the seasonas he struck out 6 batters in the 4 innings pitched and gave up 0 hits.   Only a bb and some wild pitches ultimatelygave Wilson their first run prior to Lehr leaving after 4 good innings.   A comfortable 11 to 1 lead in the top of the5th eventually became exciting as Wilson utilized all means to get on baseeventually taking the lead down to 11 to 10 prior to Horiguchi getting theWilson batter to pop out to end the game. The game had many twists and turns and was a rewarding outcome for ateam looking for their first win.   Theadventure was unexpected but could set the stage for a more confident team inthe upcoming week full of big games.