Seven Rivers is overmatched in a 12-2 loss, but sees the year's bright side.
By CRISTINA LEDRA
Published May 11, 2005
LAKELAND - Seven Rivers Christian felt the wheels of its season starting to wobble by the fourth inning, and in the fifth, the Warriors found themselves sitting in the dirt.
They fell to the more experienced, superior team in Santa Fe Catholic 12-2 in five innings, but there wasn't a teary eye in the bunch.
Warriors coach Steve Ekeli was just happy his players hung with the Crimson Hawks for as long as they did.
"There wasn't a coach in this state that saw the bracket and thought that Seven Rivers was going to beat Santa Fe Catholic," Ekeli chuckled. "But for four innings, we stuck with them. We put the ball in play, we fouled pitches off and we did what we've been asking our players to do all year."
Seven Rivers scored twice in the top of the first to take the lead and chased Santa Fe starter Jarrod Cauley after a third of an inning.
That's when the trouble started.
In came junior Nick McCully, thick from top to bottom with menacing black streaks smeared down either side of his face, as if he needed the intimidation when he throws upwards of 85 miles an hour.
McCully popped deafening pitches into the catcher's glove and sent batter after batter back to the dugout.
"If one of those pitches had hit one of our little guys, it would have gone right through the bone, the marrow, everything," Ekeli said. "The ball probably would have shot out the other side and gone through the fence."
The Warriors' ace, lanky Chad Peets, pitched his fourth game in a row.
Peets started to show fatigue in the fourth when the Crimson Hawks exploded for six runs off five hits and two walks.
