The 2022 Islander Baseball season is officially back on. Coming into the week the Islanders had started off strong boasting a fine 2-1 record through their first three games.
However, after an 8-2 loss to Steel Canyon on March 2, putting them at 2-2, the Islanders looked to bounce back with a win at home when they took on Mater Dei on Thursday, March 3rd.
For Thursday’s game, Head Coach Morgan Cummins sent right-hander Tommy Dull out to the mound to start the game. Dull worked a quick 1-2-3 first. Dull then worked another 1/3 of an inning but was pulled after allowing a run after a pair of walks and a hit as the Islanders trailed 1-0.
While the Islander bats attempted to heat, Islander pitching continued to carry the load. Senior Dylan Noble followed Dull’s fine opening effort with three innings of quality ball of his own, as the hard-throwing right-hander recorded five strikeouts while allowing only one hit and keeping the game at 1-0 heading into the 4th.
The bottom half of the 4th is where the Islander offense started to show life. Dull laced a two-out single to the left following two quick outs to start the inning. Ryan Ward proceeded to earn a walk which was promptly followed by another walk to Patch Moore to load the bases. With the bags full of Islanders, Chance Pettit would steal into the box and deliver a single into center to tie the game at 1-1 heading to the 5th.
However, Mater Dei quickly answered back with a run of their own thanks to a bloop RBI single to right to help them take back a 2-1 lead heading into the last two innings. After a seamless inning of work on the mound in the top half of the 6th from Liam Conlon, the Islander offense would again come up clutch. But Coronado was not going to go down without a fight.
Much like they did in the 4th, Dull and Ward both reached base to start the inning and give the Islanders runners at 1st & 2nd with one out. Both runners quickly advanced 90 feet on a passed ball, and shortly after that, Moore picked up an RBI fielder’s choice to tie the game at 2-2.
Both teams failed to score in the 7th, thus sending the game to extra innings. In the top of the 8th, Mater Dei would go down in order, thus allowing the Islanders to walk things off in the bottom half of the 8th.
To start the inning, Ward grounded a ball into right, his 2nd hit of the day, to put the winning run on base. However, on the next play, Moore reached an error and appeared to give Coronado first and second with no outs. But during the play, Ward was called out for offensive interference.
Even so, Moore still quickly found his way into scoring position as with Pettit at the plate, he stole second and then made it to third on a passed ball later in the AB. So with the winning run on third, and one down, Pettit lined 3-2 fastball back up the middle to walk it off and give the Islanders the 3-2 victory.
With the momentum built from their walk off win, the Islanders looked to pick up a second win as they took on Valhalla on Monday, March 7.
Offensively the Islanders grabbed two early runs thanks to an RBI single from Miley and an error that allowed Chance Pettit to score.
Much like their prior game, it was the Islanders pitching that stole the show. Tony Miley started the game on the bump in the opener role as he worked a 1-2-3 first inning. From there the Islanders leaned on JT Nelson. Nelson easily silenced the Norsemen’s bats as he hurled five innings of shutout ball while only allowing four scattered hits. And to close the game Pettit worked a quick inning to earn the save and give Coronado a 4-0 victory over Valhalla.
Islander baseball returns to action when they take on Montgomery this Wednesday at home at 3 pm before traveling to Otay Ranch High School on Friday.
