Friday afternoon’s matchup in the East Hamilton Hurricane Classic Tournament was new Silverdale head coach Lance Rorex’s first chance to coach against his alma mater and his old employer, Lookout Valley. Rorex both played and coached for years at the school before recently taking control of the Seahawks' program.
“It felt weird on the way over,” Coach Rorex said about playing his old team, “but once that first pitch is thrown it’s just baseball.”
Soon after the game was called in the bottom of the fifth inning with Silverdale up by 10 runs, Rorex made his way over to the opposite dug-out, slapping away handshakes and giving big hugs to a group of his old guys who had lined up to meet him.
The Seahawks totally controlled the game from start to finish. They scored four runs in the top of the first and the Yellowjackets were forced to go to their bullpen with only one out after their starting pitcher hit four of the first nine batters he saw. The new pitcher, Jacob Winchester, had more speed than the starter, but the Silverdale bats stayed hot into the next inning.
During their first at bat Lookout Valley ripped two good line drives for singles, then moved runners into scoring position after two bunts, but their run ended after Bryson Cline picked up his first strike out to end the inning, leaving two men stranded on base.
Silverdale put four more runs on the board in the second to go up 8-0. As good as the Seahawks were at the plate they were even better in the field, Cline carried his momentum into the second inning by striking out the Yellow Jacket’s sixth, seventh and eighth batters in quick succession.
In the third inning Silverdale scored two more runs, their last of the game. One came off a deep single from first basemen Cam Mullens, which brought home catcher Sebastian Hanks. Later in the inning a pass ball after strike three allowed the batter, Evan Padgett, to advance to first and brought the runner on third home.
Now down 10-0 Lookout Valley desperately needed a run to avoid the 10-run rule which comes into effect in the fifth inning. They hit Cline’s stuff hard three times in a row, but the left side of the Seahawks’ infield kept everything in front of them. Third basemen Lane Meadows made two great stops on fast hoppers down the third base line, collecting both hard ground balls and easily beating out the runners to first.
Jacob Winchester, and good catching by Ryland Collins, kept Silverdale of the scoreboard in the fourth giving Lookout Valley another chance to put some points on the board and prolong the game, but the Seahawks replaced Cline on the mound with Brett Rogers, who carried on the starters good form. He threw two strikeouts in the bottom of the fourth and stranded two men on base.
In the fifth Lookout Valley went to the bullpen again, this time for Christian Chandler. Chandler walked three batters but also struck out three more, giving the Yellowjackets one last opportunity to play a full game.
Rogers wasn’t having any of it however and he made quick work of the first two batters before being pulled in favor of Mason Jones who popped up lead-off batter Mason Randolph to end the game 10-0 after 5 innings.
“Our starter on the mound was locked in early, and it all starts on the mound.” Silverdale Head Coach Rorex said. “They put us on base and we managed to take advantage of it.”
SILVERDALE 442 00 – 10 12 1
LOOKOUT VALLEY 000 00 – 0 5 4
Cline, Rogers (4), Jones (5) and Hanks; Randolph, Winchester (1), Chandler (5) and Collin
(Email William Shelton at wil.shelt21@gmail.com)