After three games of Saladino Tournament pool play, both Durant and Strawberry Crest failed to win their pool and advance to the tournament semifinal round last week, despite both teams entering their consolation game at 2-1. Both teams opened tournament play with losses as Durant fell 4-0 to Sickles and Crest fell 2-1 to Newsome, but the Cougars bounced back with an 8-1 win over Robinson and a 4-3 win over Jefferson and Crest did the same with a 5-2 win over Bloomingdale and a 14-4 win over Steinbrenner.
With the tournament guaranteeing four games for each participating team, Durant and Crest were paired for their consolation game last Wednesday as the Cougars made their way across town and came away with a 3-1 victory, moving to 8-2 on the season while the Chargers fell to 7-4.
Senior Luke Richardson got the start for Crest, entering the contest with just three earned runs and 17 strikeouts over the 12 innings pitched in his first four appearances of the season. In the top of the first, Richardson induced a ground out for the first out of the game before Durant’s senior catcher Dylan LaPointe worked the count full and reached with a walk. But despite the early runner, Richardson finished the inning with ease as he struck out the next two hitters he face.
For Durant, it was senior Gavin Florio on the bump, coming into the evening off of three consecutive scoreless appearances in which he totaled 10 strikeouts across six innings of work in wins over Gaither, Plant City and Robinson. After fielding a soft ground out himself, making the easy toss to first for the first out of the inning, Crest’s senior middle infielder Arjun Nimmala stepped into the box — a potential top-10 pick in this year’s upcoming MLB Draft. After Florio quickly got ahead of Nimmala, in control with a 1-2 count, the Chargers’ shortstop punched a hard double down the right field line, the first hit of the game for either team. Florio notched the second out of the inning with another ground ball back to the mound and the Cougars escaped the inning unscathed as a great sliding stop by Durant second baseman Noah Morales saved a run and converted the third out in the bottom of the first.
The two dueling seniors worked their way through the second inning with relative ease, but Durant put the first run of the game on the board with a two-out rally in the top of the third. After a fly out to right and a soft ground out marked the first two outs of the inning, senior Aidan Welsh reached safely with a base hit to left. LaPointe then reached for the second time in as many at bats with a single to left as well, followed by an RBI single to left from Morales, driving home Welsh and giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead on the lineup’s third consecutive two-out base hit.
Crest put just one runner aboard in the bottom of the third and Durant had two runners reach in the top of the fourth, with a soft ground ball from junior Blaine Rowland trickling down the third base line and off the bag before a perfect bunt to the third base side allowed Welsh to put runners on first and second for the Cougars, but Richardson escaped the two-out threat. In the bottom of the fourth, a walk from freshman Toby Highsmith and a single from senior Damien Bennett put the Chargers in a position to tie the contest, but a leaping grab from junior Nick April-Gath on a line drive to shortstop brought the inning to a close with no damage done.
With two outs in the top of the fifth, the Cougars were once again looking to rally as a single from LaPointe and a four-pitch walk from Morales put a pair of runners on for senior Jeremy Ortiz. Crest turned to reliever Brayden Dicerb and Ortiz roped a single to right off of the Chargers’ new arm, but a perfect throw home gunned the Cougars’ potential second run at the plate.
The Chargers were sat down in order in the bottom half of the frame and Durant was finally able to extend their lead in the sixth. A first-pitch double to dead center from Rowland immediately put a runner in scoring position for the Cougars and a ground ball to second from Florio moved him to third. Another double from junior Pete Oderio – this one a line drive down the right field line – drove home Rowland and put the Cougars up 2-0. Another bunt single from Welsh put runners at first and third with one out, but a fly out to center marked the second out and yet another perfect throw home – this one from the arm of Philpott – allowed Crest to thwart another Durant scoring opportunity with a play at the plate.
Moving to the seventh, Crest notched the first out of the inning with a ground ball to second, but Durant followed up with a pair of base hits. LaPointe reached on an infield single he beat out a high chopper to third and a line drive to third base was knocked down with a diving stop from senior Eli Vickers, but the throw to first was unable to be fielded cleanly as Morales reached safely as well. Another single to right from Ortiz pushed the third run of the game across for the Cougars, extending the Durant lead to 3-0. Durant was eventually able to load the bases with just one out, but Crest escaped without allowing another run and made their way into the dugout for their last chance to mount a comeback.
A base hit from Philpott led off the bottom of the seventh, with Durant subsequently notching the first out of the frame with a fielder’s choice off of a ground ball from Bennett. A fly out to center left the Chargers with just one out to rally, but a base hit to the right side from senior Jace Raburn kept hope alive and brought Nimmala back up to the plate – putting the tying run in the box. Nimmala then punched a base hit to right, driving home the run from second to cut the Cougars’ lead to 3-1 and put runners on first and third. With the game in the balance, Durant turned to reliever sophomore Jack Brooks, shutting the door in just five pitches as he notched a strikeout to hold the Cougars’ lead and seal the 3-1 win.
Durant extended their win streak to four games as they returned to action on Tuesday, beating Leto 10-2 and moving to 9-2. Strawberry Crest restarted regular season play on Tuesday as well, hosting Newsome.