Coming right out of the Saladino Tournament over Spring Break where Strawberry Crest reached the semifinals, the Chargers jumped back into their regular season play as they headed to North Tampa on Tuesday night to face the 7-2 Freedom Patriots, coming away with a 1-0 win by the slimmest of margins.
In what could prove to be a major factor in the Chargers’ second half of the year as postseason play grows closer, junior middle infielder Arjun Nimmala made his much-anticipated return to the field. After missing the beginning of the season with a wrist injury, the Florida State commit still hasn’t returned to Strawberry Crest’s lineup, but he was able to step back in at shortstop and his defensive presence was noticeable early as he got a quick welcome with two ground ball outs in the bottom of the first inning.
As a sophomore last season, Nimmala posted a team-high 30 runs batted in with 11 doubles and a .400 batting average.
Luke Richardson got the start for Strawberry Crest, a staple in big games for the Chargers this season, and his stretch of strong performances continued as he took a perfect game into the sixth inning before allowing his first – and only – two base hits of the evening.
“I’ve had a week off since the Plant City game that I pitched so I was just trying to get some quick innings,” Richardson said. “That’s the main thing, just throwing fastballs and trying to get quick outs. We had Arjun back at shortstop, which was really nice, he made a bunch of good plays. I was basically just trying to let the defense work and not do too much.”
But as Richardson noted, it wasn’t his efforts alone that led the way for a shutout performance as Nimmala, third baseman Eli Vickers and second baseman Ray Allen Vasquez repeatedly flashed the leather with big-time plays to keep Freedom largely off of the basepaths and ultimately off of the scoreboard completely.
“It’s kind of like a warm blanket, it’s comforting,” Richardson said about the defense behind him. “You know that no matter what, if the ball’s on the ground somewhere, they’re going to make a play. It was like the preseason again having them all together, it was really nice.”
Despite Richardson’s perfect effort extending into the sixth inning, Freedom loaded the bases in the sixth with back-to-back one-out singles and a ground ball up the middle that couldn’t be fielded cleanly. But defense came through once again to thwart the Patriots’ lone scoring opportunity as a picture perfect 6-4-3 double play got the Chargers out of the jam.
And with six hits, two walks and two players hit by pitches, Strawberry Crest was able to put baserunners on throughout the game and even load the bases in two separate innings, but their efforts weren’t enough to pull them ahead until the big bat of senior Ethan Pues came up big – as it has so often this season – with a solo home run to left field in the sixth inning.
“I’ve just been really relaxed at the plate this season,” Pues said. “I just try to be as relaxed as I can. See the ball, hit the ball, there’s not too much to it but hitting’s been a big part of my game… You’ve got to back your pitcher up when he’s throwing a game like that, just take a little bit of pressure off of him, so it feels great when you can put some runs up on the board.”
Pues now sits with an astronomical .436 batting average on the year, leading the district with 17 hits, 16 runs batted in, six doubles and four home runs. His 12 runs scored trails only Vickers’ 14 for the team-lead.
Strawberry Crest returns home on Thursday as they look to stay in the win column against 2-4 Middleton.