Heritage strikes early, holds on for 4-3 baseball victory
Parker Kristall gets ready to deliver a pitch as Brenton Jackson watches. (Photo by pics.bymason on Instagram) By Paige Mendez, Correspond...
By Paige Mendez, Correspondent
The Heritage High School baseball team got its first win of the season against Elsinore Friday afternoon. The 4-3 victory brings their overall record to 1-3-2 on the year.
The Patriot offense started out strong with all four of their runs coming in the first two innings, while Elsinore had only seven at-bats in their respective halves of those innings. Starting pitcher Parker Kristall struck out four of those seven, walking one and throwing a pop fly and groundout to the other two.
Junior shortstop Brenton Jackson was the first to tally a hit for Heritage with a single in his first at-bat, then scored two batters later on a single from Kristall. Heritage put three more runs up in the second inning on four hits, one walk and a sacrifice fly.
Isaac Molina took the mound for the Patriots in the third inning and held the Tigers to no runs until the fifth inning, when three hits, a walk and sacrifice bunt loaded the bases for Elsinore and pushed three runs in.
The coaches then brought in Aaron Orenales to close out the inning with one walk and one swinging strikeout, while the tying run was on third.
Closing pitcher Lukas Tello came in for the last two innings and got the team out of a sticky situation with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, by throwing a strikeout and a groundout. He then finished it off with a pop fly and two groundouts in the seventh to seal the deal for his team’s win.
Head coach Tony Martinez said the perseverance Tello and his other pitchers displayed is something they have been witnessing a lot this season.
“They’ve been really resilient this season with some stress from our tough losses,” he said. “So for them to keep their composure today really meant a lot.”
Jackson had two hits, one RBI and no strikeouts.
“I’ve got a lot of guys around me that help me out at practice and it just feels good to come through for them,” Jackson said.
Martinez said the team’s offensive performance -- nine hits in the game compared to Elsinore’s four -- is also nothing new.
“We’ve been swinging the bat really well,” he said. “Those big hits in the beginning were huge for our momentum today, though.”
Other offensive highlights for the Patriots included doubles from both Samuel Blakely and Brandon Alley.
The Patriots will look to improve on their record at their next matchup with Temescal Canyon on Wednesday at 3:15 p.m. Jackson said he hopes people will watch out for his team because of the fight they’ve got in them.
Martinez agrees that, although the roster may be thin, his team is one he hopes the community will come support.
“They’re a resilient group of guys and we may be small in numbers but we fight and work hard,” he said. “They’re a really good baseball club.”
