Pride baseball team finally hits the field and earns a 2-0 start

By Garrett Simmons
For Sunny South News

It has been a 2-0 start so far for the Kate Andrews Pride High School Baseball team.

A season that has been marred by poor weather, which has resulted in numerous postponements, finally got underway for the Coaldale squad with a league game against Magrath.

Kate Andrews ran away with a 14-5 win over the Zeniths, as the Pride offence turned out to be too much for Magrath,

“All around, I think we got contributions up and down the lineup, but we had a couple players step up big offensively,” said head coach Daniel Griffith.

Ethan Honess as 4/5 with four runs batted in and four runs scored. J.T. Toker, 3/4 at the plate with three RBI and another four runs scored. He also added a walk.

“We executed our game plan of being aggressive at the plate, and our pitchers challenged their hitters in the strike zone,” said Griffith, as he highlighted the keys to victory.

On the mound, Conner Wittebolle went 5-1/3 with nine strikeouts and three earned runs, in a game Coaldale seemed to control right from the outset.

“I don’t think there was any one turning point, but a consistent and concentrated effort that led to the team’s success,” said Griffith. “The boys brought a great energy to the diamond and were able to sustain it throughout the game, even after a Magrath player hit a moonshot over the right-centrefield wall. They congratulated the player and put it behind them – a really mature mindset from our young team.”

As with any win, there are still a few finer points to work on, the coach added.

“We have a few things to iron out in practice, like defensive coverage and some base running issues, but so far the year has started out in the right direction and we plan to keep trending in that direction.”

Saturday, Kate Andrews did build on that momentum with a come-from-behind 17-10 win in Taber over W.R. Myers in an exhibition.

Myers led 6-2 after three innings, before Kate Andrews put up three in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 6-5. In the top of the fifth, the Pride exploded for 12 runs.

Toker paced the attack as he went 2-4 with five RBI and three runs scored. He also collected a walk. Oden Kashman was 2/5, while Gage Lyckman and Jackson Beauchamp collected two RBI each.

Kate Andrews knocked out 10 hits in the contest and benefitted from 12 free passes issued by Taber pitchers.

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