P.E.I. drops 3-2 decision
Island entry primarily transitioning from baseball
The host team scored two runs in the top of the first inning, but those were all the only ones they could muster in their opening game of the Canadian under-18 male fastpitch championship.
Team P.E.I. dropped a 3-2 decision to the Napanee Express, Ontario’s Team Two entry, in the 12-team national championship tournament on Wednesday morning. Marshall Kulich, a pick-up pitcher from Ontario, gave Team P.E.I. a 2-0 lead in the first, reaching base on an Express error, but in the confusion two P.E.I. runners crossed home plate in quick succession.
P.E.I. had loaded the bases on walks, before Kulich drove Bennett MacArthur and Brayden Handrahan home. Patrick Young and Dawson Sellick both went 1-for-3 to account for all of the Island’s hits.
The Express got one run back in the bottom of the first inning, tied the game in the third and scored what proved to be the winning run in the fifth. James Martell scored twice for the Express while Kael Fredenburgh had a single and a triple. In all, the Express managed four hits against Kulich. Kulich was pleased with his adoptive team’s performance. “You can tell they are hard ballplayers,” he said. “They’ve got good swings on them.”
Feeling good
Despite the loss, P.E.I. coach Steve Noonan was feeling good about his team’s performance.
“I can’t complain at all,” said Noonan. “To come out with a 3-2 loss against an Ontario team, that’s fantastic.”
The P.E.I. team has only been together two weeks, and Wednesday morning was its first game together.
Many of team members are making the transition from baseball.
They only met their starting pitcher Tuesday, with Kulich arriving in the province in time for a tournament meet and greet.
Noonan was proud of his team for how they welcomed Kulich, and pleased with his opening performance.
The game was an adjustment for P.E.I. catcher Patrick
Young working with a pitcher he never met before while also making the transition from catching overhand pitchers in baseball.
P.E.I. committed seven errors as compared to one for the Ontario team.
“The guys stuck with it,” assessed Noonan. “When they fumbled the ball, they stuck right with it, got behind each other.”
Brighton Marcell was credited with the pitching win. He entered the game in the second inning, and allowed one hit and two walks through three innings of work.
He struck out six, and gave up no runs. Riley Manion collected the save, pitching the
final three innings and striking out all nine batters he faced.