Almost perfect
La Plata Legion baseball opens with dominant performance over Calvert
It was a simple strategy that Austin Simms took to the mound for his start for La Plata Post 82 in Tuesday night’s American Legion baseball game with visiting Calvert.
“I just threw strikes and let the defense field them,” he said. “I just trusted my defense.”
Simms didn’t let his defense do much work, though, allowing Calvert to put just two balls in play over his three perfect innings of work. Dean Kirby just about matched it in his three innings of relief, as the two pitchers combined to allow just one hit in La Plata’s 10-0, six-inning win.
Simms struck out seven of the nine batters he faced, while Kirby struck out six and allowed a single baserunner in the top of the fourth. Only a oneout double by Calvert’s Eric Johnson separated La Plata’s pitchers from a combined perfect game. The win was the third in as many games for La Plata, which opened its Legion season with wins over Salisbury (7-2) and Ocean City (12-3) last weekend.
“I gave up the one hit, but other than that they didn’t really get anything started,” Kirby said. “I threw a lot of strikes and felt like I had good control of my fastball, which I’ve been struggling with lately. We made plays defensively to help and we hit the ball, which always helps.”
Offensively, La Plata provided all the run support its pitchers would need in the bottom of the first. Patrick Estevez drew a leadoff walk, stole second base and took third on an errant throw on the play, then scored on Kirby’s sacrifice fly.
While Simms and Kirby did not require anymore support, they got plenty more, anyway.
La Plata scored five runs in the second inning, highlighted by Kevon Wharton’s two-run double and a two-run Ryan Calvert single. The two-run hits sandwiched a Seth Morrison sacrifice fly, leaving the hosts with a 6-0 advantage through two.
The lead grew to seven an inning later, as Dylan Bell doubled with two outs and scored on Morrison’s single the following at-bat. Held scoreless in the fourth, La Plata added another run in the fifth when Wharton crossed the plate on Estevez’s RBI base hit. And finally in the sixth, Zach Harris’ two-run single plated both Kirby and Ian Remalia to push La Plata’s lead to 10-0 and bring the game to its mercy-rule conclusion.
“We had our young guys here today, had some of our seniors enjoying senior week,” La Plata coach David Harris said. “Our pitching carried us, which is what we expect this year. Our hitting was steady. We hit all the way through the lineup. Almost everybody in the lineup had a hit, and we put some runs on the board.”
Bell and Wharton each had two hits to lead La Plata’s attack, while seven of La Plata’s starting nine had hits in the game and every player who had a plate appearance reached base.
It was quite the opposite story for Calvert (0-1), which forced La Plata’s defense to make a play just five times in the game.
“We didn’t hit the ball at all. They’re a good team,” Calvert coach Bobby Jurney said. “They play together all the time, play the whole summer together. They’ve been out on the field practicing. We’ve not been out one time. We’re pulling from different schools, and the way the weather’s been it’s tough to get outside. ... I thought we did well after the second inning. We pitched well, played defense, but their two pitchers were lights out.”
La Plata returns the bulk of its roster from last summer’s state championship squad, a team that took a good run at the region tournament. The team hopes to put itself in position to accomplish more of the same this summer and through three games is off to a solid start.
“We’ve played three really good games as a team,” Kirby said. “There’s a lot of talent on this team. Anybody can bat one through nine and anybody can play anywhere.”