Aurora – Buckley Air Force Base on Thursday reported its jet fighters were being bombarded by baseballs as they flew over Cherokee Trail’s baseball field. Cougars junior Bradshaw Perry is wanted for questioning.
All kidding aside, the lively bats of Cherokee Trail were no joke.
The Cougars avenged two shutout losses to Adams City last season that essentially cost them a league title with a 10-0 victory in five innings in a cross-classification Skyline League game. The teams will meet again in the final game of the regular season.
Perry hit his third home run in three games in the first inning, and Cherokee Trail (5-1 overall, 2-0 league) scored seven runs in the second before Mike Carrasco’s RBI single triggered the 10-run rule in the bottom of the fifth.
“Everybody was pumped up for this game,” Perry said. “It leaves a lot better taste in our mouths.”
Said Cherokee Trail coach Allan Dyer: “We needed a game like this against Adams City. … They cost us the league.”
Pitcher Tim Moore had a lot of movement on his three pitches, and he struck out nine in a two-hit outing.
“Last year they shut us out both games and we had like four (actually five) hits total,” Moore said. “We needed to get back at them.”
Adams City (2-3, 1-1) could get little going. Reliever Joe Rodriguez, who came in for Tony Medina in the second inning, had a single in the first, and Medina sent a double down the left-field line in the fourth.
Cherokee Trail, with lofty aspirations after dropping out of last year’s postseason in the first round of the district tournament, opened the bottom of the first inning with a triple to the center-field fence by Beau Schneider. Ty Jacobs, who highlighted the second inning with a two-RBI double, drew a walk but was picked off at first by Medina one pitch before Perry went yard.
Perry’s blast sailed over the left-field fence, and the junior said things have been working for him in batter’s box lately.
“I was feeling it,” Perry said. “I’ve been working on my swing a lot lately.”
In the second inning, Cherokee Trail put its first seven batters on base and all scored.
The Cougars chased Medina with no outs, the bases loaded and one run already in. Rodriguez came in and fared no better, giving up five hits and two walks to the first eight batters he faced.
Rodriguez, however, went three-up, three-down in the third and forced a double play for no damage in the fourth.
Adams City 000 00 – 0 2 0
Cherokee Trail 270 01 – 10 11 0
Adams City – C. Garcia rf 2-0-0-0, Castillo ss 2-0-0-0, Rodriguez cf-p 2-0-1-0, Medina p-cf 2-0-1-0, Guyer 2-0-0-0, Gonzales 2-0-0-0, A. Garcia 2-0-0-0, Esparza lf 2-0-0-0, Mascarenas 3b 1-0-0-0. Totals 17-0-2-0.
Cherokee Trail – Schneider lf 3-2-2-1, Jacobs cf 2-1-1-2, Perry ss 3-2-2-3, Moore p 2-0-1-1, Crandell c 2-0-0-0, Noraker 1b 3-1-2-0, Brundage 2b 1-1-0-0, Williams 3b 3-2-2-0, Carrasco rf 2-1-1-1. Totals 21-10-11-8.
E – None. DP – Adams City 2. LOB – Adams City 2; Cherokee Trail 2. 2B – Medina; Jacobs, Williams. 3B – Schneider. HR – Perry, 1 on in 1st.
Batteries – Medina, Rodriguez (2) and Gonzales; Moore and Crandell. W – Moore (2-0). L – Medina (1-3). WP – Rodriguez 3. HBP – Carrasco by Medina. Balk – Medina. Time – 1:04.
