- April 25, 2024
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Father Lopez scored seven runs in the first inning and held off a former district opponent on Senior Night.
BY MATT MENCARINI | SPORTS EDITOR
When the Father Lopez seniors first set eyes on this year’s schedule, head coach Trevor Berryhill told them to scan down, to look at their Senior Night opponent.
“They hadn’t beaten Orangewood since they’ve been here,” Berryhill said, after the 8-4 victory April 15. “The Class of 2013, that’s their first win against Orangewood.”
Berryhill purposely loaded the schedule with tough opponents, and thinks the team’s schedule is as difficult as anyone’s in the state. But Orangewood, on Senior Night, would be the team’s “mountain to climb.”
“It was a playoff atmosphere,” Berryhill said. “There was something on the line today.”
As part of the Senior Night festivities, seniors and their parents walked around the bases together before the game. But that was only the start of the action the base paths would see Monday.
The first four Father Lopez batters reached base and later scored during a 7-run first inning, which included 14 at-bats (making a mess of my scorecard), four walks, three singles, two batters hit by pitches and a three-run home run from Brandon Leohner.
“Obviously, a 7-0 cushion is big time,” Berryhill said. “(And) it’s good to get Ian (Farrell) back on the mound.”
Farrell, who has committed to play baseball at the University of South Carolina, Upstate, missed most of the season with an injury. He returned last week, and Berryhill said he has kept close watch of his pitch-count ever since.
Senior Tommy Roache replaced Farrell with one out in the third inning, at 42 pitches, three shy of the 45-pitch limit Berryhill had set for him.
“It’s just one of those things of getting him back out there ... (and) getting him comfortable,” Berryhill said. “We threw a lot of pitches in the bullpen today. He just has to get comfortable with his mechanics, his timing, his rhythm.”
Farrell gave up a solo home run in the second and Roache scattered three runs over 3 2/3 innings before Evan Miranda stepped onto the mound in the seventh, overpowered the Rams hitters — striking out the side — and sealed a satisfying victory for the senior class.
The Green Wave may have climbed one mountain, but with the district tournament beginning April 23, there’s another summit in the distance.
