by Rusty Ellis
The Monterey Wildcats picked up their sixth win of the season on Friday night in a 6-1 effort over Livingston Academy.
Starting pitchers Riley Franz and Zach Cotterman took turns in the opening innings tossing scoreless innings until Monterey finally broke through in the fourth inning.
There, the visiting Wildcats score five times, beginning with Dawson Hedgecough’s RBI single to start the rally. Jake Rachford added an RBI single of his own, and a wild pitch scored the third run.
Franz completed the rally with a two-run single that put the Wildcats up 5-0 and put all the momentum squarely in the visiting dugout.
Monterey added a run in the fifth inning to run the lead to 6-0, though Livingston answered this one with their lone run of the game on an RBI single from Tayshawn Hayes in the bottom of the inning.
That was all Livingston could muster up however, as Franz and Leandro Roberts held the Wildcats scoreless the rest of the way to clinch the 6-1 victory.
Franz earned the win on the mound for MHS, and drove in two runs. Hedgecough added two runs driven in of his own, as head coach John Looper was just pleased that his team did enough to win on the road on Friday.
“We had some key hits in the fourth inning,” Looper said. “It was the only time during the game we did that, but it was enough for the win, so we did what we needed to do.”
The difference in the at-bats during the fourth and fifth inning in Looper’s eyes was simply that his players were more focused.
“They just seemed like they were more locked in and ready to go at the plate,” Looper said. “We got the ball on the barrel now. We had a lot of opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of, but again, we did enough to get the win.”
Franz and Roberts closed the door on the mound, and while they may not have been perfect, Looper says there were plenty of positives to take away from this showing.
“I don’t think either one of them would tell you they had their best stuff tonight, but they made some big pitches,” Looper said. “They only gave up the one run and got the big outs when they needed it.”
Monterey will now prepare for a road contest at Bledsoe on Monday, while Livingston will take on Macon County on the same day.
