Photos by Lauren Gray
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Crest Hill— Earlier in the season, the Wolves were a team playing near mistake free baseball. The ball club was doing almost everything right.
Wins were piling up due to strong hitting and great defense. The game was easy for them. They went into every game expecting to win.
They raced out to an impressive 19-1 record, losing only in a tournament championship game.
Since then, they have compiled a 4-3 record and have had trouble playing error free baseball. Sure, a 23-4 record is still impressive but the mistakes are piling up now and the defense has struggled not only in the infield but also in the outfield.
In an elimination game at the Southside Flippin’ Bats, Hittin’ Jacks tournament, the Wolves recent specter would once again appear during their rematch with Premier Navy and end up handing the Wolves their fourth loss of the season and eliminating them from the tournament with the 6-5 Premier Navy win on May 4 in Crest Hill.
The difference in this game was simply errors in the infield and inability to read fly balls by the Wolves.
The Wolves took a 1-0 lead after their first at bat. Fred Sackley started the game with a single, advanced to third on a wild pitch and a stiolen base. he scored on a sacrice fly by Jackson Martin soon after. Christian Slazak added a double but was stranded there.
An infield error at shortstop on Premiers first batter, led off the bottom of the first inning. Four errors in total saw the Wolves give up three unearned runs in the first two innings. Pitcher Christian Slazak was doing all he could on the mound, ground balls were simply being booted or poor throws forced him to face additional batters.
A three spot by Premier Navy after an inning would see them never trail the rest of the game.
A seven-pitch inning is all the Wolves mustered in their next at-bat, hitting three fly balls in order.
Premier Navy threatened in their second at-bats with some help by the Wolves. two errors at second saw Premier runners at the corners with just an out. Slazak managed to pitch out of the jam with a short flyout to center followed by a soft pop up to second to keep the deficit at 3-1.
Madden began the promising third inning with a single, advancing to second a pitch later but was thrown out trying to advance to third on a grounder in front of him. Still, Sackley’s seond hit of the game saw Wolves at first and second. Unfortunately, the next two batters went down via a strikeouts to end the scoring opportunity.
Premier extended their lead to 4-1 after leading off the bottom of the third with a single. He quickly advanced to second on a steal as the Wolves pitchers have struggled to hold runners on or have runners thrown out on steal attempts. Another single plated Premier’s fourth run.
The Wolves finally found some timely hitting to start the fourth.
A walk to Slazak began the comeback. He scored on a double by Graham Johnson. Michael Petrbok followed and reached first on a throwing error by Premier, scoring Johnson. Matthew Wiskwski reached first next on a fielders choice which forced Petrbok at second.
Wiskowski reached second a wild pitch later and scored a batter later on Madden’s single. With Wiskowski scoring, the game went to the bottom of the fourth tied at 4-4.
Premier regained the lead shortly after, scoring two unearned runs after a throwing error from third to first. A double, single and a walk was enouh for Salzak who pulled himself from the mound trailing 6-4.
With the bases loaded, Wiskowski was stellar, coaxing an infield fly and a force out at second to stop Premier at two runs in the inning.
In tournament play, it’s rare that you get to play a full seven-inning game because of time limits. The Wolves were facing that crunch with not much time left to play.
Looking to at least tie the game, the Wolves started their fifth inning with another single by Sackley, his thrid of the game. He advanced to third on a Martin single and got the Wolves within a run on ground out to second by Slazak.
The Wolves saw runners at second and third with two outs but were unable to even the game after a strike out closed the top half of the fifth inning, trailing 6-5.
With just minutes left and the bottom of the inning lying ahead, the Wolves needed a quick inning for another opportunity to bat. As long as time is left, a new inning can begin, and that was the goal for Wiskowski, get through the Premier batters quickly.
He did just that! Strikibg out the side in less than five minutes allowing his team a chance to even the game or take the lead with just two minutes to spare.
Unfortunately, the Wolves couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity as Wiskowski popped out to first, Burke struck out looking and Madden also popped out to first to end the game and eliminate the Wolves.
This is a talented team. Expectaions within are high. They are capable of beating any team they face and have done that more than not. This is now a team being tested. At 23-4 on the season, theres no panic for this team. Winning at an .852 clip, no one should panic!
