By Francisco Avila- Photos by Gary Larson
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p18213641 **
Lisle— A strong start is vital in team sports, It can be the difference between winning and losing. It helps to build and also grow a lead, but it is also helpful when you’re struggling.
A strong start allows you to take hits, and within those moments, stay composed to then regroup and secure a win. A win like this isn’t possible with the efforts of one player, but the contributions of everyone as a team working to secure the win.
Beeming with confidence, the Illinois Wolves 13U hosted a home double-header with their first matchup of the day against Impact Navy 13U.
The Wolves started strong with a 5-0 advantage after three innings.
History has shown when the Wolves are ahead after three innings, they usually go on to end the game as the victors.
Jumping ahead in the secomd inning, plating three runs and then adding an additional two more in their third at bats, the formula for victory had appeared.
One thing though; the visiting Impact team wasnt aware of that and would make this game more difficult than expected as the Wolves let their guard down, allowing the visitor to get back into the game and close to 5-4 after their top of the fourth inning.
in their previous game, the Wolves also had difficulties with this same team. in that game, the Wolves left West Chicago with a 4-2 win but looked unhinged in that game.
The Wolves stayed composed in this game and, with the immense efforts of pitchers and hitters alike, they went on to secure a 10-7 win.
“We have a lot of good hitters on this team, and we always talk about having one guy set a spark, and it happened to be Matty (Wiskowski), and the next inning, Jackson (Martin) had a nice hit,” said Wolves Head Coach Brandin Muniz.
Coach Muniz additionally spoke to how the team stayed composed despite the struggles, “Mistakes happen as part of baseball. It’s the good players who come back from them quickly, make adjustments, and change how they’re doing it. So fortunately for us, we do make more mistakes than we should in the field, but we do usually bounce back quickly, and usually we come in from an inning bounce back on offense, and it kind of sets its tone for the rest of the game.”
Coach Muniz also spoke to the great pitching of various players, including Left-Handed Pitcher Michael Petrbok, Graham Johnson and Payton Swartzendruber, “I thought overall they pitched pretty well. Overall, we pitched pretty well, and defensively was a little touch and go.”
The Wolves would start strong immediately at the bottom of the second, off a single from Wiskowski, scoring pinch runner Graham Johnson from second base. Julien Duque then followed with a single that scored Swartzendruber.
“I got into a 3-1 count, and I took my first strike because Coach told me to take one and then I saw a pitch I liked and I swung it, it was outside, I like my outside pitches,” said Duque on his grounder to get the 2-0 lead.
Auggie Ruffolo then made it 3-0 on the day to end the second inning with a line drive single to left field scoring Wiskowski from third.
“I think I wanted to be aggressive there because I’m using Christian’s (Slazak) new bat, and I think it’s really juiced and really good, so I just wanted to be aggressive and get a good hit there,” said Ruffolo on his hit.
The third inning saw the Wolves extended their lead. A single by Martin and Johnson saw them at second and third and both scored when Petrbok singled up the middle to up the lead to 5-0.
“Yeah, I was happy. I don’t know, I’ve just been in a slump in all these WSBL games, and I haven’t been hitting, but I’ve been doing well in my tournaments. So, for my first at bat, I was happy because I got that single up the middle of the field.”
Impact’s next at-bats completely changed the trajectory of the game. A game that looked well in hand for the Wolves became quite tight after the visitors went on to score four runs and cut the Wolves lead to a single run at 5-4.
The Wolves went to a new pitcher, Johnson relieved Petrbok. Two singles, a pair of walks along with an error at shortstop was the opening Impact took advatage of to close within a run of the lead.
After a scoreless fourth by both teams, the Wolves would pad their lead in their fifth at-bats.
Auggie Ruffolo walked to start the fifth. He was followed by a Brady Madden single. Spencer Marnell next drove in Ruffolo from second on his single to left center to up the Wolves lead to 6-4.
Martin next found the pitch he needed and took it over the right center field fence for the three run homer to extend the Wolves lead to 9-4.
Johnson used some help by Impacts defense to stand on second after the error in centerfield. He would score the Wolves tenth run on an error by the Impact first baseman off a Petrbok grounder.
“I was happy about that, and then Graham came in obviously to finish it off to score the run,” said Petrbok.
Although the Wolves again created a strong lead, Navy wasn’t done, and again produced multiple runs at the top of the seventh.
Impact made it closer, scoring three runs in their last at-bat but it was little to late as Sackley made the final putout, snagging a soft liner to end the game and secure the 10-7 Wolves win.
