Lions Win Lion's!!
The Calvary Christian Lions made it a clean sweep as they won their first
ever Lion's Tournament by beating Parker 6-1 in the championship game on
Thursday afternoon at Alliant University.
Calvary went a perfect 5-0 in the tournament outscoring their opponents
25-6. They played solid baseball overall but phenomenal pitching put them
over the top. 6 different pitchers combined for an amazing 0.58 ERA
averaging less than 5 hits, 3 walks and nearly 9 strikeouts per game.
The pitching staff was lead by Russell Harmening who walked away with the
MVP trophy following the championship game. Over 8 innings of work, he
allowed no earned runs and struck out 13 opposing hitters.
The championship game against a tough Francis Parker squad was tight through
4 innings, knotted in a 1-1 tie. Calvary broke it open by scoring 5 runs in
the final 3 frames to walk away with the championship trophy.
Parker struck first when senior starting pitcher Brock Bentley gave up a
leadoff single and was unable to coerce a low strike from the umpire and
ended up walking 2 of the next 3 hitters to load the bases. Without wasting
any time, Harmening came in to relieve with one out and the bases loaded. On
an 0-1 count on the first hitter he faced, he got the next pitch too close
and struck the next hitter in the arm to force in Parker's only run on the
hit by pitch.
Parker held their narrow one run lead until the 4th inning when the Lions
scratched one out to tie it. Sophomore Matt Hartman started the inning by
blasting a double to deep left field putting himself in scoring position.
Harmening followed with a line shot single to right that was hit too hard to
score Hartman leaving runners at 1st and 3rd. Sam Sheehan stepped up and hit
a hard ground ball to short and Parker was able to turn a double play, but
Hartman was able to score form third tying the game at one.
Calvary took the lead the next inning when Alex Nurding singled and freshman
Kallin Iwasaki reached on an error by the shortstop. Leadoff hitter Davey
Carpenter then collected the second of his 3 singles on the day to load the
bases with one out. Caleb Whitley then hit a hard groundball to short that
had the makings of a potential double play but the speedy Carpenter was able
to make contact with the shortstop who was taking the bag himself and threw
the ball slightly off line and Whitley beat the throw to first on a
bang-bang play. Nurding scored from third on the RBI groundout giving
Calvary the lead they would never relinquish.
Harmening was in cruise control and kept the normally hard-hitting Parker
offense at bay and continued getting stronger as the game progressed. He
shut them out for 6 2/3 innings striking out 10.
Calvary gave him some breathing room by adding 2 more in the 6th inning when
Harmening lined a double in the right-center gap and Hartman followed with a
walk. Another potential double play ball was misplayed by the thirdbaseman
who threw the ball into rightfield and Harmening scored on the error.
Hartman scored when Isaac Conover knocked him in with an RBI groundout.
The added their last two runs in the 7th when Carpenter singled and stole
second and scored when Whitley lined a single to right. Whitley stole second
and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch for Calvary's 6th and
final run.
The win now puts Calvary's overall record at 12-4 and ends a month where
Calvary played the toughest schedule in the school's history. The schedule
has included 7 CIF Division 1 schools and the average enrollment size of
their competition was nearly 2000 in comparison to Calvary's 132. So far,
this season has been a David and Goliath type of success.
It continues next week when they face another Division 5 rival, Horizon.
They begin league play the following week.
Also......please do not miss this! Calvary is playing at Petco Park on
Friday 4/27 at 4:05 vs. Mountain Empire. If you are interested in attending,
please contact Steve Whitley at 760-845-7607 or e-mail him at
swwhitley@roadrunner.com. The tickets range from $10-$15 and also include a
bonus ticket to the SD Padre vs. Miami Marlin game the following Friday. A
great 2-for-1 deal! The high school game is open seating and parking that
night is only $3.00. We are required to sell 500 tickets (a big task for a
small school) so join us if you can!
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