A/C
A/C
get the last out of the inning and leave the score tied at 5-5.
The co-op wasn’t out of the woods yet, however, as they would strand runners on second and third in the bottom half of the inning to leave the door open for Athens.
After a tumultuous fourth, Abby-Colby seemed to settle back into the game in the fifth. Diedrich would pitch a one-twothree top of the inning and give his team another opportunity to retake the lead in the bottom half of the frame.
Two more hit batsmen to start the rally eventually would come back to haunt the Bluejays. One scored on a wild throw to put the co-op up 6-5 and Reis came through once more for his team by delivering a RBI single to drive in the other. An error allowed him to score later in the inning and Abby-Colby left the fifth with an 8-5 advantage.
The co-op added five runs in the bottom of the sixth for good measure, with Reis and Jaxon Polivka delivering RBI singles and Diedrich driving in one on a sacrifice fly. Diedrich pitched his way through two more scoreless innings and the co-op cruised to a 13-5 win.
Diedrich got the win, going three-anda- third for the co-op in relief. He struck out six while walking two and only gave up one hit. Lopez did not factor into the decision, striking out five and walking three in his three-and-two-thirds innings of work. All five runs given to him were unearned.
Reis finished the day going 3-5 from the plate, driving in four runs and scoring once. He was the only Abby-Colby player with multiple hits, though Lopez, Polivka, JV Castillo, Payton Schreiber and Noah Schraufnagel each had one apiece.
The co-op showcased their speed by swiping nine bases in the first game on Thursday. Lopez, Diedrich, Castillo and Reis each had two stolen bases while pinch runner Jackson Snapp had one.
14-0
While Athens had made things interesting in the first matchup of the evening between the two squads, there was no such resistance in the second contest. Abby-Colby controlled the game on both sides of the ball, putting up 14 runs while only giving up one hit to the Bluejays’ lineup, delivering a 14-0 shutout.
An eight-run second inning all but decided the outcome of Thursday’s second game. Payton Schreiber’s RBI single got the co-op on the board and the runs would continue to come in for Abby-Colby. Polivka drove in another two at-bats later and a hit from Blake Bargender drove in two more to push their lead to five. Mateo Lopez and Carlos Lara got in on the action with RBI singles of their own and by the time the Bluejays managed to secure the third out of the inning, the co-op had bought themselves a comfortable 8-0 advantage.
The game was put out of reach in the third as the co-op scored six more runs, courtesy of the bats of Bargender, Bargender and Schreiber. A combination of Diedrich and Nano Lopez kept the Athens’ bats silent. Diedrich, working the first two innings for the co-op, did not allow a baserunner, striking out two in the process. Nano Lopez delivered three innings of one-hit ball after coming in to relieve the Abby-Colby starter. He struck out five and walked one while earning his second win of the season.
Schreiber and Bargender each ended the game with two hits and three RBIs. Mateo Lopez also grabbed two hits and a walk while driving in two, scoring three times and stealing three bases. Polivka scored a run while driving in one with his one hit, Lara ended the game with one hit and two runs driven in, and Nano Lopez went 1-3 with a run scored. Seniors Brandon Diedrich and Braxton Smith both went 1-1 with a run scored.
