By Bud Milroy
Sports Correspondent
The Catholic Central baseball team finally broke up Mother Nature’s shutout of 2013 Saturday, traveling to Orfordville to play Parkview.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said CCHS coach Tom O’Connell. “We have six games to reschedule already and from the forecasts, more to come.”
For just their first game and only third time outside, CCHS played fairly well in an 8-5 loss.
“Parkview (5-1) is a good ballclub,” O’Connell said. “They return their entire team from last year’s state finalist squad.
“They have 10 seniors on their team and I would expect they’ll be a strong contender for this year’s title.”
O’Connell approached the game like a scrimmage, and used five different pitchers, with all going one inning with the exception of one.
“Overall, our pitchers did a nice job,” O’Connell said. “They were around the plate and stayed out of the big inning.
“A few plays here or there in the field, and the results could have been a bit better.”
Nolan Girard led the Hilltoppers with a 2-for-4 day at the plate that include a pair of runs batted in. Jake Kaider had a solid day at third base, and Zach Mehring reached base four times.
On Monday, the Hilltoppers opened Metro Classic Conference play by dropping both games of a doubleheader at home against St. Thomas More (3-1, 2-1 MCC).
In game one, Kross Krueger was the hard-luck 3-2 loser. Krueger allowed just one earned run in going the distance. Thomas More picked up a run in the first on a pair of infield hits and an RBI single, and then took advantage of two CCHS errors for two runs in the second.
The ’Toppers got on the board in the fourth inning when Mehring led off the inning with a base hit. Krueger followed with a walk, and both runners moved up on Girard’s infield out.
Matt Heiligenthal then ripped a single to ledt field to drive in Mehring and Nick Seib (running for Krueger) to account for the final runs of the game.
Catholic Central threatened a few times in the later innings, but were denied twice by hard line drives that were caught and turned for double plays.
“Kross did a nice job on the mound for us,” O’Connell said. “I thought we hit the ball pretty solidly at times, but unfortunately, it was usually right at someone.”
In the second game, the Hilltopper defense committed six errors and allowed five unearned runs in the 7-5 loss.
Thomas More plated five runs in the top of the third inning without hitting a ball out of the infield as CCHS committed five of those errors in that half inning.
“We just can’t overcome six errors,” O’Connell said. “We had simple plays that need to be made. We did a lot of things right today, but the errors killed us in both games.”
Heiligenthal led CCHS with a double and two RBIS, and Girard had two hits. Ben heiligenthal and Aaron Sobbe each had a pair of base hits.
The Hilltoppers are scheduled to play St. Catherine’s today and will then travel to Weyauwega Saturday for an invite.
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