By Bob Putnam, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
EAST LAKE — Tuesday's game between Seminole and East Lake did not go exactly as planned.
The Warhawks' bus arrived a half-hour before the first pitch. Then the teams committed a combined five errors and allowed four walks through the first four innings. All four runs scored in the game were unearned.
The difference was Seminole made fewer mistakes early to win 3-1 to move into sole possession of first place in Class 5A, District 11.
"District wins are a premium, especially with the type of competition we have," Warhawks coach Greg Olsen said. "It doesn't matter how you get them. A win is a win."
Seminole (5-1, 2-0) led off the first inning by loading the bases with a single and two walks. Casey Jennings followed by hitting a ball to third. The throw was wild, and two runs scored.
In the bottom of the inning, the Eagles (5-2, 2-1) countered as Morgan Cowan reached on a passed ball after striking out and advanced to second on a single by Grant Hodges. Cowan then scored on a single by Austin Bembnowski to make it 2-1.
After the first inning, Warhawks starter Alex McGathey got into a groove.
The sophomore right-hander allowed the first two batters in the second inning to reach on a walk and error before mowing down East Lake hitters with efficiency.
McGathey finished by retiring 15 straight batters to improve to 2-0.
"We knew East Lake had a good offense," McGathey said. "We just had to shut them down. I was tight the first couple of innings.
"But as the game went on, I had more command."
Seminole added an insurance run in the fourth inning. The Warhawks finished with four hits, all singles.
Joey Krehbiel relieved McGathey in the seventh inning and retired the side to pick up the save.
Seminole remains the only undefeated team in 5A-11.
East Lake entered with a perfect district record after upsetting district favorite Dunedin last week.
"It feels good to be alone in first place ahead of Dunedin and East Lake," McGathey said. "It's big, especially early in the season, just to let everyone know we're here."
Bob Putnam can be reached at putnam@sptimes.com.