Boys’ varsity baseball: Cowboys look to bounce back after a close loss

BY RYAN MERARD

The CCHS varsity baseball team had recently got back into action after their last season was cut short because of the ongoing pandemic. Their latest game was on Monday, February 22 when the Cowboys went up against the South Broward Bulldogs. Having two games under their belt, the Cowboys entered this game with a record of 1-1, hoping to win the next game and give themselves a positive record. 

The Cowboys started off the game strong, with seniors Austin Arocha and Austin Farris each scoring 1 run in the second inning which put them up 2-0. Things were going well for the Cowboys until they started to slip up in the next inning. 

In the third inning, the Bulldogs managed to score 3 runs, taking the lead with a score of 3-2. The Cowboys continued to fight, hoping to take the lead but the score stayed still between the two teams for the next three innings. It was until the top of the seventh (final) inning that the Cowboys finally scored and tied the game up with senior Ryan Leiman racking up a run.

In the bottom of the final inning however, the Bulldogs scored off of a run and walked the Cowboys off, ending the game with a Cowboy loss of 4-3. Although it was a game that seemed to come down to the wire, the boys feel like the game should not have been that close in the first place. 

“That game was just embarrassing because South Broward was just not supposed to win that game. They got good hits at the right moments,” senior Reece Solomon said. “I would say just a sloppy game overall; we just didn’t play up to the caliber we should be playing at.”

“That game was just embarrassing because South Broward was just not supposed to win that game.”

Senior Reece Solomon

The Cowboys came into the game confident that they were going to leave victorious. They were up for about half the game, but it seemed like they let the game slip too far from out of their hands in the final moments. 

“As a team we did not perform to the standard we always set for ourselves,” senior Frankie Vasquez said. “All we can do now is just practice and come back stronger for the next game.”

The Cowboys hope to bounce back in their next game on Friday. Even though it may seem like it was a close game, the team feels like they severely underperformed that evening. The Cowboys hope to use the loss as fuel the next time they are out on the diamond and get back to a record of .500, which equal numbers of wins and losses. 

“After the tough loss Monday night, the team is definitely more fueled to get out there on Friday and bring home a win,” senior Jake Dorn said. “It definitely pushes us more because we felt like we were the better team on Monday but we just didn’t show it.”

Photo by The Lariat Photography