MONTAGUE — Hart ended its season at Montague in the first round of districts Tuesday, dropping a 10-0 decision to the Wildcats.
Hart
had a tough draw in the first round, facing a team that tied for the
West Michigan Conference Lakes title and is a top-20 ranked Division 3
team. The Wildcats played like it, hitting the ball hard throughout the
five-inning game and preventing the Pirates from getting any hits.
"They're
a great team we played," Hart coach Kyle Weiler said. "They obviously
showed it with how well they played, defensively and swinging the bat.
There
wasn't an answer for us. Obviously, we'd have liked to put the
ball in play a little bit more. I brought a
couple of freshmen up to come play to get that (experience). That
was a win for the day, was watching our freshmen playing."
The
Pirates did get five runners on base during the game on three hit
batters and two walks, but two of them were erased on double plays.
Their best scoring chance came in the fifth and final inning, when they
got two on base (one hit batter, one walk), but Montague pitcher Eli
Pendell got all three outs by strikeout.
Hart's Mason Guikema winds up to make a pitch during Tuesday's pre-district game at Montague. Guikema pitched the game as the Pirates fell 10-0.
Montague wasted
little time grabbing an early lead, putting the first three runners on
base and getting them all in with productive outs and consecutive RBI
hits. Hart trailed 4-0 before it was able to get comfortable in the
game.
Pirates' pitcher Mason Guikema consistently threw the
ball in the strike zone, but the Wildcats have an excellent and deep
lineup and made life difficult for Hart. If there was a silver lining,
it's that the Pirates played well defensively, making only one error.
"At the
beginning of the year, we had error after error," Weiler said. "I think we learned
through that. They put the ball in play. We didn't create that many
errors...With the balls in the outfield, we made
the plays. They're just smacking the ball around. Defensively, we played
well."
Weiler said Guikema's emergence as the team's de facto
ace was one of the positive developments of the season. A junior and
first-year varsity player, Guikema is slated to be back next season.
"When
you're going against a good hitting team, you're trying to work
around the zone," Weiler said. "You're not just trying to throw dead-center fastballs.
He's trying to work around the zone, which is great. The strike-ball
ratio, he was great.
"He was playing JV last year, so to
come up playing varsity this year, and he ended up becoming the number
one towards the end of the season, it really shows
that he belongs here."
The future, Weiler said, looks bright
in Hart. Most of the team is slated to return, and there is some talent
coming up through the JV and youth ranks.
"I'm excited for
next
year," Weiler said. "We've got a lot of youth coming up. A lot of
numbers. I'm looking forward to the progression of what Hart baseball's
going to do."
