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LOCAL SPORTS: Armstrong Athletics 15/16 Team Searches for Their First Win

In the fifth inning Armstrong players discuss strategy or warm up more as their relief pitcher, Skylar Cousins warms up.

by Jake DeLuca

The season is winding down for the Armstrong Athletics 15/16 year old baseball team and right now, their record is at 0-16, but there is still hope to finish strong.

Armstrong played Burrell yesterday, and for a while it looked like they may be able to snap their losing streak.
Brennan Grafton earned the start at pitcher for the Athletics and he was able to put together a fairly impressive start, even though he didn’t get much help from his defense. Throughout the game Armstrong had more than ten errors, which helped Burrell get the win.

After the game, Armstrong manager Matt Badac had some kind words about his pitcher.

“Grafton played a little JV for the Armstrong Riverhawks, and he’s one of our more solid players. He plays short-stop, second base, and pitches. He knows the game, and he definitely has been working on his pitching this summer. He has a couple nice curveballs, a cutter, and a fastball,” Badac said of his starter.

Unfortunately for Grafton, the combination of errors and good offense from Burrell proved to be too much for the starter as four runs crossed home plate in the second inning for Burrell and five more in the fourth inning.

That was only the start of the Athletics’ worries as they had yet to get on the board and Burrell was about to have their best inning of the game in the fifth.

In the fifth inning Armstrong went on to use three pitchers while allowing thirteen runs. Burrell would then close out the fifth inning with a 22-0 win over the Athletics.

Armstrong Manager Matt Badac still thinks his team has a shot to win a game this season though.

“We have three games left; we play Friday at Worthington against Freeport at 6:00 PM, Saturday morning at Kiski, then back home at Worthington at 6:00 PM against Saxonburg. After that the season is over,” Badac said.

Matt went on to say that he thinks his best chances to win a game are coming up.

“I’ve been telling these guys that we have two of the lowest seeded teams that we’ll be playing and the last two teams we played, we should have beaten. It’s no doubt in my mind that these kids can win, but it’s all about pulling together, playing together, and not making the errors,” Badac said.

With playoffs looming for some teams, Badac and his team will be treating every game from here on out as if they were in the playoffs, as one goal remains.

“At this point I just want us to get them (the players) a win, that way they can come out and say we tried, and we played. I hope these guys learned something this year, I hope they learned how to be competitive, play ball and get their spirits up,” Matt Badac said.

The Athletics next game will be played at Worthington against Freeport and will start at 6:00 PM.