Hart Win Short on Satisfaction

Somewhere on the Hart High field there had to be at least one happy soul.

Certainly, Hart Coach Bud Murray should have been smiling after his team had stolen eight bases and won its Foothill League opener against San Gabriel on Friday, 8-5.

And one would think that San Gabriel Coach Bill Young would find some satisfaction after his Matadors had given the undefeated Indians (7-0, 1-0) a scare in the final inning.

But neither coach nor any of the players showed any joy after the game.

Still, after his team’s three-run seventh inning had ended with the tying run standing at the plate, Young had to be somewhat pleased with his team’s comeback effort. Right?

Wrong. His team’s five errors negated that thought.

“You take away those errors and those unearned runs and it’s a pretty even ballgame. But we made the errors,” Young said with a bearish growl.

Two San Gabriel errors paved the way for a three-run sixth inning that padded Hart’s lead to 8-2.

But Young had to be pleased with the pitching of Danny Patterson, who allowed just four hits in the first five innings before his defense did him in. Right?

“No way,” Young said. “He struggled all day.”

On the other side of the field, Murray didn’t see much that he liked, either.

“We just didn’t do a very good job out there,” he said.

But the Indians’ mental mistakes were offset by the team’s speed. Hart, which had stolen only 11 bases all year, used its newly found weapon to set up six runs.

Hart’s other runs came on Casey Burrill’s two-run, fifth-inning home run, a tremendous shot over the left-field fence that gave Hart a 5-2 lead. It was Burrill’s third home run in the past three games.

Hart had coasted into the fifth inning behind the pitching of No. 1 starter Jason Edwards (4-0), who had allowed just two hits in four innings while striking out seven. Edwards, however, was removed in the fifth after his shoulder tightened.

Before that, Edwards had baffled San Gabriel. Right?

“No, I didn’t think I threw too well,” Edwards (2-2) said in keeping with the nothing-went-right-for-either-team mentality. “I think they would have hit me hard if I stayed in.”

Edwards was relieved by Chris Matkin, who struggled to his third save, allowing four runs on six hits in just three innings.

“He wasn’t too good today,” Murray said. “He was daydreaming out there.”

Murray then led his team in some postgame work, which is, of course, what you do when you’re not too happy.