Mounties Make Most of Mistakes

Walks, errors, hit batsmen--you name it, you had it in Tuesday’s Alpha League baseball showdown between Village Christian and Montclair Prep.

Emerging from the pileup relatively unscathed was Montclair Prep with a 16-11 victory that raised its league record to 4-0 and its overall mark to 16-2.

For the record, host Village Christian (12-2, 3-1) committed six errors, walked 14 Mounties and hit two batters.

Montclair Prep pitchers walked nine and the team committed one error.

“I’m just glad we have a ballclub that can give us enough offense for games like this,” Montclair Prep Coach Walt Steele said.

The Mounties were offensive from the outset, scoring five runs in the second inning off starter Matt Bates, the big blow being a two-run double by Keyaan Cook.

But Montclair Prep starter Kevin Grant had trouble of his own, surrendering six runs in the bottom of the second.

Crusader Mark Vail ripped a three-run double to right-center field to give Village Christian a 6-5 lead. That was as close as the game would get.

Montclair Prep erupted for nine runs in a fifth inning that seemed to last a week.

Eventual loser Matt Henzie (1-1) started the inning and surrendered four runs.

He gave way to Vail, who surrendered five runs before Henzie re-entered after Vail was ejected for insulting the umpire.

All told, 15 Mounties came to the plate, Montclair Prep third baseman Russell Ortiz boosted his RBI total for the day to five with a three-run double to right field, and attention turned to the teams’ next meeting five games from now--a game that could decide the league championship.