The Sea Kings Freshmen dropped a 6-5 verdict to the Capistrano Valley Christian Eagles on Friday despite trebling the Eagles in the hit department, 9-3. The Sea Kings were dominate in two phases of the game, pitching and hitting, but the defense proved to be their downfall as the Sea Kings committed five errors, which led to five unearned runs.
William Gould (‘27) baffled the Eagles hitters all day, pitching a complete game and allowing only three hits, while striking out three and walking none.
The Eagles deployed a small-ball strategy to scored their only earned run of the game. A single and a stolen base was followed by back-to-back sacrifice bunts allowing the Eagles to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.
The Sea Kings showed that turnabout is fair play when they used small-ball to respond immediately in the top of the third inning and tie the game at one apiece. Claire O’Kelly (‘28) started the inning with a line drive single into left field and then advanced to second base on a walk. After she was moved to third base by a Danny Angeloff (‘28) sacrifice bunt, O’Kelly came in to score on a Tait Weissman (‘28) sacrifice fly.
A trio of errors by the Sea Kings in the bottom of the third inning allowed the Eagles to plate three runs and take a 4-1 lead.
A two-out rally in the top of the fifth inning saw the Sea Kings score four runs to jump ahead of the Eagles 5-4. The action started with an Angeloff line drive single to center field. Weissman and Brody Majit (‘28) followed with singles to load the bases. A four-pitch walk to JJ Haley (‘28) forced in a run and then Luke Kittleson’s (‘28) single brought in two more runs to tie the score. Luca DiNapoli (‘28) then singled to bring home Haley and the Sea Kings had their first lead of the game.
The Sea Kings defensive miscues reared their head again in the bottom of the frame when the Eagles first two batters reach on errors. With runners on second and third bases and no outs, the Eagles once again reached into their bag and pulled out a sacrifice bunt. This time, both Eagles runners were able to score on the bunt and the Capistrano Valley Christian lead was 6-5.
The Sea Kings had two base runners in both the sixth and seventh innings, but failed to score. The game and the Sea Kings season ended with a 6-5 defeat when the Eagles turned a triple play in the top of the seventh inning.
Kittleson wrapped up the season riding a thirteen game on-base streak for the Sea Kings. Against the Eagles, Kittleson was one for three with a walk, and drove in two runs.
Haley capped off a nine game hitting streak, while filling up the box score. The Sea Kings right fielder was two for three plus a walk and had a stolen base, a run scored and an RBI.
Leadoff man Weissman was the firestarter at the top of the lineup for the Sea Kings, going two for two, while adding a walk, a run, an RBI and a sacrifice fly.
In addition to his critical sacrifice bunt in the third inning, Angeloff was one for one and scored a run.
With their singles in the top of the fifth inning, Majit and DiNapoli extended their on-base streaks to four and five games, respectively.
The Sea Kings Freshmen ended their season with a final record of 6-19-1.