There seems to be a common pattern in many of the Comets’ recent baseball games: start off strong, slowly dwindle, and ultimately finish with a loss. This pattern continued at their final game against the Mendocino College Eagles on Friday, April 19. The series was tied 1-1 at first in the game, which appeared to give the Comets a glimmer of confidence.
Comets second baseman, Nixon Collins Brown, expected to take the win since they had a great start. But later throughout the game, the team seemed to have lost its energy as the Eagles were too much for it to handle.
“I thought we had that game, but our hitting wasn’t there,” Collins Brown said. We lost the momentum, but definitely a winnable game, and definitely a winnable series. We lost stamina and couldn’t keep up, they just outworked us.”
The game started off slow, with the first two innings staying relatively uneventful on both sides of the field. The Comets’ defense was great, however their offense had yet to warm up. It began to pick up when the Eagles scored an RBI in the third inning.
Nonetheless, the Comets still proceeded to make great defensive plays, and prevented the Eagles from scoring further. The Comets scored an RBI of their own soon after, as Comet player Keouaokalani Sibayan hit a single, allowing Robert Crivello to score just before the end of the third inning. The Comets and Eagles still seemed to be warming up to each other, which led to an uneventful fourth inning, with great defense from both teams.
However, Mendocino hit a double for another RBI to close out their portion of the fifth inning. The Comets refused to let the lead slip away, as Collins-Brown from CCC hit a double of his own, batting in Comet player Matthew Hernandez to tie up the game once more.
By the sixth inning, it appeared that both teams had found their rhythm, and it was a matter of who wanted the win more.
Mendocino opened up the seventh inning by taking the lead once more, this time with three RBIs. The score was 5-2, and up until this point, the Comets had kept up with the opposition and attempted to continue to do so. However, they failed to score in the bottom of the seventh inning, and began to fall apart, much like their previous games.
The Eagles soon took over, scoring five times in the top of the eighth inning alone. This came after various defensive errors, wild pitches, and noticeable fatigue from the Comets. By the end of the game, the score was left at 2-11, with Mendocino taking the victory.
The Comets are hopeful of securing a win against Laney College in their next game. Shortstop Robert Crivello praised his teammates for being persistent in winning the game.
“The game was alright, Thomas Stockford did really good,” said Crivello. “We didn’t make all the plays behind him, but we fought hard till the end. It was a rough loss, but we got Laney next week.”
After the loss, Mendocino took the series at 1-2. Nevertheless, the Comets appeared optimistic heading into their next series against Laney College.
