Baseball
Dreams of Underdog Crusaders Finally Come to an End
The resilient Holy Cross Crusaders entered into the KASSAA championship match, continuing their unexpectedly long playoff run. They faced off against the heavily favoured Frontenac Falcons, and what ensued could not have been forecast.
Tanner Hoffman entered the game as the starting pitcher. After struggling in the first inning allowing three runs, he threw shut-down baseball for three more innings, allowing no runs. In the third inning the Crusader bats came to life, finally breaking the perfect game of Frontenac starter Tom Sauve. The offense continued into the fourth inning, tieing the game, but with the bases loaded and no outs, the bottom of the lineup could not deliver and were retired with three straight strike outs.
Reliever Matt Hulton came into the top of the fifth inning, hoping to preserve the tie. After one shutout inning, the Frontenac bats got to Hulton, chasing him out of the sixth inning after three runs allowed. Closer Brad Philip entered with the bases loaded, and after striking out the lead batter, 2 errors on easy ground balls in the infield scored four unearned runs.
The final score was not reflective of the Crusaders' season and playoff effort, they came together and with a talent dry team managed to finish in second place. We commend our athletes for their superb season effort and hope to see a repeat next year.
The selections for the KASSAA all-stars will commence next week. Come support your top Crusaders!