ACH sweeps Knights in weekend doubleheader

ROYAL CITY — The Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors (5-3) swept the Royal Knights (6-6) 9-3 and 10-7 in a doubleheader Saturday. Warriors Head Coach Hunter Lee was proud of his team for earning the road win.

“It was great to come down here and take two from a good 1A school,” Lee said. “We got some great hits when we needed it. We competed on the mound really well, and Caden (Correia) and Max (Grindy) threw great. We ran the bases really well (and) took advantage of some walks by them. It was a great result for us coming to win two against the bigger school. It’s going to look really good for our non-conference (record) the end of the year.”

The Knights took the lead in the bottom of the first inning to start game one. From there, the Warriors held them scoreless while they climbed back into the game. In the sixth inning, ACH erupted with five runs to take a commanding lead and held on through the seventh to seal their first win of the day.

The Knights took the lead first once again in the second inning of game two with one run. However, ACH bounced back in the third inning with three runs. From there, the Warriors defense held the Knights scoreless while they added seven more runs through the seventh inning. With a 10-1 lead, the Knights made a comeback attempt in the bottom of the seventh, firing off six runs before recording three outs, halting their late push.

“We hadn’t practiced much this week, and then we’re missing three of our normal starters, (who) are on vacation with their families this week too. It shows on these games, we added this later on the schedule, (ACH) wasn’t originally on there,” Knights Head Coach Tony Jenks said.

The Knights started strong in the first inning of game one, with Bryan Larsen, Mason Meseberg and Ernie Weeks getting home to give them a 3-0 lead. Both teams went scoreless in the second before the Warriors’ Max Grindy got home to get ACH on the scoreboard.

From there, the ACH defense continued to limit the Knights’ offense. The next run came in the top of the fifth when Haydon Boyd and Brody Pitts got home to tie the game 3-3. The Warriors held Royal scoreless in the bottom of that same inning before taking over again in the top of the sixth. There, the ACH offense broke the game open with five runs to take an 8-3 lead.

Royal struggled to get home the rest of the game while the Warriors added one more run to seal their first win of the day.

“They are ultra-aggressive,” Lee said. “I think they had five hits in that first inning and three runs, and most of them were first pitch too, and they were hammering the ball. They’re great; they jump on the fastball early and after that (we) just weathered the storm and settled down, started to chip away and then eventually, kind of broke it open.”

Grindy put together a strong performance with three runs, including a home run. On the mound, Correia pitched all seven innings, only allowing three runs and struck out nine batters. For the Knights, Karson Thompson, Bronson Scroggins and Meseberg split the pitching duties. Between them, they struck out 13 batters; Thompson led with six.

Game two started slow for both teams once again, though the Knights scored first with a single run by Krew Jenks in the bottom of the second. However, the Warriors responded in the top of the third with three runs from Grindy, Correia and Eli Edwards.

Both teams went scoreless through the fourth inning.

In the top of the fifth, ACH’s Correia, Grindy, Pitts and Boyd added four runs to take a commanding 7-1 lead. From there, things looked bleak for the Knights as the Warriors added three more runs to make it 10-1 through the top of the seventh.

However, Royal still had a lot of fight left in them heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Tyce Christensen, Easton Sutor, Hank Lichtenegger, Jenks, Larsen and Meseberg cut the score to 10-7 in the blink of an eye. The Warriors’ Pitts took over pitching to close out the game and were able to hold the Knights off from their comeback bid to seal their second win of the afternoon.

Grindy continued his strong day in game two, this time on the pitching mound for six innings. Before the seventh inning, he allowed just one run while striking out seven batters.

Another key player for the Warriors on defense was Harvest Parrish, who made several catches in the outfield which helped them limit the Knights throughout game two. He also recorded a stolen base on offense.

Parrish suffered a broken leg last fall during football season. As a senior, he was disappointed hearing he may not get to play another sport as a Warrior the rest of the year. Despite the bad news, he managed to recover in time for the start of baseball season, he said.

“I was told a year or two to fully recover, and I got way ahead of schedule, through physical therapy, through great doctors and I came back and (I have) been able to go through the whole baseball season, luckily,” Parrish said. “I was very honestly upset that I had a chance of not playing any more sports my senior year, but I pushed through, put in a lot of hard work, a lot of time, and I was able to come back.”

The Knights head to College Place on Tuesday for a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. In between games, Coach Jenks and the Knights are focused on getting back on track, he said.

“(We’ll work on) fielding the ball, throwing the ball. We had plenty of strikeouts, and we hit the ball well, just got to make plays in the field,” Jenks said.

The Warriors host Wilbur-Creston-Keller on April 21 for a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. Parrish feels confident in what his team needs to focus on going forward to carry this momentum with them.

“Big key, in my opinion, is just the attitude we’ve had, a tendency the last couple years to kind of keep our heads down if we get beat up early, but we’ve been able to keep our heads high this year, whether we’ve lost or won. I just feel like that mentality part is a big piece,” he said.

BOX SCORES:

Game one

ACHW: 0-0-1-0-2-5-1: 9

ROYL: 3-0-0-0-0-0-0: 0

Game two

ACHW: 0-0-3-0-4-2-1: 10

ROYL: 0-1-0-0-0-0-6: 7

    Harvest Parrish (1) steps up to bat for the ACH Warriors. Parrish suffered a broken leg in the fall during a football game; however, he managed to recover in time for the start of baseball.
  

    The Knights’ Bryan Larsen (24) eyes the pitcher as he gets set to hit against the ACH Warriors Saturday.
  

    Krew Jenks (14) darts through third base on his way to home against the ACH Warriors Saturday.
  

    Nolan Grindy steps into his swing while at bat for the ACH Warriors against the Royal Knights Saturday.
  

    Max Grindy (22) throws his next pitch against the Royal Knights during their doubleheader Saturday.