Bobcats roar on opening day

The Saddleback baseball team opened the 2023 campaign with a 6-2 win over College of the Canyons on Friday at Doug Fritz Field.  It was the second straight win over Canyons and eighth win in the past nine seasons on opening day. 

Saddleback and Canyons were locked in a close battle through 5.5 innings when Saddleback cranked up the offense to grind out a win.  Tied at 2-2, Saddleback scored three times in the bottom half of the sixth inning to take a lead it would never relinquish.

Saddleback started the inning when Cole Koniarsky singled to center field and then advanced to second base on a passed ball.  Ben Castelli then walked to give the Bobcats runners at first and second with no outs.  Saddleback then elected to play some small ball and Isaiah Morales executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to put the potential go-ahead run 90 feet from home plate.    The Bobcats then scored twice as Jason Hefft doubled to left field for a 4-2 lead.  Later in the inning Hefft (pictured) would score on the second passed ball of the inning for a 5-2 advantage.

Saddleback started Arthur Liu on the mound and he pitched through the sixth inning in picking up his first win of the season.  The Bobcats then followed with Joshua Meekins and Dylan Singh, who combined to give up only one hit over the final three innings.  The Saddleback staff threw just 119 pitches on the day, striking out 11 while allowing one walk.

Hefft led the Bobcats on offense, finishing 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI.  Michael Davinni, Cole Koniarsky and Ben Castelli all had two hits apiece as Saddleback outhit the Cougars 12-5 on the day.

Saddleback and Canyons will resume the two-game series tomorrow afternoon at Canyons.  The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 PM in Valencia.