The ORHS Varsity Baseball team faced a tough 8-0 loss against Sanborn on Wednesday, April 19, falling to 2-2 on the season.
Unable to convert their few base hits the Bobcats were disappointed with the result of the game as they had anticipated an easier matchup in Sanborn. The team took the game and learned from it and are keeping their eyes ahead on today’s game and the rest of their season.
Coach Cam Calato knew his team was facing a week of tough games after seeing STA and Hollis-Brookline, the top teams from last season, bookending the week’s schedule. The team’s first loss of the season was to St. Thomas Aquinas (STA) on Tuesday, a game they had felt really good going into before losing by one run in the last inning.
Calato warned the team of Wednesday’s game at practice on Monday, saying, “It’s your classic trap game. We talked about it, we knew what was going to come, we knew they were going to be good.”
Calato decided changed to things up a little and give his starters some rest by starting freshman Owen Jacques on the mound, in his varsity pitching debut, and having senior Wylder Tonkin start behind the plate. Relief pitcher Cole Dulac (‘25) also made his varsity pitching debut, and right fielder Lucas Pelletier (‘24) noted them as the highlights of the game, saying, “we had strong pitching between [Jacques and Dulac]. Although we struggled, they carried us as much as we could have gone.”
Despite being behind early on, outfielder Lucas Savage (‘24) said, “the boys did a great job keeping the energy up. It was a tough loss, things weren’t going our way, and the bats weren’t going. But we kept yelling and picking guys up in the dugout. There was no quit until it was over.”
Reflecting on Wednesday’s game, Pelletier said, “not getting the result we expected [Tuesday] we kind of just expected to walk through Sanborn like they were nothing and didn’t want to compete.”
After Sanborn made three straight outs in the final inning to secure their win, the Bobcats circled up as a team. “We were very disappointed in how we performed but it was emphasized that we are going to grind it out in practice the next day and move on to Hollis on Friday. We need to be fully focused on them if we want to steal a win,” said Savage.
Looking towards Hollis’ game, Pelletier said, “we have to come out with energy, actually swing the bat, find errors and advantages in them, and be a team.”
“It’s been our goal from day one and we are going to stick to that- we want to win it all,” said relief pitcher Ryan Michaud (‘24). Savage concurred with this goal, saying, “the only goal for the rest of the season is to win the championship.”
The Bobcats will take on undefeated Hollis-Brookline on Oyster River turf today, Friday, April 21, at 4:30, where they are hoping to start April vacation off on a high note and reclaim their winning record.
-Delaney Nadeau