It was a historic weekend for the Valle Catholic Warriors and their Head Coach Nathan Gegg. The Warriors doubled up Cape Notre Dame 10-5 on Friday before winning a stunning walk-off game against Hillsboro on Saturday. That win moved them to 14-2 on the season and earned Coach Gegg his 200th career victory.
Friday’s game against the Bulldogs of Notre Dame started out great for Valle. They got a run in the first and then doubled their lead in the second on a Bryce Giesler RBI single to left, but Notre Dame wasn’t going down easy. They rallied for four runs in the top of the third and took a 4-2 lead.
The Warriors had an answer though. A bases -loaded walk cut the lead to 4-3 and then Valle tied the game at 4-all on a Carson Tucker base hit to right. A Clayton Drury sac fly brought in another run and the Warriors reemerged with a 5-4 lead.
Both teams would score a run in the fourth, but Valle found a way to separate themselves with another crooked number in the fifth. Drury knocked in anther run with a single to left and then Noah Bauman barreled up with a base hit to bring him home. The Warriors tacked on a couple of insurance runs after that and held on to win 10-5.
Preston Lurk was on the bump, and despite having to deal with four unearned runs, had a nice start. He went all seven innings and allowed just one ER on eight hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out nine Bulldogs to earn the win.
Drury, Tucker, Isaac Viox and Giesler all had two hits, while Tucker was the only Warrior to drive in multiple runs with his two RBI. Valle had 12 hits in all and the win marked the sixth time this season they have scored double-digit runs.
That set the stage for a showdown with the red-hot Hillsboro Hawks the next day, and this one was a dogfight. Valle took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Tucker roped an RBI base-knock to right. The score would remain that way until the fifth inning when the Hawks broke out with three runs to take their first lead of the game.
The Warriors had some theatrics hidden away though. In the bottom of the 7th Giesler singled to lead off the inning. He would advance to second on a groundout and then reached third after a passed ball. He came in to score on a fielder’s choice to make the score 3-2, but Valle was down to their last out.
Then Rylan Fallert worked a nine-pitch walk to keep the game alive and set the stage for Alex Viox. Down by two with a runner on and two outs, he took the first pitch he saw and blasted it over the left field fence. The two-run homer gave Valle a 4-3 walk-off winner and drove the team and its fans into a frenzy. The win was extra special as it marked Gegg’s 200th victory as a Head Coach.
That’s quite a way to reach a milestone.
Grant Fallert got the start in this one and went six solid innings, allowing three runs and striking out six. Cannon Wolk pitched a scoreless seventh inning and was credited with the win thanks to the walk-off heroics of A. Viox.
The Warriors are now 14-2 on the season and have won seven of their last eight games. They are truly in midseason form, but will face a tough test this week when they have to take on the Kelly Hawks. First pitch is at 4:30 on Monday.
