KCSS Lions look sharp at tournament

May 6, 2014 · 0 Comments

Francesco Amantea tips a pitch over the Trinity catcher’s glove during an at bat in Monday’s win at the St. Andrews College baseball tournament.

By Jeff Doner
Baseball season is finally upon us and the KCSS varsity men’s Lions team got to kick up some dirt at St. Andrew’s College in Aurora for an exhibition tournament on Monday.
The tournament pitted them against four other local teams in a pre-season primer to get ready for the start of the regular season next week.
KCSS started off the day with a 5-2 win against Trinity College. Pitcher Matt Radeff got the start and looked stellar on the mound, retiring the first nine batters he faced in the game.
Radeff also spurred the Lions offence, scoring their first run of the game after providing some good base running and earned some praise from coach Mike Mallory.
“He has been our ace the past few years, so it’s really great to have him back,” he said. “We’ve also got some good hitters in the lineup and at this time of the year, it’s just about getting good at bats.”
The Lions did just that in the bottom of the third inning, with Francesco Amentea driving in Radeff and Matt Ardizzi smacking a double to the fence to score another. John Read then added an RBI for himself to make it 4-0 by the end of the inning.
Mack McDonald came in to relieve Radeff in the fourth and also looked good, securing the 4-0 lead up until the final inning.
The Lions added a run in the bottom of the sixth, but with Lion Gavin Datt on the mound in the seventh, Trinity College started to fight back, scoring two runs.
However, Datt turned up the heat and fired three straight strikeouts with the bases loaded to end the game and give the Lions the win.
“It felt great,” Datt said after the win, acknowledging there was a bit of a scare at the end. “At that point I was thinking, just throw strikes and hit the glove. It was good to pick up the win finally.”
Ardizzi, one of the team’s Grade 12 veterans, said the win was a good way to bounce back from a poor tournament showing in Port Hope and shake away some of the cobwebs.
“Everybody looked really sharp today. We were able to make a lot of plays that we weren’t making in Port Hope and the guys were hitting and getting the counts they needed too,” he said.
“I’m very optimistic. With the way the guys played today, things look very promising. Now we’ll roll into the season with a double header next week and into the next few weeks.”
Coach Mallory agreed with his centre fielder Ardizzi and said the team knows they can win if they execute properly.
“I told them at the beginning today to just have some confidence,” he said. “They all know they’re good ball players and they just need to go out there and show it. I’m real confident and we have had a real program for a long time, so I think they feel the expectations of doing well, too.”
Mallory said this year’s team has some strong arms and a good mix of veterans and new players, which should complement each other nicely.
“We’re looking to have a good year, but it looks like the program is going to be in good hands down the road,” he said. “It will be a really nice opportunity for these grade nine’s to play with these veterans and learn the game as we go along.”
The Lions will now look ahead to opening their season with a double header at Richmond Green Park on Monday.