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A splendid relief outing from Jake Clark in his Bucs debut came too late, as Ventura County (8-8, 6-7 Sunset Baseball League) fell 9-4 to the South Bay Sliders (6-7, all SBL) at Valley Christian High School in Cerritos Monday.
“Starting pitching really let us down today,” Bucs Head Coach Evan O’Meara said.
The Sliders scored six of their nine runs against the first two pirates pitchers, as both Josh Kim (0-3) and Justin Hirschberg had shaky outings. The resulting deficit was too much for the offense to overcome, but the bullpen successfully stopped the bleeding, led in large part by Clark.
“That guy is going to be a valuable addition to our staff, O’Meara said.”
As per usual, Shaun Montoya led the Bucs on the offensive front with a single, a double, two walks, and three runs.
“The first pitcher was warming up inside so I went up hunting a fastball inside, and luckily I got a double out of that,” Montoya said.
Montoya demonstrated his maturity as a hitter Monday, adjusting his approach in order to stay one step ahead of the pitching.
“I knew they weren’t going to throw me another inside pitch, so I focused on going opposite field on an outside pitch and was able to hit one the opposite way,” Montoya said.
Ventura put traffic on the bases all evening, but struggled in crucial moments. While the Bucs did drive in four runs, they also stranded 11 runners on base.
“I’m not doing a good enough job of putting guys in the lineup in an order that is beneficial to those guys who are getting on base,” O’Meara said.
Ventura will return home to play the Signal Hill Oilers at Pote field at Griffith park at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 6th.