By Michael Wojtychiw
The early portion of the schedule allows schools to get a chance to get work in against teams they most likely wouldn’t play otherwise. For teams like Ogden International, this nonconference portion of the slate means that the Owls play bigger schools that will help prepare them for the rigors of Jackie Robinson North play.
For the Owls, that has meant games against Catholic League foes like St. Laurence, Mount Carmel, DePaul Prep and St. Rita, the majority of whom are some of the top 15-20 teams in the state. They completed their private school, Spring Break gauntlet with a game against St. Patrick Thursday afternoon at Kerry Wood Field.
Unfortunately for Ogden, that game went much like the others, with the Owls falling 5-3, extending their losing streak to five games.
Manager William Poole isn’t discouraged though.
“The way we’re playing, we have to make some moves that get the defeated feeling out of our system,” he said. “We play these teams because we want to see the best. We do it because want to expose the kids to bigger games and now coming back, we need to understand that we’ve learned from this.
“If we can find a way to come out with more intensity, we’ll be on the right path.”
The Owls (3-5-1) went toe-for-toe with the host Shamrocks for the first five innings, even taking the lead three separate times, but saw the wheels fall off in the bottom of the fifth inning when St. Patrick scored three times courtesy of three hits and an intentional walk.
After taking the 5-3 lead, the Shamrocks brought in Elias Alvarado, who retired the final six batters in order, four by strikeout, to secure the win.
All of the Owls’ runs were manufactured by aggressive baserunning, something their manager says is in their DNA. Whether it be bunts or steals, the team was always looking to take the extra base.
Osiah Vega scored the Owls’ first run in the top of the third after drawing a walk and then moving over on a sacrifice bunt and groundout to third, before scoring on Malachi Gonzalez’s single. In the top of the fifth, with two outs, Luis Antigua got on courtesy of a walk and stole second base, took third without a throw and scored when Nathan Espada hit a single. Also scoring on Espada’s single was Gonzalez, who had also walked and moved to second without a throw. Ogden stole five bases overall in the game.
“We did a better job running the bases today and I liked that,” Poole said. “We’re an athletic group and have kids who can really move. We try to put kids in positions where they’ll succeed and worst case scenario, they get out. We’re going to make you make a play.
“But we work on bunting every hitting session, because we know we have to move runners over. We are fast. If I slow them down, we won’t be as competitive as we need to be.”
Photos by Jim Vincent/OSA
