Grizzly baseball plays and wins on home diamond
With the wild weather wreaking havoc on the Lassen High baseball teams’ plans, many fans have been robbed of the early-season opportunity to root for the Grizzlies at bat. However, with a break in the rainy season, Lassen was able to finally bring the games home.
The first home game for the Grizzlies was Friday, March 31 against the West Valley Eagles. The game was played on the junior varsity field at Lassen High School as Susanville Memorial Park was still in recovery from recent flooding.
With the sun bringing good fortune to the home fields, Grizzly fans happily shared their spirits with the team and prompted the boys to win.
The Grizzlies easily finished the West Valley game with a final winning score of 8-5.
West Valley started the game at bat with Lassen’s Carson Chavez on the mound.
Hunter St. Andre caught a fly ball in the left field to send one Eagle out. Malik Delgado caught the next fly ball in the right field to send the second Eagle out. Darrell Miller caught the third ball and sent the Eagles to the field.
Miller was first to hit and singled. Cole Dyer also singled and sent Miller to second. With St. Andre up to bat, Miller stole third and anxiously waited for his opportunity to sprint home, but Lassen hit three outs before Miller had the chance.
With a 0-0 score on the board, West Valley entered the top of the second inning at bat.
Jagger Delgado caught a fly ball after the first Eagle singled. With an out at second base and Chavez striking out the third, Lassen was back on the offense.
Lassen brought in their first two runs in the bottom of the second inning.
Miller stepped up to bat with Dustin Morgan anxiously waiting on third base and Josiah Snell on first. With a strong swing, Miller doubled and sent both Morgan and Snell home.
Josiah Snell rounds third base before sprinting home on Friday, March 31. Photo by Ashley GroganWest Valley’s turn on offense failed to improve their score as Chavez caught the first fly ball, Snell caught the second, and with the ball in his possession, Snell threw to Jacob Bennett on first to get the batter out as well.
Lassen’s run tally remained at two until the bottom of the fourth inning.
Morgan started off the inning with a single. He was followed by bunts from Malik Delgado and Snell to get the bases loaded.
Miller was up to bat next and earned a walk to send Morgan in for the first run of the inning.
Dyer took his spot at home plate only to receive a walk as well. Malik Delgado scored the second run of the inning.
Then, with the bases still loaded, St. Andre took his turn at bat and hit a sacrifice fly to bring Snell in to bring the Lassen run tally to five.
St. Andre caught two fly balls during the top of the fifth inning, and with a batter struck out by Chavez, Lassen was ready to score yet again.
Morgan doubled and taunted the Eagles with the threat to steal. Spencer Lively found himself at bat and prepared to send the ball flying to right field. With the ball in the air, Morgan rounded third base and sprinted his way home while Lively settled on first base.
The score sat at 6-0 at the fifth inning’s end. Chavez rotated out and handed the mound over to Miller.
The Eagles mustered up a great sense of teamwork and strength for the sixth inning. By the end, West Valley had miraculously bumped their score up to five runs.
Lassen’s first run scored in the bottom of the sixth inning was courtesy of Morgan’s single. Prior to the hit, Zach George found himself on second base with an eagerness to run, and Jagger Delgado was on first base.
George took his chance once the ball stared flying; with Jagger Delgado secured on second base and Morgan on first, George found himself stamping on home plate to bring the Grizzly run total to seven.
George wasn’t the only one feeling a little risky on the diamond, though. Jagger Delgado ended up stealing home with Snell at bat.
The Grizzlies settled for an eight-run score and allowed West Valley to take the offense for the seventh inning.With five runs on the board, the Eagles were still feeling fairly confident. The mistake was soon recognized Miller got a hold of the first ball after it was hit and immediately launched it to Bennett at first base.
St. Andre happily struck out the third man at bat after the second Eagle doubled.
The last out was courtesy of Bennett as he caught a fly ball and sent the West Valley Eagles packing.
Lassen proudly accepted their first home game’s win with a score of 8-5.
After the West Valley Victory, Lassen hosted Mt. Shasta on Monday, April 3. Lassen won yet again; this time with a staggering 12-2 lead that cut the game short after the fifth inning.
Lassen traveled to Anderson on Tuesday, April 4 and continued their winning streak with a final score of 4-2 Lassen.
