Caleb Gottry attends Chandler Preparatory Academy and is a member of the AIA’s Student SID program.

On Monday, April 11th, the Arete Prep Chargers defended their region rank against the Chandler Prep Titans, beating the Titans 13-9. It was the closest final score that Chandler Prep has had all season. They held a lead for the first three innings and battled back from a deficit in the bottom of the seventh.

Chandler Prep sent only two pitchers to the mound on Monday, the first of whom was senior Crew Cascaes. In four innings, Cascaes struck out 12 batters, earning every out himself, and only gave up a single walk. Pitching continued in a similar fashion with sophomore Jacob Allen on the mound. Allen gave up only three walks and collected six strikeouts in the final three innings of the game. One Charger never left home plate, striking out four times in a row, once looking. Head Coach Vilaboy said this about Allen’s performance:

“That’s the longest Jacob’s ever pitched, because he’s just learning how to pitch. He threw 100 pitches tonight and didn’t lose much velocity. He had great control and I thought he did an excellent job.”

Offensively, the Chargers took their first lead in the top of the fourth with three runs, three hits, and several stolen bases. After the Titans tied the score again in the bottom of the fifth, Arete Prep responded with a nine-batter inning, earning five runs, mostly off of slow fielding and a couple errors from the Titan defense. Vilaboy was disappointed with Chandler Prep’s fielding, especially in the top of the sixth:

“We can’t make a defensive play. A couple hard hit balls came off our bats and they made nice plays. A couple hard hit balls came off of their bats and we didn’t make the plays. They hit a couple balls into the outfield that just went by or weren’t caught, even though they were hit right to guys. There was a ground ball hit to second base—should’ve been an out. We can’t give them nine at-bats and then we only get seven. Our pitchers did a great job today, but we have to make plays behind them. That’s the difference in the game.”

Chandler Prep had a very successful first two innings offensively, scoring three in the first and two in the second. Leadoff hitter, freshman Emet Yates and contact hitter, Cascaes lead the scoring with two runs scored, a single, and a triple each.

Going into the bottom of the seventh, the Titans were down 13-6. Two singles and a walk later, Chandler Prep had two runs in and another in scoring position. The Chargers sent their closer to the mound and the Titans offensive run ended with only a sacrifice grounder. Senior Sam Davis fought to give Chandler Prep a final chance reaching first base on third strike, dropped pitch with two outs, but Arete Prep secured their victory quickly after.

The Titans play their next region game against Gilbert Classical on April 19th at 6:00pm. Titan Up.