At the 16th annual County Clash, held at San Manuel Stadium, the Colton Yellowjackets faced off the Rialto Knights, where they lost with a score of 2-1.
The game kicked off with a competitive start, with the Knights scoring at the top of the first inning, and the Jackets sacrificing a fly ball to allow shortstop Andrew Contreras (15) to score the first run for Colton High.
Unfortunately, shortly after this boost of confidence came several errors from Colton High, including an error due to Contreras dropping the ball in an attempted throw to get an out at first, third baseman Kenneth Koperski (20) throwing the ball too high to first base, and right fielder Nick Reese (7) dropping the ball. The Knights took advantage of the Jackets’ mistakes, with David Robles (16) scoring the second run for Rialto during the top of the third inning. However, Colton stopped the Knights from another possible score, when Senior Jesus Gomez (8) was caught and tagged out in a rundown between Colton’s third and second basemen.
From the top of the fourth inning to the end of the game, action plays were seemingly deferred, as a battle between Colton pitcher Tyler Rich (3) and Rialto pitcher David Robles battled the rest of the game out, in an attempt to keep their opposing teams from scoring. In the end, the Knights kept their winning score over the Jackets, with a final score of 2-1. Rich, who was presented the MVP award by Coach Mike Reh, humbly stated, “I really could care less about getting MVP. As long as I do my job and do my best and we play a good game then that’s all that matters.”
The Jackets came in with great optimism, and despite the loss and slight undertone of disappointment, Rich expressed the understanding of the game and the team’s hope for the games to come, “We played our hearts out. Things didn’t go our way and that’s just the way it is sometimes. Baseball is a very unforgiving game. We’ll clean up the defense and we’ll get back on the field Tuesday and get a win.”
The Pepper Bough staff would like to wish the varsity baseball team the best of luck in the remainder of their season.