Offensive Approach Helps Coral Springs Christian Defeat Cooper City

Ask most high school coaches and players how they want to come out of their opening preseason game of a new year, and the answer likely will be the same. Try and secure a win, and keep players healthy heading into the regular season.

At Western High School Wednesday, Coral Springs Christian accomplished both goals, although the injury situation had the potential to become a problem. Seven times Crusaders players were hit with a pitch thrown by Cooper City pitchers, and the hit batsman helped Coral Springs Christian roll to an 11-3 victory.

Starting pitcher Nick Lamberti ensured that the Crusaders season started on a high note. Lamberti went 2-3, with a walk and 2 RBIs at the plate. On the mound, Lamberti threw four innings and did not give up an earned run, while striking out four and walking none. Corey Johnson and Ryan Milner closed out the last three innings for Coral Springs Christian.

Despite the lopsided win, Crusaders players should not think that one game makes a season, and that point will be driven home by Head Coach Matt Cleveland.

“I’m just glad we won,” said Cleveland. “We’ve got a lot of improving to do. Lots of good things, but it’s good to have stuff to work on. This game of baseball, your working, even big leaguers are still working hard every day. It’s good to have them know that they’ve got a lot of work to do and still feel positive about the win.”

One of the areas that Cleveland praised was his hitters’ approach at the plate. With seven hit batsmen and six walks, Crusaders players showed that they can be patient. They also showed they had the ability to hit the ball with two strikes.

“I like our at-bats. Our at-bats were good, we don’t give in. With two strikes we had a good approach. There was a couple of times we took pitchers pitches when we were ahead in the count and then got a better pitch later. That’s something they (hitters) did a good job of,” said the Crusaders coach.

On the other side of the field, the Cowboys showed what many teams learned this first week, that throwing strikes in live games can be much more difficult than in the bullpen or intrasquad games. Offensively, Bradley Cassidy was a bright spot for Cooper City, going 2-3 with a walk, two stolen bases, and a run scored.

In what turned out to be a perfect scenario for tournament enthusiasts, Cooper City will face Coral Springs Charter on Friday, with both looking for their first win. In the late game Friday, the two winners from Wednesday, Coral Springs Christian and Western, will square off.

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