CHARGER DIAMOND CLASSIC: WCDS hammers Grace-Sanford

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on April 21, 2017 10:27 AM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

Wayne Country Day's lead-off batter Case Kermode began Thursday's game with a four-pitch walk.

That was the first ominous sign for Grace Christian.

Three batters later, John Strickland slammed an opposite-field homer, which disappeared over the right-field fence.

That was the second sign.

WCDS needed just 21/2 innings to dish out a dominant 13-0 mercy-rule victory on the opening day of the 10th annual Charger Classic.

Although the official mercy rule is 15 runs after three innings, the umpire decided to call the game after Grace batted in the top of the third.

"I thought we hit the ball well," said WCDS head coach Michael Taylor. "I think we took advantage of their mistakes...We had some good quality at-bats...That's what we talk about -- quality at-bats and getting stuff done like that."

Not much was going in Grace's favor before the game.

The matchup versus WCDS was the second half of a doubleheader for the Crusaders, who played Kerr-Vance earlier in the afternoon. The team also played a game on Tuesday.

The exhaustion appeared immediately.

Five of the first six WCDS batters reached base. The Chargers scored five runs in the first inning. Other than the two-run shot by Strickland, there was a sacrifice fly by Mitch Turnage, an RBI groundout by Cole Brewer and a run scored after a wild pitch.

The situation grew bleaker for Grace Christian in the second inning.

WCDS piled on eight more runs, yet notched just two hits. Avery Browning collected a sac fly and a two-RBI double in the inning. The other six runs were scored via either an error, passed ball or wild pitch.

"We saw Grace play earlier today," Taylor said. "And from what we saw in game one against Kerr-Vance, it was different. They scrapped and they clawed against Kerr-Vance. So I was expecting a whole different team...They're much better than what they actually showed."

The Chargers needed just five hits to take care of Grace. Browning and Godo led the team with two hits apiece. From the pitchers' mound, Turnage, Jon Bryan and Kermode combined to allow one hit and strike out three batters.

WCDS turns its attention to Kerr-Vance (10-2) on day two of the Classic. Taylor wants his team to remain focused, and take the game one out and one inning at a time.

"Just come out and play defense," Taylor said. "Try to square balls up...We just have to have the mindset of taking care of business, and that's we've talked about here the past couple of weeks."