Late offensive push gives No. 9 Canon City baseball a win over Widefield
COLORADO SPRINGS — Better late than never. Canon City’s offense surged late to keep the Tigers undefeated in league play, getting a 5-2 win over Widefield.
The Gladiators (7-8 overall, 2-2 Class 4A Colorado Springs Metro League) started the game with a leadoff double from Isaiah Grima that would eventually lead to Widefield being the first team with a run on the board.
Both teams then went on to get three-up three-down innings. Widefield was able to tack on one more run in the third inning from a triple from starting pitcher, Brennan Heitz and a single from Elijah Clark.
While Heitz seemed to have the Canyon City (12-2, 4-0) lineup figured out, the Class 4A No. 9 Tigers started to catch on in the fourth inning. Kadin Porter started the fourth inning with taking one for the team after being hit by a pitch. Canyon City was able to capitalize and got a run in from a few singles.
With a two-out rally in the fifth, Lincoln Andrews came up cultch and drilled the ball to left center, resulting in a double and two RBIs that put Canyon City ahead of Widefield
“I like how we responded and stayed with it,” Canyon City coach Tim Ritter said. “We stayed patient and we were able to figure their pitcher out in the latter part of the game, but I have mixed feelings because of the mental mistakes.”
Heitz was the starting pitcher for Widefield and pitched six innings and allowed four runs. He was relieved in the seventh by Grima who allowed one run.
Tristan Beicker started on the mound for Canyon City and pitched three innings and allowed five hits and two runs. Zac Hanenberg came in for relief in the fourth inning and got the win with allowing no hits and no runs. Beicker struck out two and Hanenberg struck out four for a combined six batters.
“Our pitchers did a great job today,” coach Ritter said. “Tristan didn’t make a mistake on the mound and Zac came out and shut them out, sometimes you win ugly when you have mistakes in the field.”
With this win, Canyon City extends their win streak to seven games and remains undefeated in league games. With the season wrapping up in a few weeks games like this are important to win, especially with the games not getting any easier.
“The rest of the season is not going to get any easier,” said coach Ritter. “We can clean up the mental side of things and just go back to basics and worry about what we can control.”
Canyon City will be back in the Springs and will face The Classical Academy on Tuesday. Widefield will host Sierra late next week.
