Running the bases never felt so good. At least not to the Oxford boys.
On May 15, the Wildcats won a four-team tournament in Goodrich, with Swartz Creek and Ovid-Elsie as the other two participants.
The Wildcats displayed a powerful combination of offensive prowess and defensive stinginess to overcome the Swartz Creek Dragons by an 11-5 final in the first game.
Junior Kyle Oliver did the pitching, getting the win on the mound for Oxford and improving the team record to 12-10. In addition to his excellent pitching, Oliver also provided some offense for the Wildcats, going two for four with two RBI’s and two singles.
Critical for Oxford lately has been their first innings. Against Swartz Creek, the Wildcats exploded for seven runs in the first, started off in the right direction by shortstop Bryan Mattack’s full count triple. Even coach Kurt Nuss agreed that first innings have been huge for his team lately.
After making short work of the Dragons, the Wildcats did much the same in the championship game against the Ovid-Elsie Marauders. Oxford’s Ryan Stull was not the starting pitcher for the Wildcats, but got the win in relief of starting pitcher Dave Fisher.
Again, hitting was a critical part of the Wildcat’s offense in the championship game, with Stull coming through in the clutch with a two-run homer in the top of the seventh inning, propelling the team to a 9-6 victory. In addition, junior Brett Brammer recorded two hits and two RBI’s and sophomore Brad Dugan had three RBI’s.
The team’s next game will be May 20 at home against the Fenton Tigers. The first pitch will be thrown at 4:00 P.M. on Ray Rd. The team hopes to see some supporters!
Mike Stechschulte is a junior at Oxford High School who plans to major in the field of journalism.