JV Indians Fall to FTC 14-2

On a sunny and mild Friday afternoon at Port Royal Avenue's Pearlman Complex, the Roxborough varsity baseball team, despite indications to the contrary, did not play. The junior varsity team did though.

And these Indians, for the sixth time in as many games, lost: this time 14-2 to Franklin Towne Charter in four innings of mercy rule-truncated play.

"Our defense just has to get a little bit better," opined left fielder Joe Smoot, who scored half of the Indians' runs after taking a walk in the third inning. "Dorien [Thomas] actually pitched a really good game."

Smoot added that, insofar as the Indians have a problem, it's a lack of cohesion. The sum of their parts is greater than the product: an inverted gestalt.

"We gotta show up to practice, cause a lot of us don't come," explained Smoot of their disjointedness.

Utility infielder Mike Morrow, who recorded a nifty second inning out while stationed at the corresponding base but also took a called third strike with the count full to end the game, was a touch more positive.

"We played hard," he said. "We didn't do as good as we wanted, but we still did pretty good."

Morrow later admitted that much of his positivity stemmed from the mere fact of his being on the field: against Towne, he was playing his first game after serving a three game suspension for criticizing an umpire--the same umpire who called Friday's game.

"I didn't say anything to him today though," he promised.

Dorien Thomas, the freshman starting pitcher who's been playing the game since he was five, agreed with Smoot's analysis. He felt he pitched well, located his fastball and hit his spots, but that his defense let him down.

"We just need to catch more, bat more, get more hits," he shrugged, spreading the criticism as broadly, and politically as possible. Thomas has designs on making varsity next year, and understands the counterproductivity of stepping on toes.

Jeremy Schmeltzer, a third baseman of Ruthian girth but admittedly sub-Ruthian bat speed, zeroed in on the Indians' offensive woes as the prime mover behind their 0-6 start.

"The score today was a lot to a little. We played butt," he said, matter-of-factly. "And I think we just need to work on hitting."

Coach Keith Heleniek, in his fifth season coaching the Indian's junior varsity, was pleased not so much with the outcome as the effort. Fortunately, to his mind, it's the latter that counts.

"We played pretty well today. We had good pitching, we just gotta catch the ball a little," said Heleniek. "We are struggling on the season, but the kids are trying hard. A lot of them have come a long way since the beginning of the season."

"We have fun, that's what it's about," interjected Morrow.

"That's what I tell these guys," finished his coach. "Have fun out there."