During the course of a season there’s usually several highs and lows which help define the character of a team.
The Oakville American Legion ball club may have hit one of those lows this past Saturday evening in a 9-4 loss to Crestwood. Oakville committed an unforgiving six errors against Crestwood which clearly was one of the main factors in the disappointing loss.
“We’ve been consistently inconsistent,” head coach Ryan Hetzer told the Call. “Today was what we consider to be rock bottom for us right now. We had been up and down and today was just not a good effort on our part. Not to take anything away from Crestwood, but we kind of beat ourselves.”
Oakville jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning as third baseman Jimmy Hurst drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. Oakville brought the score to 2-0 in the top of the third as second baseman Ray Henderson drove in a run on a double.
Crestwood responded in the bottom of the third with three runs while Oakville regained the lead in the top of the fifth. Hurst was again hot at the plate as he slammed a two-run homer to left field to give Oakville the 4-3 advantage.
That 4-3 lead would be the last lead that Oakville would have as Crestwood scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth and one run in the sixth and eighth innings for the win.
“What we took from today was that we need a fresh start and reevaluate ourselves and kind of have a gut check,” Hetzer said. “We feel like were a lot better team than we showed today and we believe that we’re one of the best teams in the district.”
Oakville returns to action this Thursday evening as they host Anheuser Busch at Heine Meine. They also will host Lemay on Friday, Crestwood on Saturday and Maryland Heights on Sunday.
“I think that one of the things that we’re going to do right now is focus on a team concept and that everything that you do, your mindset should be placed on the team.” Hetzer said. “Some extra work is also in order. Hard work can cure problems, so we’re going to take some opportunities to work with some individuals on their hitting. As coaches, we’re going to try and adjust the guys mental state and kind of put them in a positive state of mind.”
All of Oakville’s games this week are scheduled for an 8 p.m. start.
