Cal Northview Recap

 Today, the Scots boarded the bus for the regular season finale against the OK Bronze champion Northview Wildcats. Defensive blunders and miscues lead to the Wildcats scoring three unearned runs off of starter Dan Zeman in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead. The Scots did chip away with an RBI double by Tanner Schaafsma in the third to cut the margin to 3-1. After Northview scored on another defensive blunder, the Scots offense started clicking at the same pace that it did the last two weeks. Caledonia scored 6 unanswered runs, leading by the game's eventual final score of 7-4. Drake Ellens, Mitch McCallum, Logan Hudson, and Joe Stegehuis all had hits that plated runners. The most impressive hit all day would have to be at the bat of ace Caleb Sleeman. When Northview went to the bullpen for the final time to lead off the 7th inning, Sleeman wasted no time taking the reliever's first pitch over the left field wall for a homerun. The pitching staff for Caledonia was solid today, as Dan Zeman went two innings and gave up no earned runs, and then Sam Vanderwal came in and pitched the remaining 5 innings earning the win. This tuneup was interesting for Caledonia, as I would say the first two innings showed a lot of relapses of past habits that killed the team earlier in the year, but the end of the game showed the resiliency that this group has shown lately and that is why they got the victory. The Scots improve to 23-8 on the year, and begin district play Saturday. The schedule for Saturday is East Kentwood vs Wyoming at 10 AM, with the Scots and Byron Center set to follow approximately at 12. The district final will take place afterwards. All games are taking place at Wyoming High School. Please do come out and support and watch some great baseball.

Game Thoughts:

1) Shoutout to Slee for the homer. Most importantly, this makes the home run count: Outfielders 3 PO's 1 and Infielders 0.
2) So now we have played the OK Bronze, Black, Green, Gold, Red, Silver and White champions all in the same season and have a combined 8-3 record against these teams. The schedule we played throughout the year has prepared us tremendously for the playoff run we aspire to make.
3) Shoutout to Bryce Houser, in only his third varsity game he shattered the record for foul balls retrieved in a game, and most impressively it was in an opposing ballpark, where you usually do not have to get 2/3 of the foul balls.
4) Its finally playoff time. I have my giant poster-sized bracket drawn out and filled in and I cannot wait for this to begin. I love the intensity and importance of every single pitch thrown. Whether it is a huge strikeout, double play, extra base hit or steal of home, every play matters in the playoffs. Time to defend our district title.