The Italy Gladiators met up with Waxahachie Advantage at the Waxahachie Athletic Complex on Tuesday night for their second district game. Italy dominated in both offense and defense. Jasenio Anderson pitched 3 innings before the game was called by run rule. The final score was Italy 19, Waxahachie Advantage 1.

Italy Gladiators picked up their bats like swords again this week and warded off their oncoming opponent. The Eagles looked like they knew what they were doing but Italy showed the other team they need a little practice. Coach Matt Coker said, “Everyone did another fantastic job. They played hard and Jasenio did a great job. He was a little nervous in the beginning but he settled down and worked real hard. Our strike outs are down and the percentages of getting on base are getting better. We all just need to continue to get better.”

The top of the first inning was daunting for the Eagles because the Gladiators scored 6 runs. We erred in the bottom of the first and allowed one run by Eagle’s third baseman. The top of the second showed the Eagles to be performing a bit better when they only allowed Italy 1 run. Justin Buchanan bunted and moved Trevor Patterson around to third base. Ethan Simon came up to bat hit a double to left field bringing Trevor home. Waxahachie changed pitchers hoping to stop the Gladiators in their tracks.

The Eagles had no score in the bottom of the 2nd inning. The top of the 3rd allowed the bottom to drop. The Gladiators scored 9 points and the game ended when Trevor Patterson hit a home run to deep center field.

The Gladiators are 9-0 now and plan a trip to Stephenville this weekend to work with a little competition. The Hawley Bearcats are meeting up with the undefeated Italy team and Coach Coker says, “This will be just like a play-off game. We need to work with a little challenge to get us ready. We need to stay hungry and focused and these two games will help.” Hawley, Texas is located just north of Abilene.

Italy plays again on Friday, April 16 at home against Oak Cliff Faith Family. This will be their second time in district play. The first game ended Italy 24, Oak Cliff 0. This game will begin at 6:30 at the Davidson field. If you haven’t seen the Italy Gladiators play this season, it’s past time. Coach Coker and the boys are ready for anything and as Coach says, “Let’s go get’em!”

JV Works Hard In Wortham

The Italy JV traveled to Wortham on Monday to see what the Bulldogs had to offer. As with the varsity team, the JV led the pack to the end of the game. coach Josh Ward said, “I thought the boys played very well yesterday. The bats started off kind of slow and we went scoreless in the first and scored 1 in the second. However, in the 3rd inning, we scored 15 runs. We had good approaches at the plate and put a lot of pressure on their defense. I was proud of how we played.”

Scoring:
Ross Stiles-2
Reid Jacinto-1
Kyle Jackson-2
Clinton Gatling-2
Brandon Souder-2
Caden Jacinto-2
Oscar Gonzalex-2
Chase Hamilton-1
Alex DeMoss-2

The first run scored when Clinton Gatling led off the 2nd inning with a triple, the next batter, Brandon Souder, knocked him in with a single. Alex DeMoss led off the 3rd inning with a triple to start the 15 run 3rd inning, which was capped off by a 3 run triple from Chase Hamilton. This game was called after the 3rd inning because of the run rule. Final score 16 Italy, Wortham 0.

Reid Jacinto pitched the whole game and got the win. “I was happy with the way Reid pitched. This is the first tie he has been on the mound this year and he did an excellent job. Our defense made some good plays behind him. It was a great job all around.” Ward commented.

The next JV game is Monday against Red Oak Life at 7:00 pm in Waxahachie.