Cathedral beats Monterey 9-1

Published 11:56 pm Tuesday, March 9, 2010

NATCHEZ — Sac bunts, timely hitting and a few breaks gave Cathedral a runaway win against Monterey Tuesday evening.

Four Green Wave batters had multiple hits as Cathedral crossed home plate nine times en route to a 9-1 victory.

“A win’s a win,” said Cathedral assistant coach Ron Rushing, who’s filling in while head coach Craig Beesley recovers from pneumonia.

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“I thought we hit the ball hard. We had some bad at-bats and some good ones where we hit the ball right at them, or they made a (good) play. They’re a well-coached team, and they did a good job defensively.”

Cathedral got things started in the first inning when Aaron White scored from third base on a passed ball. Dylan White also reached home on another passed ball, giving Cathedral an early 2-0 lead.

Monterey scored its only run in the top of the second inning when catcher Hunter Frey scored on a bunt single by Chance Cooper.

The Green Wave added four runs in the bottom half of the second. Hunter Foster scored on an RBI double by Daniel Huffines, and Caleb Upton scored Huffines on an RBI single. Aaron White scored a run on a throwing error by Frey, and a Tyler Ballard single drove in Upton.

Cathedral added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, and one more in the bottom of the sixth.

“We’ve got some team speed and guys who use the bat well,” Rushing said. “We try to sac (bunt), hit, steal and run. There are just a lot of different things we’re capable of.”

Winning pitcher Tyler Morrison went 4 2/3 innings, giving up one run and striking out four.

“He throws fastball, curveball, and I think he settled down (after the second inning) and threw a good game,” Rushing said. “He was hitting the corners and locating well. He got his pitch count up, which is good for later on in the season.”

Caleb Johnson went 3-for-4 for Cathedral. White, Huffines and Foster were all 2-for-3.

Cathedral (4-1) will play Vidalia Thursday in the Vidalia tournament.