Walnut Creek finishes week strong, takes down Menlo Park

Banged up and exhausted from a long week, Walnut Creek was looking forward to an off day set for the day after its matchup with Menlo Park.

A team that had played six games in six days and was missing some key pieces to injuries might have been susceptible to a trap game when facing a team they had beaten in all previous matchups. However, the Crawdads made sure to finish the week strong, taking down the Legends 8-3 Sunday night, moving to 23-10 atop the CCL North.

Off the back of thrashing Sonoma the night before, the Crawdads wasted no time putting runs back on the board.

In the second inning, Walnut Creek scored two, the first from a wild pitch and the second from an RBI single hit by junior first baseman Barrett Ronson.

In the middle three innings, the Crawdads put up one run each. 

The first run came off the bat of senior infielder Kam Taylor, mashing a home run over the wall for the third Walnut Creek run of the day. Then, senior infielder Aiden Robles continued the scoring with an RBI double the next inning. Ronson picked up his second RBI of the day in the sixth inning, the last run of the middle three.

Up 5-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Crawdads made sure to add some important insurance runs. That inning, sophomore infielder Lucas Carlisle and senior infielder Kevin Parker Jr. both picked up RBIs, with a run scoring on an error as well.

The player who seemed to make the biggest impact from the plate was Ronson. After a rough stretch of games for him, going eight games without recording an RBI and seven without recording multiple hits, Ronson had one of his best games of the season, going three-for-four with two RBIs.

Through the rough stretch, Ronson took the opportunity to change his mindset at the plate, something that has seemed to work.

"I've been trying to be more relaxed and comfortable in the box," Ronson said. "If I continue to do that, it will translate."

As the long week went on, the Crawdads began to lose players to minor injuries or simply needing rest. One of the bright spots that has come from the fatigue on players bodies is the versatility shown by Walnut Creek catchers. 

In the past two games, two catchers found their way to the outfield: Brandon Clizbe in left against Sonoma and Joe Coupland in right against Menlo Park.

During those two games, all four catchers made starts, combining to go 9-18 at the plate with 5 RBIs.

Being able to utilize positional versatility, Walnut Creek coach Brand Cummings is grateful to have the group of catchers he does.

"It saves us when we have two outfielders that have shoulder issues, and another guy a little banged up," Cummings said. "To be able to stick (Coupland) out there or Clizbe to play out there helps because we're not that deep offensively."

On the mound, the Crawdads put together another impressive day. 

Starting the game was sophomore Hudson Aber, who went four innings of two-hit, one run ball while striking out two.

Aber used Sunday as an opportunity to work on something he values a lot: limiting walks.

"I know my strikeout number was low, but today I wasn't trying to strike guys out," Aber said. "Last week I had a lot of walks, and I just felt like I was being too fine with my pitches. I was really happy I had no walks today."

After Aber were sophomores Wade Mountz and Michael Olsen. Both pitchers went one inning, Mountz allowed one hit while striking out two and Olsen allowed none while striking out none.

The man who finished the game was sophomore Edward Said. Going two innings of one-hit baseball, Said added onto an impressive season.

Now up for Walnut Creek is a Tuesday matchup at Menlo Park set for 6:00 p.m.

With an off-day ahead, Cummings made his message to his team clear.

"Get some rest," Cummings said. "Then bring your best focus because you have a chance to do something that most of the teams in this league will not, if that means something to them. I can't inject that in them. Hopefully they will play for pride and for the name on the front as well as their name on the back. All of that is very important."