Sports
Wildcats See League Championship Hopes Vanish
Rye Country Day Wildcats lose 5-1 to Hopkins in opening round of Fairchester Athletic Association baseball playoffs.
The Rye Country Day Wildcats saw their league championship hopes vanish Monday, losing 5-1 to Hopkins.
Hopkins jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the Fairchester Athletic Association playoff game.
"They sort of just fed off that," said RCDS Head Coach Ted Lawrence.
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The Hilltoppers then added another in the second for a 3-o lead before the Wildcats' Alex Gendelman's homerun to centerfield made it 3-1 in the bottom of the third.
It would be the Wildcats only score, despite ample opportunity to tie in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded on a Jake Hulbert bunt.
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Lawrence said the Wildcats felt more pressure in the playoffs and this affected their performance.
"Our kids began to feel it a little bit," he said.
Wildcat pitcher Grant Johnson was originally slated to start, but after becoming sick, arrived at school past 9:30 on gameday, which did not allow him to play in the game because of school policy.
The Wildcats kept fighting despite being down a player. The team used another catcher, Brian Glazewski, to fill in for Johnson.
"It's a game of adjustment," Lawrence said.
Glazewski struckout three and walked one in two innings ptiched. Zack Tax struckout nine, walking one in five innings.
Even though FAA play is done, RCDS will find out Tuesday who they face in the quarterfinals of the New York State Association of Independent Schools state tournament (NYSAIS).
