One thing that Woods Cross baseball coach Brandon Critchley said about his young varsity prep summer league team is that they're getting better and that's what it's all about. The Wildcats, consisting of about 20 15-year-olds, lost 11-4 this past Thursday to Olympus at Woods Cross. The game was marred by a horrendous south wind that would gust more than occasionally and was constant for the entire two-and-a-half-hour game. The wind led to many would-be outs becoming hits, which aided the Titans in their hit barrage.The game started out with Woods Cross giving up two first-inning runs to Olympus. The Wildcats came right back and answered the challenge in the bottom of the first with one run of their own. Cody Gillette scored the only Wildcats run in the inning from second base on a single down the left field line.

The second inning was much like the first as the Titans scored two runs to Woods Cross' one. The bottom of the second came around and the Wildcats stayed in the game with a Holden Critchley leadoff single that started a rally.

Critchley then moved to second on another Wildcat single with nobody still out. A strikeout left the two runners at first and second before a wild pitch moved Critchley to third with the one out.

Now there were runners at first and third with one out and a steal play to second was inevitable. As the Titan pitcher delivered to the plate, the Woods Cross runner at first was off. Olympus didn't execute the play well, which allowed the steal of second and also allowed Critchley to take home on the eventual double steal.

Now the Wildcats were down 4-2 heading into the top of the third inning. The third and fourth innings were really where the Titans distanced themselves from Woods Cross.

Olympus scored three huge runs in their at-bat during the third inning. The third out of the top half of the third inning was a play at the plate as the Wildcats avoided giving up a fourth run in the inning to the Titans.

Woods Cross came back to score two more runs of their own in the bottom of the third to keep themselves within striking distance. The rally was led by Holden Critchley again as he got an RBI single in the inning.

The top of the fourth is what separated the two teams. Woods Cross went to a new pitcher to start the top of the fourth and he couldn't find the plate. After the bases were loaded for Olympus, all on walks, two runs walked in from there.

Critchley came in to get the Wildcats out of the bases loaded jam. He held his own by striking out the first batter he faced and then getting the second out in cool fashion. But, the younger brother of the Woods Cross head coach then allowed a single to right field that scored two more Olympus runs to make it 11-4 with runners on first and third with two outs.

The Wildcats got out of the inning when the Titans tried a double steal of their own. The runner on third got caught napping and was thrown out in the attempt.

Woods Cross couldn't answer the bell for the next three innings as Olympus brought in a new pitcher. Olympus pitching was impressive and it generally held down the Woods Cross bats.

Gillette came in and pitched impressively for Woods Cross from the fifth to the seventh innings. He held the Titans scoreless and allowed only one runner to advance to second base in the three innings he was on the mound.



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