Baseball wins first victory of their 2017 season

On March 7, the baseball team scored their first victory, crushing Lancaster High School 14-1. The game was called after the fifth inning when their opponents chose to forfeit in the face of overwhelming odds.Players on the team felt confident about the game soon after the first inning, where they were up 2-0. Michael Finkelstein (’18) felt that their strong start gave them a real advantage.“We were very focused and we capitalized on the situation early in the game and kept it up,” Finkelstein said. “We were definitely working together. We were communicating and we were talking in the dugout, and our pitching, hitting and defense was good.”Ryan Bunting (’18) pitched a great game—and in one inning, after a Lancaster player hit a triple, Bunting struck out the next two batters.According to Finkelstein, their hitting was also very strong throughout the game. Dax Speakman (’19) had four RBIs while Daniel Melendez (’18) had two doubles.“We played really good and we took the W,” Melendez said. “I played way better than I expected to play because I’ve been hitting pretty bad lately. I’ve been in a slump so I broke out of that slump today.”Melendez shared that the team’s perseverance and strive to keep moving forward really contributed to their performance and their win.“We just don’t give up. Even when we lose, we just keep fighting, we just keep chipping away. We keep trying to come back and we have that bond together,” Melendez said.Samo’s landslide win may not have had everyone in the stands at the edge of their seats, but the crowd was thrilled to see the team do so well nonetheless.“It feels very good and we can use our positive energy into our next game,” Finkelstein said. “It’s rewarding and it’s like all the hard work has paid off for our first win of the season. It’s really good to be on the other side of things. The winning side.”