By Angie Ledbetter
The North Delta Green Wave baseball team opened the 2008 season with a loss on the road against Lee Academy in Clarksdale on Monday 14-13.

The Green Wave was down 10-0 at the bottom of the third inning. The Green Wave scored nine runs in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game at 13 and send the game into an extra inning.

The Green Wave scored three runs in the fourth and one run in the fifth to get into contention. The sixth inning was when the bats got hot for the Green Wave. Both teams failed to score in the seventh which brought them into the eighth inning.

The Green Wave was first at bat.

Chase Bruce got on base with a single, but the other three batters were out on a strike out and two fly balls.

Lee Academy was in the same boat with two outs. The Colts rallied on two and  loaded the bases. The runner came home on a single RBI shot to left field.

Head Coach David Hardy said the team struggled with the starting pitcher for Lee Academy.

“He was their ace and he pitched through the fourth inning,” said Hardy. “We didn’t have a hit off of him until the fourth inning. Their thinking on pitching was similar to ours. They used four different pitchers and we did the same. We went into the game with the thought of trying to split up our pitching time to make sure nobody threw too much.”

Hardy said there were some first game jitters, but it was also Lee Academy’s  first game.

Geri Lamm started the game pitching for the Green Wave team.  

“He did what we expected from him,” said Hardy.  “He threw strikes. We had some plays behind him that we didn’t make but we should have. That’s to be expected early in the season. I was pleased with how well Geri pitched to start the game for us.”

Chase Bruce, an eighth grader, came in and pitched one inning.

“As an eight grader, he was a little nervous as expected, but we are going to come back to him,” said Hardy. “He is going to be all right.”

Austin Gant also pitched for the Green Wave team.

Jim Tom Copeland finished on the mound, pitching the last two innings.

“He just gave up one run, and unfortunately it was the last one. He came in and did a good job for us,” Hardy said.

As far as defense, Hardy said the team made some errors that were to be expected in a first game.

“The thing that I was most proud of from my team all around was the fact that we got down and we really came back and we didn’t give up. We hung in there.”

Hardy said the players were not knocking the ball off the wall when they started hitting it in the fourth inning, but they were putting it in play.

“I stress to them so often that you take what the pitcher gives you, whether it’s getting on base by walk, hit by pitch or just making contact,” He said. “We were able to put some pressure on the defense. They had some errors too. When you have a big inning, it takes a lot of things. We did it without any home runs.”

 Hardy said the sixth inning was definitely a big inning for them.

“I’m never happy with a loss but I was real proud of how the guys were able to come back from being down, especially early in the season,” he said. “That’s a big show of character.  Early on, you can check your team and see what they are made of. Our first game of the season and they were down 10-0.They could have cashed it in and given up on it.  They didn’t do that and hopefully that is something that we can build on and benefit from down the road.”

Due to the weather, the Tuesday game against Lee Academy was canceled. The Green Wave hosted rival 3A Magnolia Heights on Thursday. The score was not available at press time.

They open district play on Tuesday at home hosting Desoto, Ark. First pitch is 4 p.m.