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Sports

Chamberlain Baseball Team Picks Up First Victory

The Chiefs picked up their first win of the season, while the Lady Chiefs softball team survived a defensive battle with a strong outing from pitcher Rachel Dwyer.

Baseball

Everything finally came together for the young Chamberlain High School baseball team Tuesday night. After opening the season with eight consecutive losses, the Chiefs picked up their first win, defeating Sickles 7-2.

“It feels great to get into the win column,” said head coach Bob Ooley.

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The win is the first under the helm of coach Ooley, who took over the team last month.

“The guys needed it, more than anything, to bring up morale,” he said.

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For the Chiefs (1-8), who have struggled at times finishing out games, the win was a result of a solid performance and maintaining their composure through the last out.

“In other games, we were in it, but then we’d fall apart. But tonight they held it together and made the key plays. It was the most complete game I’ve seen from the guys so far.”

The Chiefs put their biggest offensive hurt on the Griffins in the third inning. Senior center-fielder Blake Bell opened the offensive rally with a triple, and freshman first-baseman Zach White followed with a double. Chamberlain then proceeded to string together a single and two walks, manufacturing 4 runs.

From there, the Chamberlain defense was able to get the job done.

“We have had the pitching, at certain points of the year, but we’ve never had the complete outing like we did tonight,” coach Ooley said.

Fresh off their first victory, Chamberlain is heading into a busy weekend, with at least three games ahead of them a tournament this weekend hosted by Riverview High School.

Zach White, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI against Sickles, is looking forward to the opportunity for Chamberlain to continue their winning way,

“I think we are all looking forward to some more wins,” he said.

The Chiefs have a double-header Friday, facing Tampa Bay Tech and a re-match with Sickles. Saturday they’ll take on the host team, the Riverview Sharks.

Softball

For the second time in two weeks, the Lady Chiefs were able to squelch last inning rallies by their opponents, holding on to a narrow lead and keeping their perfect record intact.

Chamberlain (9-0) survived the late game scare against Sickles Tuesday night, picking up the 2-1 victory in a pitcher’s duel.

With bases loaded in the seventh inning and only one out, Lady Chiefs’ pitcher, sophomore Rachel Dwyer, was able to get two ground outs, allowing one run to score, but getting Chamberlain the win.

“It was rough,” she said. “We just try to finish games. We’ve had a problem with that in the past.”

Dwyer allowed only 2 hits, both singles, walking four and striking out four in her complete game effort.

“It’s a tough loss for Sickles,” said Chamberlain head coach Bob Diez, who knew how close his team was to picking up their first defeat.

But Diez had praise for the way Dwyer got the team through some tough situations, including closing out the third inning with a strike out when the Griffins had bases loaded.

The Lady Chiefs will be back in action Thursday night, hosting the Hillsborough Terriers.

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