Many baseball coaches get excited when their teams can set the tone of a game early with first-inning runs. But in rare occasions, those runs will not only be the only runs, but the game-winning runs.

In a Thursday night match up between Aldine Nimitz and Spring Woods, the Cougars’ first-inning performance was enough to hold off Spring Woods 2-1.

In the end it came down to defense and pitching to aid in Nimitz’s win in what has proved to be a strong rivalry game.

“You know every time we come out here and play these guys it doesn’t matter if it is at our place or their place, it’s a nail biter,” Nimitz coach John Robichaud said. “It always goes back-and-forth and is always a tight ball game and a quick ball game. Good pitching has usually dominated our games against each other. We were fortunate enough to get out early.”

With two players on base, Nimitz’s Theodore Perkins hit a 2-RBI single to jump out to a 2-0 lead. That score remained until the bottom of the fourth inning.

Spring Woods’ Doran Seiler got on base before Sammy Bissett’s hit an RBI-single to get the Tigers on the board. But Nimitz pitcher Craig Smitherman pitched the entire game giving up five hits and recording eight strikeouts.

And that was the performance Robichaud was looking for out if his ace.

“He’s (Smitherman) a competitor who’s got a great curve ball,” Robichaud said. “We work with him a lot to settle him down and try to stay within himself and he did a good job of that tonight. He didn’t try to overthrow and do too much. He just let his curve ball do the work and kept them (Spring Woods) off balance.”
 

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