The streaking Varsity Dons travelled to Marin County on Saturday to take on the highly ranked Tamalpais High School Red Tailed Hawks.  It turned out to be a nail-bitter of game, highlighted by gritty offense and resilient pitching.

The Dons got things started in the top of the 1^st when Miles Bergman (sr) walked, advanced to 2^nd on Will Berrien’s (sr) single to left, and eventually came in to score on a wild pitch. 

Ethan Rowland got the start on the hill for the Dons, and the bottom of the 1^st was a foreshadowing of the game to come.  The Hawks put their first two runners on base, only to have Ethan (sr) record the next three outs, while leaving Hawks runners stranded at the corners.  In the 2^nd, the Hawks were able to manufacture an unearned run, but with the bases loaded Rowland induced an inning ending ground out to Gavin Bender (soph) at 3^rd to hold the Hawks to only 1 run.  

The score didn’t remain 1-1 for long, as Dante Montgomery (sr) got a free pass to 1^st after getting hit by a pitch, advanced to 2^nd on a wild pitch, stole 3^rd and then came home when Berrien grounded out.  Dons 2-Hawks 1.

Meanwhile on the mound, Ethan repeatedly kept his cool in tight situations, coming up with big plays every time the Hawks were knocking at the door.  In the 3^rd, with one out and a Hawks runner on 3^rd, the Hawks surprised everyone with a suicide squeeze bunt.  The bunt went up in the air between the pitcher and catcher, and Ethan came off the mound to make a great diving catch, and then got up and ran to 3^rd to double up the Hawks runner by himself.  In the 4^th inning, with runners on 1^st and 2^nd, Ethan induced one of the Hawks’ big hitters to pop out to Bender to end the inning.  And then in the 5^th, with the bases loaded, Ethan struck out the final batter he would face to end the inning.  A gritty and fearless performance!

The Dons found themselves with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the 6^th, when Coach Hornsby called on Jack Cusumano (sr) to pinch hit.  With 2 strikes, Cusumano drove the ball to deep center field, bringing home Nico O’Rourke (sr) and giving the Dons the 3-1 lead.

Henry Souza (soph) picked up where Rowland left off in the bottom of the 6^th.  The Hawks loaded the bases with one out, and Souza proceeded to promptly got the hitter to hit a grounder to Montgomery at shortstop, where he stepped on the 2^nd base bag and threw to Luke Souza (sr) at 1^st for the inning ending double play.  The situation was even more tense in the 7^th inning, when the Hawks loaded the bases with nobody out, putting the tying run at 2^nd and winning run at 1^st.  The crowd was sweating, but Henry wasn’t.  He struck out the next batter, got the following batter to fly out to center fielder Berrien, and then on a full count threw a perfect fast ball across the outside corner of the plate to strike out the final batter, sealing the 3-1 victory for the Dons.  Nerves of Steel!

The Dons return to league play next week with a 4pm game at home against Miramonte on Tuesday.  Come out and support the Dons as they go for their 10^th win in 11 games.