Last year when the Varsity Dons faced the Miramonte Matadors at Ken Souza field, they handed the ball to then freshman Henry Souza for his first Varsity start.  Henry went 4 strong innings, giving up only 1 unearned run.  On Tuesday, the Mats returned to Ken Souza field, and sophomore Henry improved on last year’s performance.

Henry retired 9 of the first 10 Mats hitters and kept them off the scoreboard for the first 3 innings.  While the Dons hitters were squaring up balls against the Mats’ ace pitcher, they weren’t able to put any runs on the board until the bottom of the 3^rd.   Dante Montgomery (sr) reached 1^st when the Mats’ 2^nd baseman couldn’t handle his chopper, and advanced to 2^nd on a hard-hit single by Miles Bergman (sr).  Dante and Miles then executed a double steal putting them on 2^nd and 3^rd with one out.  Will Berrien (sr) then laid down a perfect bunt on a suicide squeeze call, and when the pitcher overthrew the 1^st basement, Berrien found himself at 2^nd while Dante and Miles were back in the dugout having both crossed the plate.  Berrien then stole 3^rd and scored when Nico O’ Rourke hit a sacrifice fly to center field.  Dons 3-Miramonte 0.

With the way Henry was throwing, fans sensed those were the only runs the Dons would need.  However, the Dons offense wasn’t done.  In the bottom of the 4^th, Gavin Bender (soph) led things off with a single, and advanced to third when Luke Souza (sr) singled to right on a hit and run.  Jack Cusumano (sr) brought Gavin home on a single to left field.  Montgomery followed with a single, and then Luke Souza came home when Bergman hit into a fielder’s choice.  Dons 5-Miramonte 0.

That was definitely all the runs Henry Souza would need. In both the 4^th and the 5^th innings, the Mats were able to manage a single off Souza, only to hit ground ball double plays to Montgomery-Bergman-Souza (6-4-3) on the next play.  Souza set them down in order in the 6^th.  And after a lead off single in the 7^th, Henry initiated a double play on a comebacker that essentially shut the door on any thoughts of a Matador rally.  When the final Mats batter flew out to center fielder Berrien, Henry recorded the 3^rd complete game shutout of the season for the Dons.  Henry threw just 70 pitches (73% strikes), gave up 5 hits with no walks, never let a runner get to 2^nd base, while facing only 23 batters (only 2 over the minimum in a 7-inning game).  He was backed up a by a Dons defense that played flawless baseball in the field.

The Dons and Matadors play again tomorrow (Wed) at 4pm at Miramonte.  Come out and support the Dons.