O’Dea’s Fighting Irish made light work of the Eastside Catholic Crusaders on Monday night, notching a thorough 9-0 loss for the Crusaders.
The Fighting Irish came into Monday night with a fire that the Crusaders weren’t ready to match. Having faced Lakeside on Saturday, who handed O’Dea their first loss of the season and gave the Irish something to fight for.
The Crusaders, on the other hand, were just coming off a 5-1 win against Lake Washington and went into Monday night feeling pretty confident in themselves. Ready to take on whatever it was the dominant Fighting Irish had to challenge them.
Unfortunately for the Crusaders, they were going to have to keep on dreaming. As they were shut down right away, with O’Dea already having put points on the board at the end of the first inning. From then on, the Irish were a force to be reckoned with.
Starting pitcher for the Crusaders, senior Nolan Curran gave up 6 runs before being swapped for sophomore Adam Al-Badri at the top of the 5th before moving to junior Will Sharpe for the final inning.
The Crusaders were missing a crucial part of their team this Monday, with their starting pitcher and University of Washington commit Will Crain watching from the dugout.
O’Dea, on the other hand, weren’t missing a beat, having their superstar pitcher and Michigan commit senior Quincy Brown, throw a complete game.
But pitching wasn’t the only place where O’Dea dominated. Jed Stange-Tregear from O’Dea alone had 2 home runs, with his teammate Ellis bringing in 4 of the other 9. Currently, O’Dea’s players are ranked 1st, 3rd, and 4th in batting average for the Metro League.
Eastside struggled to get the bats rolling, and even when they succeeded, they were faced with the Fighting Irish’s tidy fielding.
O’Dea didn’t seem to need the luck Irish on their side as they were blowing past Eastside as the visitors excelled in the field and at the plate.
These two rivals will face each other again on Thursday at 7 p.m. — this time on O’Dea’s home turf and with EC’s Crain taking the mound for the Crusaders. Will O’Dea repeat their dominant win, or will Eastside hand them only their second loss and get back from the shutout they suffered?
