St. John-Endicott split doubleheader against Valley Academy

ST. JOHN-Endicott - The St. John-Endicott Eagles split two games against the Walla Walla Valley Academy Knights Monday afternoon.

The first game of the series saw the Knights jump to an early lead in the game before controlling the tempo to secure the win 13-7.

The second game of the series was one where the game was close throughout, with the Eagles pulling away in the end to win the game 11-9 and split the days match up.

In the first game, the Knights scored five runs in the top of the second inning to jump out to a quick lead. They produced six total hits in the game and were walked 11 times, which helped out their hitting struggles at times.

Hunter Boose led the way for the Knights in the game as he had two hits and three RBIs to go along with four runs scored and two walks.

One of the highlights in the game for the Knights was that Maddie Irving pitched a solid 2.1 innings for the Knights. She held her own, and got the outs when needed, including a four pitch inning in the fifth. She produced three strikeouts, walked four batters and allowed three runs on three hits.

The Eagles never seemed to have a chance in the first game, they only managed six hits as well. They also were walked 10 times, but struck out 11 times, which does not equate to winning baseball.

The Eagles had chances given to them with the 10 walks and seven wild pitches which scored some runs, but it was not enough.

St. John had a late rally in the bottom of the fifth as they scored three runs to cut the lead to 13-6, but that was all the rally the Eagles had in them as they fell 13-7.

The second game of the day saw the Eagles win their third game of the season as they grinded out a hard-fought 11-9 victory.

This was the first win for the Eagles against a team other than Garfield-Palouse, who the Eagles have defeated twice this season.

This was the closest win St. John has had, their other two wins were both by nine runs.

The Eagles and Knights were fighting throughout the game, going back-and-forth with scoring runs and producing outs. The Eagles used their strength and base running to come away with the two-run victory to put them at a 3-10 record on the season.

With the loss, the Knights fell to a 2-11 overall record in 2023.