IRVINE, Calif – The Orange County Riptide come out victorious, winning 11-3 Sunday night against the Conejo Oaks at The Great Park in Irvine.
To start the ball game, both teams were quiet and only had one hit each through two innings of play. In the top half of the third inning, the Oaks were able to hit three singles that ultimately led them to score a run, making the game 1-0. Unfortunately, the Riptide were unable to answer and went down 1-2-3 to end the third.
In the fourth inning, the Oaks were able to tack on another run courtesy of an RBI double. The Riptide were able to respond with three hits in the inning and scored one run after an RBI single from Jimmy Zakhar (Transfer Portal).
Reid Montgomery went 3-4 with 5 RBIs and 2 2B
To begin the fifth inning, the Oaks were able to score a run after two walks and an RBI single. In the bottom half of the fifth, the Riptide bats exploded for five runs, five hits, and two walks. Luke Johnson (Cornell U) hit an RBI single to left to score Jake Evans (Cal State Long Beach) and Reid Montgomery (Cal State Long Beach) cleared the bases with a three run double down the third base line. The score after five innings was 6-3 in favor of the Riptide.
Jonathon Van Ness (Belmont U) was able to shut down the Oaks in the top of the sixth after an offensive flurry from the Riptide. In the bottom half of the sixth, the Riptide were able to score five more runs to extend their lead to 11-3. Hits from Bradley Navarro (U of Utah), Jake Evans, Mike Erspamer (Stanford U), Luke Johnson, and Reid Montgomery were all factors to this five run sixth. Montgomery ended the night batting 3-4 with five RBIs and two doubles. When asked about what was working so well at the plate tonight by sideline reporter Kamryn McCrury, Reid responded with the following, “I was just looking to catch the fastballs and let everything else work off that.”
The Riptide and the Oaks put up zeros from the seventh inning on to conclude the game at 11-3. The Riptide look to win another game at home tomorrow night against the Santa Barbara Foresters at 6:00 p.m.
