Photo gallery: Bishop Amat-Serra baseball
LA PUENTE - If the Serra High School baseball team was hoping to make a statement in its first Del Rey League game, it made it loud and clear Tuesday.
Soleman Bates tossed a one-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts and had two RBIs and the visiting Cavaliers rolled to a 6-0 victory over six-time defending league champion Bishop Amat.
Serra, also getting three hits and two RBIs from Trent Hammond, improved to 14-5 overall. Bishop Amat slipped to 6-9.
The Cavaliers took advantage of three Bishop Amat errors for a 4-0 lead after three innings. Serra made it 1-0 in the second on two fielding errors and a single by Hammond.
The lead blossomed to 4-0 in the third. Marcus Wilson singled with one out and Dominic Smith walked. Both advanced to second and third on a throwing error before Bates singled to center to make it 3-0. Ryan Dobson followed with an RBI single for a 4-0 advantage.
"In important games the way you punch back and trade punches with the opponent is to equal them on defense," Bishop Amat coach Andy Nieto said.
"We gave them extra opportunities. We let a base hit to right turn into a run. We let a well-positioned line drive turn into an extra at-bat that gave them two more runs."
Bates took care of the
He retired 11 out of the final 12 batters, including the last nine.
Amat's only hit came in the second when Daryl Daniels doubled with one out.
But Bates turned away the chance by inducing Christian and Luis Moya to ground out on consecutive at-bats.
"The hardest thing for me is that we were unable to respond," Nieto said. "That's no OK. I'm embarrassed by that. We have to find away.
"I'm embarrassed that this group, which has been around a few years, wasn't able to respond better. We've got another crack (at Serra) Friday."
626-544-0857