Tribune photo by John Byrne - Spanish Springs' Justin Agliolo watches his first-inning homer run sail away.
“I’m pretty pleased,” Spanish Springs coach Mike Bosco said. “Our pitcher did a great job. We had six or seven home runs. We swung the bat well and we played pretty good defense. I was pleased with the entire effort.”
Home run bombs came early and often for the Cougars. Jake Bray led off for Spanish Springs with a walk and Justin Agliolo hit the first home run of the game for a quick 2-0 lead.
Humberto Espinoza reached on a double and Davis Murphy walked to put two on for SSHS. Brandon Mathis mashed his own bomb with a three-run homer for a 5-0 SSHS lead after one inning.
The Cougars (6-4, 4-3 HDL) put up two more runs in the top of fourth on a Bray home run. He sent in Anthony Vierra ahead of him, who had reached on a single, for a 7-0 advantage over the home team.
The Cougars pitching staff kept North Valleys off balance, allowing just two runs, one in the fourth and one in the sixth. Bray pitched the first six innings for the Cougars and had five strikeouts. Malcolm Anderson stepped in to close for Spanish Springs.
In the top of the fifth, Tanner Oates gave Spanish Springs an 8-1 lead with a solo homer, the third home run of the game for the Cougars.
They weren’t done clearing the fences with baseball deposits.
In the top of the sixth, Henry Rueda singled and scored on a Taylor Freshman double. With one out, Bray crushed a shot to left center for his second of the day, collecting two RBIs for an 11-1 lead.
To round off the day, Mathis hit another home run, this one a solo dinger, for the 12-2 final.
It was cold and windy with occasional snow flurries at North Valleys on Thursday but the teams kept the game under two hours while getting in all seven innings.
“That’s tough to play in so it’s nice to get in a quick game,” Bosco said. “Our guy (Bray) kept throwing strikes and getting ahead of hitters early which enabled us to get out of the dugout quickly and get some runs on the board. It was fortunately a fast game so we didn’t have to stand in the cold very long.”
The teams have a doubleheader Saturday at Spanish Springs, starting at 11 a.m.
“I hope we show up and come ready to play,” Bosco said. “North Valleys can swing. They didn’t show that today but we know that they can put the ball in play hard.”
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