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Lakeland will begin the District 2 Class AA against West Side Tech
The Lakeland High School baseball team will begin the District 2 Class AA playoffs today, Wednesday, May 26, at home against West Side Tech.
The Chiefs enter the playoffs ranked seventh, after a 9-2 loss to Valley View during the last game of the regular season on Thursday, May 20.
The win marked the end of a perfect season for the Cougars, who finished the year 14-0.
“Going undefeated in baseball is very tough, it doesn’t happen in baseball that often. He (Jason Munley, Valley View’s head coach) had his kids playing very well, and I wish them all the luck in the world in the playoffs,” said Lakeland’s head coach Joe Vadala.
Despite the loss, Vadala said he thinks the game will prove to be a valuable experience for his team as they enter the postseason.
“A big positive for (us) is playing in a game with playoff atmosphere with a big crowd, against a rival team. That’s going to go a long way for us, that’s going to carry us in the playoffs,” said Vadala.
Valley View jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on Thursday afternoon.
The Chiefs cut the lead in half in the third, thanks to a Joe Natale RBI.
Valley View answered back, scoring four runs in the fifth to take the game out of the Chief’s reach.
Several times during the game, Lakeland managed to get runners in scoring position, but Valley View’s pitcher, Logan Kanuick, was able to keep the Chiefs off the scoreboard.
“Their pitcher was tremendous, absolutely tremendous getting ahead of our hitters, working both sides of the plate, working different eye levels up and down. He’s a complete pitcher, he worked hard all season, he’s having a great year,” said Vadala.
“The positives are we had nine hits against them, we had base runners all over the place with the nine hits, we made some good defensive plans.”