The Cicero Rattlers met up with the Sports Zone Yellow team on Saturday night for their first matchup of the winter season.
The Rattlers came out strong in the first, scoring 3 runs with hits from Capp, Capece, Cochran and Thelen. After holding SZ scoreless, the Rattlers added another in the 2nd inning to go ahead 4-0. They gave up one run in the bottom of the 2nd, making the score 4-1, Rattlers.
Neither team scored in the 3rd inning and both brought in 2-runs in the 4th, making it 6-3, Rattlers.
Cicero went up 8-3 in the 5th inning, thanks to an Ethan Matthews dinger (his 2nd of the season). Matthews went 4/5 on the night – which included another near-dinger that brought in runs.
After giving up 2 runs in the 8th, the Rattlers brought in another 2 runs in the 9th to make the score 10-5. Sports Zone brought in one more run in the 9th before the game ended with a Rattlers 10-6 win.
Hit leaders on the night included Ethan Matthews, Daniel Capp and Lucas Thelen, with all three going 4/5 at the plate. Jacob Calabria, Nicholas Capece, Luke Crawford and Jacob Sadowski followed with 3 hits each. Connor Pearce (2), KJ Cochran (1) and Jack Clary (1) followed.
MVP on this night was Ethan Matthews, who went 4/5 with one homerun.
Team quote: “Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement”