Chiefland’s Dominant Start to High School Baseball Season

The Chiefland Indians Roll to victory with a 19-0 win over the Bell Bulldogs.

Last Tuesday night the Chiefland Indians had their opening game of the 2021 season against the Bell Bulldogs.

The crowd came out strong and there was that nervous excitement that filled the air at the ballpark. The boys and their parents were clamoring to start this season, they wanted to start off right and strong.

Starting Pitching

The Indians were focused and when they walked out to the field with dominance, and from the first pitch, you could tell how the game was going to go.

The Indians started the six-foot sophomore lefty, Tyler Bass; his first pitch was a blow-away fastball to the Bulldogs leadoff hitter and from then on it was a short but powerful clinic from the southpaw. Bass went through the first six of the Bulldogs batters, one of the batters was able to make contact but he grounded out to the shortstop.

Bass had five strikeouts through the first two innings.  When asked about his mindset during the early innings, Bass said he wanted to be aggressive.

“I wanted to get to these batters before they could get to me. I wanted to be intimating,” he said.  Not only did Bass pitch great but he was able to get on base both at-bats he had at the plate.

Getting on Base

The Indians’ hitters last Tuesday night got on base a total of 24 times in two innings of work. The team as a whole had great discipline and great hustle throughout the night. The team saw that the Bulldogs were struggling to pitch and to make plays defensively, and they took the opportunities given to them by the opposition. Chiefland scored 12 in the first inning and extended the run totla to 19 in the second inning.

Senior outfielder Jacob Kline had a field day with the Bulldogs’ pitcher. He had a triple to the gap to drive in two runs in the bottom of the first and continued his success to driving in one more with a single to right.

Infielder Hayden Griffeth showed off his power by pulling a two-run home run over the right-field fence to the extent the lead to 11-0 in the first inning. Hayden was also able to get on base both at-bats he had.

A Roaring Start

With such success in the first game, the team will be riding high rolling into their next opponent, Williston.