Fontan mows down Tigers
By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
April 2, 2003
West Lauderdale High School senior pitcher Jamie Fontan remained unflappable on the mound, as his team botched plays in the field and erroneously ran the bases around him Tuesday night.
Despite the relative chaos around the right-handed hurler, Fontan powered his was to a complete-game victory, as the Knights (12-5, 7-1 District 5-3A) picked up a 5-1 win over the Southeast Lauderdale High School Tigers (7-7, 5-4 District 5-3A) at home.
Fontan struck out 15 batters, including seven straight after giving up a lead-off single. He gave up two hits and one run, unearned, in a no-walk performance.
Southeast Lauderdale's lone run in the game came via back-to-back errors by the West Lauderdale infield.
Knights first baseman Richie McAllister miss played a pop up, and shortstop Trent Posey threw a ball in the dirt to first base to let the Tigers tally a run.
West Lauderdale also gave up runs of its on the base path. The Knights lost a run in the first inning when lead-off hitter Bo Davis failed to tag up on a sacrifice fly to center field.
In the second inning, Knights designated hitter Drew Snider ran into a ground ball on the base path for an out, and the squad had a runner picked off second base in the fourth inning.
Posey made up for his miscue in the infield with a dazzling performance at the plate.
The Knights senior shortstop smashed two home runs in his first two plate appearances in the game.
Posey tallied West Lauderdale's first run with a solo homer in the first inning, and his second round-trip blast came after an extended deliberation by the umpires in the third inning, with the Knights leading 2-0.
The shortstop's second hit of the game was a deep shot to left-center field that went off the wall. He initially stopped at second base when the umpires didn't indicate whether it went off the white line on top of the fence.
After a long discussion with Boatner, the umpires declared the hit a homer. Southeast Lauderdale head baseball coach Jonathan Wells argued the call.
The Tigers skipper charged out of his dug out and placed his hands on the breast of the home-plate umpire moving him back a step. Richardson was ejected for arguing.
But the coach's motivation went for not, as the Tigers couldn't catch up to Fontan's fastball or figure out his curve ball.
Posey went 2-for-3 for the Knights, with two RBIs, and Davis and Miles Joyner each picked up RBIs in the win.
