MIDDLETOWN >> Renee Edwards’ pitching line — 10 strikeouts and a single walk — would suggest a pretty strong effort by the senior southpaw and a good result for the Middletown Mustangs. That wasn’t the case on Saturday afternoon.
While Edwards pitched well, the Middletown Mustangs, minus three starters, including two-thirds of their outfield, fell 11-2 to the American Canyon Wolves in non-league action at Middletown High School.
The starters missed the game for various reasons — one on a school field trip, one because of a family reunion and another for injury — and Middletown’s bench had a hard time replacing them.
“Two of them were my captains, so we missed their leadership as well,” Middletown coach Barry Glosser said. “They weren’t 11-2 better than us. We just made a lot of mistakes (six errors) behind Renee.”
A 4-0 game through four innings turned decisively in American Canyon’s favor with a three-run fifth and a four-run sixth. Both of Middletown’s runs came in the bottom of the fifth.
“It wasn’t as bad as it looked,” Glosser said of the loss to the Wolves (7-5).
Middletown (5-3) had five hits. Tana Bouscal went 1-for-2 with a RBI and Edwards finished 1-for-3 with a double.
The Mustangs embark on their 14-game North Central League I schedule beginning today in Willits at 4 p.m.
“I’m hoping we take care of the weaker teams and beat them twice, which would give us eight wins right there,” Glosser said. “Hopefully we can scratch out one or two wins against the better teams. If we were to win 10 games I would love that.”
While winning the league might be a bit out of this team’s reach, according to Glosser, he said a second- or third-place finish is not out of the question.
“That’s a possibility,” he said. “I think we’re capable of that.”
Middletown was scheduled to play at home Friday against Fort Bragg but that game has been moved to May 12 in Middletown.
