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RITZVILLE — The Newport Grizzlies baseball team opened their year winning both games of a doubleheader with Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Saturday, March 22. The won the first game 17-2 and the second 19-2, both in five innings.
Newport Coach Thad Trepanier told Rick Haverinen of the The Ritzville Adams County Journal that he thought his Grizzlies did well, “especially when this is only our third time outside this year.
“I think that we were hungry. We’re very eager this season to go make some noise and I think we have all the right guys to do it. It just depends on who can show up.”
Trepanier told Haverinen he has a mix of new and experienced players this season.
“We had a couple guys leave us and one guy that’s not playing this year that we had last year and that kind of hurts,” Trepanier said. “But some inexperienced guys have stepped up very well for us. I’m confident in the returns and we’ll see how the younger guys do throughout the season.”
One of his younger players is centerfielder Brody Driver.
“It’s actually his second year ever playing baseball and he’s come a long way,” Trepanier told Haverinen, calling him “probably one of our best base runners.”
Driver had a good day at bat, hitting a double in the first game, along with a single.
Brad Martin III went 2-2, with three RBIs. He also hit a double, as did Kutter Driver and Kaiden Shaw. Gavin Estrada was the winning pitcher for Newport.
Newport got a 19-2 win in the second game, with Hank Kirkwood pitching most of the game. Newport got 18 hits in that game, including a pair of doubles from Ryder Riddles and one from Kirkwood. Riddles went five for five at bat.
