Notre Dame senior Alex Cassidy (7) allowed one earned run and struck out 11 during the Titans SOC I opener versus Symmes Valley on Wednesday.
Jacob Smith | Daily Times
Notre Dame sophomore Myles Phillips (1) delivered the go-ahead two RBI single during the Titans 6-3 win over Symmes Valley in SOC I play.
Jacob Smith | Daily Times
PORTSMOUTH — Needing runs in the late stages of Wednesday’s Southern Ohio Conference Division I matchup versus Symmes Valley, the Notre Dame bats delivered.
The Titans entered the home half of the fifth trailing the Vikings 3-1. That quickly changed thanks to a five-run fifth frame, helping deliver a 6-3 home win in their SOC I opener.
Sophomore Myles Phillips delivered the go-ahead two RBI single for Notre Dame in the fifth, scoring senior Dylan Seison and freshman Luke Cassidy to put the Titans in front 4-3.
In the next at-bat, junior Ilan Walker scored another pair of ND runs with a two RBI triple. Senior Alex Cassidy and Phillips crossed home to give ND a 6-3 edge.
The Titans drew eight walks as a team and saw four of their hitters reach via hit — Seison, Alex Cassidy, Phillips, and Walker.
“Early on we were hitting the ball, just hitting it at people,” Notre Dame coach Jayson Coleman said. “We had pretty good at-bats, their starting pitcher threw it pretty well. We just kept battling, Myles Phillips with the big clutch hit to put us ahead. Got us some momentum we needed with that big five-run inning.”
Alex Cassidy earned the victory on the hill for the Titans, going the distance and allowing just one earned run on 124 pitches. Cassidy struck out 11 Viking hitters while surrendering nine hits and walking five.
“Pretty good for us,” Coleman said, of Cassidy’s outing. “That’s what we’re relying on, Luke and Alex are our one and two guys. We’re leaning on those guys until we get our bats figured out and once we do we feel like we could be pretty dangerous.”
Notre Dame (2-0) travels to Western on Friday in their road SOC I opener before hosting Portsmouth on Saturday (April 1) in a non-league contest.
“It’s good to get that first SOC win, start the season well,” Coleman said. “Hopefully keep this momentum going.”
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BOX SCORE
Symmes Valley 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 — 3 9 1
Notre Dame 1 0 0 0 5 0 — 6 4 3
W — Alex Cassidy (ND) 7IP, 9H, 1ER, 5BB, 11K; L — M. Stevenson (SV) 4.1 IP, 2H, 5ER, 7BB, 3K
Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
