Placentia, CA — The Fighting Irish kicked off their Empire league season Tuesday afternoon with a resounding defeat of the Valencia Tigers by a score of 7-3. Wyatt Johnson went the distance on the mound, scattering 6 hits while striking out 7. The Irish backed his fine performance with a 7 hit barrage of their own, adding 6 walks in the process. The Irish followed an interesting pattern the first two times through the lineup to build their lead. In the second inning, Johnson led off with a single to right followed by Sebastian (Sea Bass) McSherry’s first of his four walks. Tyler Beckler sacrificed the runners into scoring position. Jason May then lined a solid line drive to right center to drive in both runs. After Valencia tied the score in the third, the same four players repeated the pattern in the fourth. Johnson singled, McSherry walked, Beckler sacrificed them over, and May lined another two run single, this time to left-center. Those four runs would be enough for the Irish but they were not finished. After Johnson reached on a fielder’s choice in the fifth and had made his way to third, McSherry drew his third consecutive walk. With two outs, Coach Tom Monahan had McSherry get into a run down between first and second. Sea Bass was able to distract the defense long enough for Johnson to sprint home with Kennedy’s fifth run. After Valencia inched closer with a run in the fifth, Ryan Cathcart led off the sixth by ripping a double into the left field corner. He then proceeded to steal third base and came into score on Chase Leonard’s infield single. The final scoring of the day took place in the seventh inning when Albert Munoz doubled and advanced to third. After Sea Bass collected his fourth walk of the day, this time intentional, the scene was set for Beckler’s third bunt, a squeeze play to score the run. Although Jason May was the power force for the day, impressively driving in the first 4 runs with solid singles, special note must be given to Beckler. He played a decisive role in five of Kennedy’s runs, sacrificing the first four into scoring position and squeezing in the fifth. In addition, he made several fine defensive plays including a diving tag that squelched a Tiger rally in the fifth. The Irish return to action Thursday when they host the same Valencia team at the Kennedy field.