La Palma, CA — It looked as if the Kennedy Fighting Irish were going to have a walk in the park in their game Tuesday against Covina. After their opponents went down meekly in the first inning, Kennedy came out swinging in their half. They loaded the bases with two outs and Tyler Beckler cleared them with a blast that went all the way to the wall in left center, putting the Irish up 3-0. But the walk in the park quickly fell apart in the second when Covina loaded the bases via two walks and a hit batter. Then, 3 more hits and another hit batter and Kennedy found themselves staggering under the blows, now trailing 6-3. In former years, such a reversal would have spelled the end for the Irish, with things going from bad to worse and the game quickly going down the drain. But not for this team. Battle-tested and gritty, they got off the floor and came back swinging in their next at bat. Jaelyn Edds and Jason May singled and Johnnie Soto drew a walk to load the bases with two out. Back to back singles by Wyatt Johnson and Sebastian McSherry brought home the runners and the game was knotted again at 6. But Covina was not daunted. They pushed ahead to a 7-6 lead again in the fourth and the game was now taking on the appearance of a barroom brawl. Kennedy answered back in their half, using Soto’s single, a sacrifice fly by McSherry and a couple of Covina errors to take an 8-7 lead. Winning pitcher Travis Wilson, who had taken over the mound in the second, worked out of a bases loaded jam in the 5th. That is when May and Chase Leonard led off with walks to open a final rally. Albert Munoz took the challenge and drove them both in with a double. He later scored on an error and the Irish were now up 11-7. Although Covina would score once more in the sixth, they were unable to keep pace with the Irish, finally succumbing to a 11-8 defeat and putting Kennedy’s win streak at 8 games. The victory was another step in the development of what is becoming a strong team. The Irish have shown that they can hit and have enjoyed good pitching from a wide variety of arms. And their defense has been spectacular at times. They have pummeled teams with big innings and have come back late in the game on other occasions to snatch victories that seemed already lost. And Tuesday, they showed that they can weather a melt down and get off the ground to fight their way back. Their fans are learning to not count them out no matter how dire the situation seems. They return to action Wednesday afternoon at 3pm, taking on a strong San Gorgonio team in the Santa Ana Elk Tournament Championship game. Game Notes: Johnson (2 hits, 2 RBI, 3 runs), Beckler (2 hits, 3 RBI), and Edds (2 hits, 1 run scored, reaching base 3 times) continue to swing hot bats. McSherry was productive as well, driving in two runs with a single and a sacrifice fly while drawing 2 bases on balls. Jason May returned to the starting lineup with a single, a walk and two runs scored and played solid defense. Soto reached base in each of his four at bats, scoring 3 runs to go with his one hit. Travis Wilson (3.2 innings) and Tyler Beckler (2 innings) did a good job of quieting the Covina offense allowing just one run each in the final 5 innings.