La Palma, CA — The Kennedy Fighting Irish kicked off their participation in the Anaheim Lions Tournament Saturday with a split decision, getting shut out by West Torrence in the opener by a score of 7-0 before coming back in the day’s second game to trounce the Gladstone Gladiators from Oregon 12-2. In the opener, things fell apart in the third inning when West Torrence sent 10 men to bat, plating 5 runs on 3 hits, 2 walks and a couple of errors. This proved too much for the Kennedy offense to overcome as they managed only 4 hits against the West Torrence staff. The bright spot for the Irish was some fine relief work by seniors Travis Wilson and Joshua Sanabria who combined for 2 scoreless frames, striking out two. Chase Leonard had two hits while Johnny Soto and Dominick Kamodo collected one each. But the disappointing opener did not hold the Irish down. One growing characteristic of this team is its ability to overcome tough losses and bounce back with strong performances. They did just that against Gladstone. After falling behind 1-0 after 2 innings, Kennedy unleashed a torrent of offense in the third. They sent 16 batters to the plate collecting 6 hits, 4 walks, 1 hit batter and 2 errors resulting in a total of 10 runs. 9 straight runners scored before there was even an out. Wyatt Johnson provided the key drive with a bases loaded triple to deep center. Wyatt continued his hot hitting with a total of 3 hits in the game to lead the Irish. In the final frame, Noah Avala and Robert Zeoli led off with back to back hits before Gavin Smith lined a RBI single to bring in the eleventh run. After Kyle Chung was hit by a pitch, Sabastian McSherry worked the pitcher for a bases loaded walk to round out the day’s scoring. Overall, the hitting attack was strong as Chase Leonard added two more hits in the second game and Albert Munoz came through with 2 of his own. Tyler Beckler’s single in the third brought the total output to 11 hits. Not to be overlooked was the fine performance on the mound by Sam Moctezuma. The Junior right-hander held Gladstone to 5 hits and 2 runs over the course of his 6 innings in another strong outing by Coach Tom Monahan’s starting rotation. The Irish have a busy week ahead with 7 games on tap as they continue the Lions Tournament and add a makeup game Friday against Crean Lutheran. This will be a challenge for the Kennedy pitching staff. Hopefully the rain, which has wreaked havoc on the schedule this season, will hold off long enough for them to get the games played.