Cougars Claw to Victory with Speed and Strategy: Dominating Westover 8-5 in Season Opener
Published 10:00 am Wednesday, February 26, 2025
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It didn’t take long for the Grace Christian Cougars (1-0, 0-0) to score their first run of the season with No. 8 Aidan Whittaker reaching first base on an error and No. 99 Noah Smith who stole third and was aggressive on the base pads, a theme for these Cougars who beat Westover 8-5 and scored eight runs on just four hits.
Smith led the Cougars with four stolen bases on the evening. As a team, GCA had 12 stolen bases and nine walks.
By playing small ball, the Cougars took a 6-0 lead after two innings. No. 17 Daniel Johnson grounded out to shortstop, and Whittaker scored from third base to make it 2-0 GCA after the first inning.
After a walk generated by No. 7 Kale Daughtry to begin the bottom of the second inning, he stole second base and reached third base on an error, where he would later score on a ground ball by No. 9 Landon Temples. Tanner Singleton would score on a passed ball and Whittaker would hit a hard ground ball to left field and score Smith to make it 5-0. After a pitching change for Westover with runners on the corners, GCA would tack on one more run by way of No. 12 Oathen Atkinson scoring from third base on an error before Whittaker got tagged out at second base.
“The goal is to always be aggressive on the bases,” Head coach for the GCA Cougars Nathan Nunez said. “Pick and choose when you steal, but always being aggressive on the bags is the goal. Picking your pitches and being selective is what we teach, a walk is a runner on base, that’s how we play ball.”
Westover would score four unanswered runs that ended with a double in the top of the fourth inning. During the bottom of the fifth, Temples would drive in a run, his second of the game, and Atkinson would hit a line drive single to center field to give the Cougars a comfortable 8-4 lead. Atkinson and Whittaker both went two-for-four from the plate, both scoring runs and driving in multiple runs batted in. Atkinson started on the bump and would go two scoreless innings of baseball, striking out four of his eight batters faced.
Whittaker came in relief in the third inning, throwing 68 total pitches, striking out seven batters, and giving up just one earned run in three innings of work. The GCA Cougars pitching staff struck out a remarkable thirteen batters.
Due to darkness, the game would end after the sixth inning. The Cougars are returning to the diamond, embarking on an extensive road trip that kicked off with St. John Paul II on Monday, February 24. Followed by a visit to Baconton Charter on Feb. 27, and trips to Westwood, Brookwood, Terrell Academy, and Westwood on March 11 to conclude the road trip. The Cougars will be back at the Grace Christian Academy Athletic Complex when they host the Westwood Wildcats, on March 13th at 4:00 p.m.
