(June 17, 2024 – Coppell, TX) Despite the silly headline, the weather in Coppell was beautiful for baseball. A strong wind blowing across the field kept players cool while Spirits (45+) starting pitcher, Kirk Sipila was the coolest on the field. Sipila cooled down the Hurricanes bats to the tune of a no-hitter through 3 innings before Brad Petty singled for one of the team’s two hits on the night. Sipila picked up the complete game shutout victory, tossing for 6 innings, allowing no runs on just 2 hits while walking 3 and striking out 4.
On offense, Eric McPherson, Travis Hitzeman, and Ryan Marsland carried the squad, each finishing with 3 hits. McPherson added a pair of doubles, a pair of runs scored, a run batted in, and 2 stolen bags while Hitzeman added 3 runs scored and a stolen base. Marsland’s 3-run homerun in the third inning capped off a 9-run display of offense that the Hurricanes would rather forget about. Marsland finished with 3 runs scored, 3 runs batted in, and a walk to complete a perfect night at the plate.
David Tipton and Sipila each added a pair of hits on the night, with Tipton adding a double, run scored, and run batted in, and Sipila also scoring once and knocking in a run. Stacy Scott and Shawn Hunt also hit safely, each adding 2 runs batted in.
The ghosts struck early in the top half of the first inning after McPherson led off the game with a single and stole second base. Sipila flew out by Hitzeman singled to put runners on the corners. Hitzeman stole second and a single by Marsland advanced both runners and allowed McPherson to score. Scott singled home Hitzeman and Marsland scored when Shawn Lee grounded out. Lee swiped second base but Hurricanes starter, Eric Reifschneider stopped the bleeding by getting Hunt to fly out.
McPherson added a double in the second inning but the Spirits weren’t able to get him home, however the squad opened up for 9 runs in the third inning to take a commanding 12 to 0 lead. Hitzeman led off with a single and Marsland followed suit. Scott reached on an error that allowed Hitzeman dot score and he was later forced at second when Lee reached on a fielder’s choice. Hunt then singled home Marsland and Lee before Kent Fischer reached on a fielder’s choice that put out Hunt at second base. Fischer swiped second base and moved to third on a single by Tipton. Fischer was then able to score on the play while Tipton took second due to a Hurricanes throwing error. McPherson followed with his second double on the night to score Tipton and a few pitches later, he crossed the dish on Sipila’s RBI single. Hitzeman then picked up his second single in the inning and Marsland’s 3-run blast took off into the jet stream blowing out to left and hasn’t been spotted coming back to Earth as of this game story. The Hurricanes then turned to Vince Parello to pitch and he was able to get Scott to ground out to end the Spirits half of the inning.
The Spirits added run number 13 in the fourth after Lee picked up his first single of the year in NTABL Masters League play. Hunt then reached on a fielder’s choice that squeezed Lee at second base. Fischer then replaced Hunt at first on another fielder’s choice and later scored on Tipton’s RBI double.
The Spirits saw a few different hitters reach base as the game progressed by run number thirteen closed out the scoring as the team went on to win 13 to 0. The Spirits host the Cardinals next Monday night at Cowboy Field in the Coppell ISD Baseball/Softball complex with the first pitch scheduled for 8:45PM. Fans can click here for schedule details.
Central Roofing and Restoration Players of the Game
Kirk Sipila (2-4, R, RBI; 6 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K)
Ryan Marsland (3-3, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB)
Travis Hitzeman (3-4, 3 R)
Eric McPherson (3-5, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI, SB)