Aaron Murphee fired a fout hit shutout
(Monrovia) – Monrovia’s Aaron Murphee was the man. He was the man in the first inning when he retired three of four South Pasadena batters but more importantly he was the man in the seventh when he stuck out the side in a 2-0 shut out of the Tigers Friday in the Rio Hondo League opener.
Murphee allowed four hits, all singles, struck out 9 and walked 2. He fanned one in the first, two in the second, two more in the third and one in the fourth. He finished it off in style by blowing away the first two batters in the seventh before catching George Adamson looking to end the game.
Ironically it was his own miscue that almost severely cost the Wildcats. In the sixth inning with two out Tony Veiller hit a high pop up in the middle of the infield. All of the infielders converged but Murphee came off the mound and called them off. At the last second he had to reach back for the ball and was unable to glove it as the ball fell untouched. Instead of inning over Veiller was standing at first base.
Conor Bednarski then hit a ground ball to short. The ball was fielded cleanly but the throw to first was in the dirt and everybody was safe. Dylan Trimarchi drew a walk to load the bases but after a meeting at the mound, Murphee got Zane MacPhee on a ground ball to second to get out of the jam.
Southpaw Anthony D’oro was solid for South Pas
Before the sixth, South Pas did not get a runner past second base. Three of the four hits for the Tigers were courtesy of Brendan Perry.
Murphee had to be at his best to out duel Anthony D’oro. D’oro worked five and one-third innings and allowed just four hits. In the sixth inning Justin De La Nuez singled and stole second. D’Oro struck out Murphee but was then replaced by Veiller. DeLa Nuez then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when another one got away to give the Cats a 2-0 lead.
Monrovia scored in the third inning when Chris Calver reached on an error, and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. He took third on an error and scored on a base hit by Robert Nakamura. And that was all D’oro allowed until Monrovia pushed another one across in the sixth. The lefty walked two and hit two batters but pitched well enough to win.
But it wasn’t well enough to beat Murphee. On this day the game belonged to number 32 in green.
The two teams will meet again Monday at South Pasadena.
SP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
M 0 0 1 0 0 1 – 2
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