HS Baseball: Montville gains from loss to Fitch

There are times when a loss may not be all that bad a thing.
Not that any coach, player or team likes to lose, but sometimes it can be a learning experience.
That’s what Montville coach Phil Orbe qualified his Indians’ 15-2 loss to Fitch on Monday after his team came back on Tuesday to down Norwich Free Academy, 4-3.
“I thought the kids learned from it, really came on (Tuesday) and put it behind us,” Orbe said.
There were times the Indians certainly could have done that, like in the fifth inning when the Wildcats scored all three of their runs.
Zach Beckwith’s two-run triple was a solid hit, but the two batters who preceded the NFA shortstop got on with a little help from Montville. An infield error allowed Dan Simoneau to reach and a good throw could have got Kevin Kneer who reached on an infield single.
“We gave them those three runs on the six outs we gave them and the one mental error, we could have hung our heads,” Orbe said.
The Indians, instead, rallied when Tyler Contillo doubled and scored in the fifth and sophomore Max Hart (2-3, 1 run scored) started the game-winning, two-run rally with a double to lead off the sixth inning.
“Max really put a great at-bat on hitting the ball the other way and used his legs from there,” Orbe said.