Caleb Gottry attends Chandler Preparatory Academy and is a member of the AIA’s Student SID program.

On April 8th and April 12th, the Chandler Prep Titans faced their two biggest rivals on the softball diamond at Shawnee Park. The Trivium Prep Knights fell to the Titans 8-7, but the Horizon Honors Eagles, after dominating in the fourth inning, barely held on for a 14-12 victory over the Titans. 

The Knights had a consistent offense on April 8th, with only one scoreless inning, but Titan senior pitcher Isa Guadian kept Trivium in check, striking out ten batters over six innings. With all the contact the Knights were making, however, good fielding was vital for Chandler Prep, and the Titans were lucky to have freshman Juliette “Stretch” Mount consistently making plays at first. 

Offensively, the Titans best inning was the fourth, with five hits and four runs. After junior Grace Hathaway beat the ball to first, Guadian hit a double to right-center field with two on. Two batters later, senior Emily Curran hit a double to left-center field, collecting two RBIs and putting the Titans ahead 7-4 going into the top of the fifth.

The game was called an inning later when the lights at Shawnee Park shut off. Unfortunately, it happened again on April 12th against Horizon Honors at the top of the sixth with the Titans down two. The game was called once again, meaning that Chandler Prep would not have the chance to battle back for two more innings. Titan Coach Brodnik commented on this reality:

“It's unfortunate our game ended due to the field lights going out.  We made a big comeback against our region rival (Horizon Honors) and felt we could have won given two more innings.  If anyone reading this has influence with the City of Chandler, please encourage this high-tech city, which manufactures world-class semi-conductors and has self-driving cars, to update the way they manage sports field lighting.  There's no reason why we shouldn't have been able to call a number to extend the time on the lights.”

Despite Coach Jones’s (Athletic Director for Chandler Prep) attempts to call and extend the time while he was attending the game on April 12th, Chandler Recreation Superintendent Erika Berry responded to Brodnik’s concerns with this statement:

“We were unaware that Chandler Prep needed additional time for their games as they reserved the field from 5-8:30 p.m. on April 8 and 12.  We will plan to reconnect with Chandler Prep Academy to ensure we are able to accommodate their needs for future reservations and to learn more about the events you described.”

After seeing the offensive power the Eagles had in the top of the fourth and the Titan’s equally powerful response in the bottom of the fifth, many parents, players, coaches, and fans were disappointed to see the game end with unceremonious and sudden darkness.

The Eagles sent 13 batters to the plate in the fourth, collecting six hits and nine runs. After taking Guadian off the mound three batters into the inning, the Titans struggled to find a pitching rhythm. Good fielding once again helped Chandler Prep immensely as they were able to throw two players out at home with the bases loaded. 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Titans finally responded with an 11-batter, eight-run inning, largely driven by walks and stolen bases. Chandler Prep was unable to attempt to continue the offensive explosion into the sixth inning and the game was called 14-12 in favor of the Eagles.

The Titans play their next region game at Sequoia Pathway on April 19th at 3:45pm. Titan Up.