Balanced Norwalk sharp in opener

NORWALK — Like any coach, Jason Higgins had a mental script drawn up in his head. In the season opener against Fremont Ross on Monday, the Truckers exceeded any script Higgins thought his team could perform. Norwalk had eight different players with base hits, and three different pitchers combined to strike out 10 batters in the 9-0 non-league win at NHS. The Truckers scored four runs in the second and sixth innings. "If you had told me we were going to swing the bat like that every game, then I'd tell you we'd have a pretty good shot to win," Higgins said. "A lot of guys stepped up all throughout the lineup. To have 10 hits against decent varsity pitching in the first game of the season is great. We'll be in any game when we do that. Wesley Shupe led off the bottom of the second with a double, then Landon Ferkel singled on a bunt back to the pitcher, and both runners were safe. Kaedyn Warner grounded out to third to score Shupe and advance Ferkel. An error on the infield by Ross allowed Ferkel to score for a 2-0 lead, then Canyon Craig singled to left to score Caiden Wilson, who had reached on the error. Noah Helton capped the scoring in the frame with an RBI double to make it 4-0. In the third, Carter Harp walked and scored on an RBI single by Warner. Craig led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, and he scored on an error. After Brady Singer doubled, Harp added a two-run single to make it 8-0. Shupe grounded out to score Harp to close out the scoring. "And they were timely hits, too," Higgins said. "We had some aggressive base running to help those RBI hits, and we got bunts down. Offensively, I'm just really happy with our performance." Meanwhile, Helton went the first four innings and allowed just one hit. He struck out six with four walks. Harp went the next two innings and struck out three with a walk, and he also allowed one hit. Nate King pitched a scoreless seventh with a strikeout. "These guys are going out there and competing," Higgins said of his pitching. "It's only one game, and we maybe nibbled too much instead of pitching to contact, but they also battled through a couple of innings with some guys on. "We couldn't ask for more. Defensively we were solid. Overall, it was a clean baseball game, and that's what we're trying to play every time out." Norwalk is slated to host Crestview on Tuesday. Fr. Ross 000 000 0 — 0 3 2 Norwalk 041 004 x — 9 10 2 WP: Helton LP: Carroll 2B: (N) Helton, Shupe, Singer