Aidan Richmond is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Scottsdale Prep for AZPreps365.com.

A swing, miss and opening-day loss for the Scottsdale Preparatory Academy Spartans, who fell 1-4 on the road to the Phoenix Country Day Eagles. 

The Eagles were led by a two home run performance by junior Tim Moriarity who also pitched the final two innings of the game. Moriarity also scored on a wild pitch in the first inning. 

“I was pretty disappointed [with] the way we played, but it is the first game of the year so there’s plenty of places to improve,” head coach David Primavera said. 

The Spartans struggled against the Eagles’ pitching, which held them scoreless until the sixth inning. Their one score came on an error with a runner caught between third and home. 

“I think we took too many fastballs, took too many strikes down the middle and we looked at some third strikes as well,” Primavera said. 

The Spartans struggled to match up to the hitting of the Eagles, batting .077 for the game compared to the Eagles’ .280. The seven hits of Phoenix Country Day all came from four players: Tim Moriarity with three, Jake Tucker with two and Zane Lateef and Adam Burns both with one. 

“We were taking too many first pitch strikes. And then people were swinging and missing on off-speeds and then striking out on pitches with their eyes,” senior Brandon Ohre said. 

Throughout the game, energy was high for both dugouts, getting loud for their players at the plate. 

“Come out with confidence not emotion, play like we’re ready to win a ballgame not to beat the other team personally,” junior Nathan Kammer said about what the team needs to do in the future. 

The Spartans play their next game on Wednesday, March 2 against Gilbert Classical.