Cougars Overcome Rough Start to Defeat Hornets

Head coach Justin Janis set aside time at Tuesday's practice to talk to his baseball team about mental toughness during difficult game situations.

And it's a good thing he did.

Oakton fell behind quickly in Wednesday's game against Herndon, heading into the bottom of the second down 4-0, with two runs scored after errors from catcher Chris Hanson.

But the Cougars would rally with two outs in the bottom of the second inning to trail by one run, then pull ahead and out of reach over the next four innings to win 12-6 in their first Concorde District game of the season.

The second inning, two-out rally was not the Oakton squad's only display of mental toughness. From the second inning on, each time the Cougars had two outs against them, whoever stood in the batter's box found a way to get on base.

"We had a good talk yesterday about mental toughness, facing adversity. You know, responding when you're down," Janis said. "I thought we did that tonight, which was good."

Janis pointed to Hanson's performance as an example of the team's resilience.

"He started off having a bit of a rough night, but he picked it up and got better defensively. He had three big hits, those key RBIs with that home run," he said. "He flipped the switch in the middle of the game and really turned it around. That shows great mental toughness right there."

Hanson went 3 for 4 at the plate — hitting a single, three-run home run and double in the third, fourth and sixth, respectively — to come back from hitting into a double play in the first. His homer scored what would end up being the winning run.

The turnaround for the Cougars started in the second inning when left fielder Mason Hauser hit a two-out double on a 3-2 count to score designated hitter Dennis Cooney, who hit a single to start the inning, and third baseman Mitchell Carroll, who had walked.

Heading into the third inning down just one run instead of four seemed to bolster pitcher R.J. Garcia, who was able to get three straight outs — two groundouts and his first strikeout — to keep the momentum in Oakton's favor.

After right fielder Brian Burns hit a solo shot to tie the game 4-4 to start the bottom of the fourth, the Cougars never looked back.

"They're a very well-coached team. So I was very nervous that once they kinda got momentum on their side, I didn't know if we were going to be able to gain it back," Janis said. "I'm really proud of the way we kept fighting."

Other stats:

Hits: Chris Hanson (HR, double, single), Chad Carroll (triple, double, single), Brian Burns (HR, single), Dennis Cooney (single, double), Luke Willis (2 singles), Taiyo Francis (2 singles), Mason Hauser (double), Ty Carroll (double)

RBI: Hanson (3), C. Carroll (2), Cooney (2), Hauser (2), Francis (1), Burns (1), T. Carroll (1)