LORAIN — Helped by nine walks, a hit batter and three errors, Southview scored early and often in beating Elyria Catholic 9-4 on a cold, but sunny Wednesday afternoon that began the 2008 baseball season for both schools.  
While the Saints were helped tremendously by all their free passes, they also got a strong pitching performance from senior Cameron Castro, who allowed only one hit, walked none and struck out four in five solid innings.
Southview also got some great defensive plays from shortstop Kory Martinez and second baseman Mykel Rosario.
Due to the inclement weather all March, neither team had much outside practice prior to Wednesday’s opener. But it didn’t seem to hurt the Saints.
“We’ve only been outside for two practices and had no scrimmage or even intrasquad games,” said Southview coach Brad Ternes, son of longtime Saints coach Dan Ternes. “Overall, I liked everything about this game, especially the defense. And Castro was just great. Just think, today was the first time he faced a batter in competition all spring, or in outside practice either.”
After Elyria Catholic spotted the Saints a 7-0 lead in the first four innings, it battled back to make the score a little more respectable on three runs in the sixth and one in the seventh, sparked by some key hits by Edwin Cruz and Andrew Kubuski.
The Panthers’ Paul Kubuski also did a nice job pitching in the sixth inning, striking out three in his only inning of work.
“I was comfortable on the mound,” Castro said. “I pitched with no worries because I have great defense behind me. The cold was no big deal. I wasn’t bothered by not being able to finish the game. It’s early in the year and some other guys deserve to get in some work.”
As for Elyria Catholic coach Tom Kubuski, he was not too happy after the game.
“You can’t defend a walk,” he said. “At one point in the game I think we gave up four runs without allowing a hit. You can’t gift wrap a baseball game.”  

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