Monarchs Shine In Exhibition Victory

Kansas City, KS — It was the first time Manager Joe Calfapietra got to see his team in action this season as they out-dueled the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, 9-3, on Monday Night.

The left-handed pitcher, Jay Groome, got the start on the mound and Fargo-Moorhead jumped in front early when they grabbed three hits that resulted in two runs in the second inning.

The Monarchs immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning as the Indiana native, Grant Richardson, belted a solo home-run on the first pitch of his at-bat to cut the lead in half. Two batters later, Austin Callahan followed it up with a triple that led to him crossing home plate on a groundout-RBI from Saul Garza.

Three innings later, Kansas City took their first lead of the game in the fifth inning as Garza walked and Alvaro Gonzalez doubled to center field. The biggest moment of the inning was when Sahid Valenzuela, facing a full count, lined a ball into center field to bring home both runners and take a 4-2 lead.

Fargo took a run back in the seventh inning to cut the game to 4-3. The Redhawks had two runners on and in one of the most pivotal moments of the game, Grant Richardson made a leaping grab in left field to get out of the inning. The Monarchs kept the bats rolling as leadoff-hitter Hudson Head reached third via error from the Redhawks center fielder. Once again, Valenzuela came up big with a groundout-RBI to bring in Head. The former Reds product, Austin Callahan smashed an RBI-double to bring Valenzuela home which brought the lead to 6-3.

The Monarchs finished off the night with a bang in the eighth inning when Ryan Leitch nuked a solo home-run to right field and Sahid Valenzuela kept the foot on the gas pedal with a two-run home-run to finish off a five-RBI night from the former A’s product.

Kansas City will play one more exhibition game tomorrow against Fargo-Moorhead at Legends Field before opening the season on the road against the Kane County Cougars on Friday, May 15th. The team’s home opener is May 19th and tickets are on sale now.