By Steve Ramirez
twitter.com/SteveRRamirez
LA PUENTE — If the Serra High School baseball team was hoping to make a statement in its first Del Rey League game, it made its point loud and clear Tuesday.
Soleman Bates tossed a one-hit shutout and had two RBIs and the visiting Cavaliers rolled to a 6-0 victory over six-time defending league champion Bishop Amat.
Serra, also getting three hits and two RBIs from Trent Hammond, improved to 14-5 overall. Bishop Amat slipped to 6-9.
Bates struck out 12 with two walks. He yielded just four baserunners and retired 11 out of the final 12 batters, including the last nine.
Serra led 4-0 after three innings, taking advantage of three Bishop Amat errors.
Bishop Amat coach Andy Nieto: “In important games the way you punch back and trade punches with the opponent is to equal them on defense. We gave them extra opportunities. We let a base-hit to right turn into a run. We let a well-positioned line drive turn into an extra at-bat that gave them two more runs.”