Not a good day for Seattle Christian's boys baseball team, but it's certainly still a good season starting out, holding onto first place (4-1) even after losing, 7-0, to visiting Orting at Warriors Field Friday.

Orting improved to 2-2 this season.

So, yeah, not a good game for SCS but the season has been good. This was just a little blip on the radar that should pass away with a little time off to do other things before getting back into the meat of the season. The school's kids go on trips, sometimes far away, sometimes close by, working in soup kitchens, at camps, doing community and religious service. Quite a way to spend spring break.

"We take time off to do cultural experiences," said Derek Benson, who pitched this game for the Warriors and pitched strong through the first four innings before experiencing trouble in the fifth.

Benson, the Warriors' senior pitching leader, a four-year starter, was hurt by an opening walk to the inning, which is, coincidentally, what Benson did in the Orting top of the first and that runner came around to score for a 1-0 lead that stayed that way until the fifth.

So, after walking the leadoff guy of the inning, Benson was hurt by the next batter's bunt -- a good one that moved the runner to second base as the SCS first baseman scrambled to the ball and made the throw to first base. The ball was dropped by the covering second baseman. That faux pa put runners on first and second base with no outs. Another walk from Benson, and, the Cardinals had the bases loaded.

Errors will hurt.

"The pitching was good enough to win," said SCS coach Tom Mallory, who led the Warriors to third place finishes back in 2003 and, again in 2006, at state.

But the errors really hurt as Benson dug deep to get a strikeout with those bases loaded with Cardinals in the fifth inning. But he then got tired, in trouble throwing.

Benson gave up a walk next, forcing in a run to make it 2-0.

"It wasn't my best game," said Benson. "I didn't feel like myself."

Why not?

"I don't know," he said.

You walked a batter in the first inning that came around to score, then in the fifth more trouble with walks. And then...

"We fell apart," said Benson.

Benson came out after the walk of his made it a two-run difference. And the next pitcher really struggled, allowing two walks, which both forced in runs, and one RBI single was on his tab too. All and all, that spelled a 5-0 Orting lead. So, another SCS pitcher came to the mound, Austin Baucom, a freshman, and, he struck out two Orting batters right away back-to-back to get the Warriors out of that bases loaded jam with some hope left to come back.

A rally by this first place Nisqually League team, that's what was needed.

But besides a good hit to right center field by Michael Watts to start the SCS bottom of the fifth, nothing else happened with the bats. The Orting top of six was another run scoring on a triple and RBI single in succession, 6-0.

The sixth could have been better for SCS as Shawn Doi led off the inning with a single to right field but the next three batters all struck out.

"If you don't score any runs, you are going to lose," said Mallory, whose team lost in the district playoffs to Orting one game shy of making state last year. "We have got to hit the ball."

SCS does not play its next game until April 9 against Lindbergh, but that is a nonleague game. Then its next game is nonleague against Cedar Park Christian on April 13. Finally, on April 14, the Warriors play a league game at home against Life Christian.

So, there is a lot of time now to get things right, in more ways than one.

Orting 7, Seattle Christian 0

The Seattle Christian girls fastpitch softball team also played at home against Orting this past Friday and met a similar fate as the boys -- a 7-0 shutout loss.