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Cougars
Defeat Bums at Classic Custom, Fitzpatrick Fans 11
On Friday, June 23rd,
the Cougars traveled to Classic Custom Field to face the
Poestenkill Bums. The game was much anticipated as the Cougars
and Bums would meet for their 5th of 8 meetings this
2006 season. It would be the first of which the Bums would host
the Cougars.
Scott Fitzpatrick, who
came into the game with a record of 5-3, would start for
Colehamer. When asked about his season thus far, he had this to
say: “I am not pleased with this start for me. I have
experienced nothing but success as a Cougar and want very much
for that to continue. I’ll just keep pitching and I’m sure
things will work out.”
They did for the Cougars
and for Scott on this first Friday of the 2006 summer. In the
first inning, the Cougars had one on and one out when Scott came
to the plate. He hit a ball down the left field line that
curved around the foul pole for a two-run blast. Cougar slugger
Mike Triscari and gold glove first baseman Mark Fitzpatrick each
added a blast of their own in the five-run Cougar first.
The Bums struggled to
get one back in the bottom half and Scott fanned two. The
Cougars would continue to add runs in bunches and led 10-4 at
the 7th inning stretch. The Cougars were lucky,
though, as the Bums squandered several opportunities to come
within striking distance of the lead. At one point, in the
bottom of the sixth, the Bums had a bases loaded two-out
situation and the newly acquired Mike Sanchez at the dish.
Scott then struck him out on a high fastball, putting an end to
the threat. The Bums also had problems hitting the ball out of
the reach of Mike Triscari. On a fly ball to deep left-center
by Nick Haggerty, Triscari laid out for a diving catch, killing
any momentum the Bums may have gained.
Then, in the bottom of
the 7th, the trouble for the Cougars began. Scott
gave up one in the inning and then 3 more in the 8th
and at 10-7 we had a ballgame again. But the top of the ninth
brought nightmares for the Bums. In a ninth in which all the
Cougar hitters had a home run and Scott with two, the Cougars
added nine to their lead. At one point in the inning Mark,
Scott and Earl went back-to-back-to-back. Earl Turner had maybe
the most impressive shot as he hit a line drive rocket that kept
rising as it made its way over the left-center fence. Mark
Fitzpatrick also had an opposite field monster that climbed up
to the tree tops. Errors and frustration plagued the Bums in
the inning, and Nick Hendrickson let some of it out as he dumped
the cooler of water over on the bench after being pulled for
defensive reasons.
The Bums didn’t go
quietly though as they charged back with two homers in the
bottom half. One, a two-run shot by Nick Haggerty, got the Bums
fired up. Sanchez then added a three-run blast to pull the Bums
within 7. It ended there, though, at 19 to 12 and Scott
Fitzpatrick finished the game with 11 strikeouts (one short of
the GKWL record).
At 9-3 the Cougars now
have a 3-game lead in the division with the Bums second at 4-4.
The ultimate wiffleball rivalry is likely to continue in the
next week or two as the Bums return from a week’s hiatus at Fort
Myers, Fla.
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