The Greatest Comeback You Will
Ever See
It was a sunny afternoon
at Classic Custom Field. In the end though, it was very gloomy
for residents of Poestenkill. It started off with the game that
was picked up from Sunday. The Cougars failed to come through,
blowing many opportunities to score. The final ended up being
15-14 in favor of the Bums. The Cougar players were looking for
blood.
In
the early going, Colehamer played mediocre at best. They hung
around for awhile, but starting pitcher Scott Fitzpatrick became
very fatigued, and eventually surrendered 17 runs before coming
out at the end of five. The found themselves down 17-9 with
Mike Triscari making a long relief appearance. To say the
least, he gave the Cougars three solid innings. Down 22-9 going
into the seventh inning, the Cougars were bound to lose two in a
row to arch-rival PoeBums. The Cougar offense could not bare to
let go easily, scoring three runs to cut the lead to ten. In
the bottom of the seventh, Mike Triscari had his best inning of
work, blanking the Bums, and giving Colehamer some hope. Earl
sparked the offense that inning, as he vowed to “hit the f*cking
ball.” He did, cranking a two run job. The eighth inning was
capped by a grand slam by Mark Fitzpatrick, who energized the
team as they made their unbelievable comeback. Triscari pitched
the eighth, as the Cougars suffered a crushing blow below the
belt as Mike Sanchez hit a three run homer to dampen any spirit
of a comeback for Colehamer. The Cougars stepped to the plate
down 25-17. Earl got out. Mike got out. You dream of making a
comeback like this, but it is never really possible. What
happens next is even better than the ‘86 Mets. Two outs.
Nobody on. Scott stepped to the dish and just wanted to do
anything he could to stay alive. The hardest thrower in the
game, Mike Sanchez, displayed his inaccuracy by walking him.
That is what they needed. Mark stepped in seeing red. Second
pitch……home run. Still alive. Two outs. Nobody on. 25-19.
The Bums still think they have it under wraps. The Cougars
thought otherwise. What are the odds? Not dead yet, but on
life support. Earl walks. Mike steps in…….home run. An
opposite field shot that put a glimmer in the heart of the
Cougar faithful. You could hear some chattering in the stands.
People began re-admitting their tickets into the game.
The
control of Mike Sanchez really began to hurt the Bums as Scott
walked to begin yet another rally. Mark came to the dish
thinking “get on base.” He did, but it was ugly. A line drive
to the wall in right should have put this puppy to sleep, but
Haggerty couldn’t handle it as it bounced off the wall and in
for a single. At 25-21, suddenly the Cougars had the tying run
on deck. Earl drew yet another walk to bring the tying run to
the plate. The demons were working against the Bums as they
finally made the call to the bullpen. Matt Fischer, a much
slower pitcher, came into the game. Mike Triscari was
intentionally walked. 25-22. Two outs. Bases loaded. Scott,
the potential winning run, came to the plate. The first one
Fischer threw was a looking strike. As he wound up for the
second, Fitzpatrick prepared to juice one. After facing Sanchez
all day long, Fischer’s pitches were appearing slow. Scott took
advantage, and sent one into the next time zone in the left
field bleacher seats. 26-25. What a comeback!
Cinderella-like. But the party was not over yet, as they still
had to record three defensive outs at Classic Custom, a daunting
task. They threatened, but were finally retired in the ninth,
as closer Mark Fitzpatrick jogged out from the bullpen. Mark
Fitzpatrick would face Mike Hendrickson first, who singled to
left. Mike Sanchez then repeated with an infield hit. No outs,
two on. 26-25. Matt Fischer then choked, and struck out
looking. One out, two on. 26-25. Nick Haggerty contributed
and reached base to load them for Mike Hendrickson. Hendrickson
cracked, and struck out on a 2-2 pitch in the dirt. Mike
Sanchez came up next. 2 out. Bases loaded. 26-25. 2-2
count. A high pop up finally ended the drama and now the
Cougars could celebrate the greatest comeback of all time. What
made it sweeter was to do it against their rival, Poestenkill
Bums.
As
the Cougars celebrated on the field, the Bums could only learn
from this. There are 27 outs in a ballgame. With 26 outs
recorded, up by eight runs, they rolled over. Keep logging on
to
www.baseball.gamerskey.net to get the full length
video of the greatest game ever played, and see for yourself how
truly amazing it was.
~Mark |