Saturday, May 30

Kilmartin Hit Pushes SBS Past Willows, 3-2

Wilkinson –  After Mother Nature doused players’ hopes and SPALL’s fields with rain the past week, the patrons at Wilkinson Park were treated to some fun in the sun as SBS battled Willows to a 3-2 victory Saturday morning.  Despite over a week off for both teams, the players showed little rust with only four errors and six walks combined and some clutch defense and offense on both sides.

            After two strike outs by Andrew Roberts and a great catch in center by Hayden Owen off the bat of Phil D., SBS came to the plate looking to strike fast.  Owen led off with a sharp double and advanced to third on a wild pitch before being driven home by Jon Vickers on a sacrifice fly to center field.  What could have been Hurricane Katrina, however, turned into a light drizzle by SBS.  Despite a walk to Roberts and singles to Chris Mitchell and Michael Kilmartin, Griffin Henderson settled in nicely to get a strike out and a fielder’s choice ground out to end the inning with minimal damage.

            In the second Roberts pancaked three strike outs around a two strike double down the line by Riley “the Hustler” Hasson.  Henderson was equally as effective though as a lead-off walk by Joseph Grant was followed by two K’s and a fly out to Aaron “the Governor” Radziucz at first.

            Roberts turned to his D in the third after a lead off walk by Radziucz.  Mitchell put a Richard Seymour swim move on “the Gov” to get to a pop fly and record SBS’ first out before Roberts struck out the next batter.  With two outs Christian Guignard fought illness and a sharp grounder by Kam H. and wisely threw to J-Vick at second for the force out on Radziucz.  SBS then came to the plate with the top of its order due up.  Owen led off with a single and advanced to second on an overthrow.  Scampering to third base on a wild pitch did little, however, other than increase Owen’s heart rate a bit as the hot hitting J-Vick stepped to the plate looking to drive him in.  By the time Vickers left the batter’s box, it was the young lasses’ hearts that were going pitter-patter as their heart throb brought home Owen with a triple down the line in right.  Once Roberts reached on a fielder’s choice and Henderson struck out the next SBS batter, the stage was set for Kilmartin’s heroics.  The rookie delivered as he clotheslined a sharp single to right-center scoring Vickers and putting SBS ahead by a three run margin.

            With the sun beating down on the field, it seemed to impact Roberts more than Robert Pattinson in Twilight as the sweat poured off him like the cascades over Niagara Falls to start the fourth.   Densmore spanked a two strike double to the fence in left and Henderson drew a walk.  As has been the case all season, however, SBS proved to have better life support than the doctors at Maine Med as players stepped up to bailout one another.  First, Matt Gilboy made a pad save on a ball on the dirt that Densmore thought was by the catcher and tried to advance, but Roberts forced him back to third in an abbreviated run-down.  Then, Mitchell replaced Roberts mid-batter and completed a strike out for the first out of the inning.  With the sun gods smiling over SBS, “the Preacher,” Christian Guignard, snagged a hard liner off the bat of Jimmy DiBiase and nearly doubled Densmore off third.  The play was bittersweet for “the Preacher” as illness forced him back to his house where he traded in praying to the sun gods for praying to the porcelin gods.  We hope you feel better soon Big Man!  Mitchell proved that he was feeling just fine as he struck out the next batter for the final out of the inning.

            Max St. John replaced Henderson in the fifth and was able to keep his team in the ball game.  Vickers hit a towering fly ball down the line in right but second baseman DiBiase covered more ground than the lawnmowers on the fairways of Augusta National and made a nice running grab for the first out of the inning.  St. John was then able to record a strike out and a pop-out around Chris Mitchell’s second hit of the game and Willows came to the plate needing three runs to tie.

            With three games over the next three days, Dave “Kasparov” Vickers began a tricky juggling act with his pitchers.  Thomas Hodgkins got the nod, looking for his second save.  Like any great relief man, however, Hodgkins was determined to make it interesting.  Densmore led off with his second hit of the game and then Henderson followed with a single.  Desmore was able to score on an error and Henderson advanced to second.  Hayden Owen stopped the bleeding temporarily with another nice catch in centerfield but after a passed ball, Henderson scored Willows’ second run on a wild pitch so that the “Pizza Guys” only trailed by one.

            With the bases now clear, Hodgkins put on his best Papelbon stare and helped his own cause by fielding a grounder from the next batter.  With two outs now in the bank, Hodgkins earned that second save by striking out the following hitter for the third out of the inning.