Softball

Dragon wars

Cougars win doubleheader opener to repay Cornwall for early season loss; Dragons bounce back in game two

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LIBERTY, NY — Sweltering temperatures were no hindrance to the Catskill Cougars, who scratched their way to a key 5-1 win over the visiting Cornwall Dragons on July 20. Getting a solid outing from Liberty’s Trevor Tompkins, the Cougars blanked the Independent Travel Division-leading Dragons for six innings before an error led to Cornwall’s lone run in the seventh.

Although the second-place Cougars got only six hits off the combined hurling of Cornwall’s John McConville and Pete Miceli, they were able to capitalize on getting men on base and taking advantage of four errors by the Dragons to garner the win.

Oddly, the Cougars’ hit total was half of what it was the last time the two teams played on July 9 when, despite banging out 12 hits, the Cougars came up short 8-0. In that game, the Dragons had only three hits but poor fielding led to the Cougars’ demise.

“That game was a gut check for us,” said Cougars’ coach Mike McGuire. “We really beat ourselves that day. I always give credit to the other team, but they scored seven runs at one point on one hit.”

“Championship baseball is about pitching and good defense and we’ve been getting really good pitching. We made some errors today because we’ve got some kids playing out of their normal positions, but summer league baseball is all about learning,” added McGuire.

Although the Cougars would go on to lose the second game of the double header by the score of 9-1, the prospect of making the playoffs looks bright. Once the postseason begins, anything can happen.

In game one, Tompkins got his team off to a good start by working around a single by Tyler Bell to blank Cornwall in the first inning. The Cougars jumped out to a 1-0 lead as Logan Grishaber drew a leadoff walk, moved up on a ground out and came in on an E-5 errant throw off the bat of Justen Mills. Tompkins banged into a double play to end the inning.

In the second inning, an E-5 put Cornwall’s Miceli on. A ground out and a sac bunt moved him to third. He was stranded on a grounder to second. The Cougars stranded two runners in the second and failed to score, despite a single by Mark Tesseyman and a walk by Lucas Bauer.

Tompkins issued his only walk of the game in the third inning, but Cornwall batters continued to hit the ball right at Cougar defenders and failed to score. That drought would continue unabated until the seventh.

The Dragons threatened to tie the game in the fourth, an inning in which the Cougars committed two errors. Despite those miscues, the Cougars got out of the inning on a 2-6-2 play, as catcher Will McGuire tried to cut down Scott McClenan, who had reached on an E-5. Shortstop Brad Reimer threw home in time to get pinch runner Brendan Smith, who had come on to run for McConville. That ended the inning.

The Cougars failed to score in the fourth inning, despite getting Reimer on base to start the inning on an E-6. Reimer stole second but was stranded there. Cornwall’s McClenan made a nice play on a fly by Joe Franke to end the inning.

Cornwall took advantage of another E-5 to start the fifth as Alex Firestone reached safely. He moved up on a sac bunt by Alex Vincent but was left on base as the inning ended. Cornwall batters just couldn’t seem to get the timely hit when they needed it.

The Cougars added a second run in the fifth inning as Grishaber singled and stole second. With two out, a RBI single by Tompkins made it a 2-0 game. Pitcher McConville was sure he had struck out Tompkins on a curve over the plate before but the umpire had ruled it as a ball. The Dragons got two on again in the sixth but failed to score.

In the bottom of the sixth, after McConville walked Gaston Owen, Miceli came on to pitch. Owen stole second and scored on a single by Lucas Bauer. A double by Grishaber scored the second run of the inning. He came in on a passed ball to make it 5-0.

The Dragons finally scored in the seventh. With two out, Joey Terribile hit a single. A passed ball got him to second and he scored on an E-5 off the bat of Firestone. Tompkins struck out Alex Vincent to end the game.

The Cougars improved to 9-5-1, while the Dragons fell to 14-5. A win in the second game by the Cougars would have put them in first place, a position they occupied before losing a pair of games to the Wappinger Seminoles the day before.

Cornwall reversed the polarity in game two as Firestone went two for two and Terribile went two for three. Grishaber took the loss for the Cougars, who fell to 9-6-1, while Firestone picked up the win for the Dragons, who improved to 15-5. Mills went two for two in the Cougars’ loss. One of his hits was a booming triple. He scored on a single by Tesseyman for the Cougars’ lone run.

Owen had a hit for the Cougars.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game-one pictures.