On a beautiful Sunday afternoon with bluejays singing their songs, another group of Bluejays made beautiful music on the diamond with a 7-3 win over the Cougars at New Scotland Park. Playing a flawless defense, with timely hitting, and solid pitching the Bluejays were in mid season form.
Hits by Mike Surin and Art Gianakos plated the first 2 runs of the game. Dave Forman and Dave Latina each had a long double which resulted in two more runs during the course of the game. Dave Plew had a solid game at short with some outstanding plays as did the whole infield.
Pitching for the BlueJays was Art Gianakos, John Weber, and Dave Forman
Cougar's big hitter was Greg Bricoe with a double and a long Home Run in the 7th. Frank Montenagro was the pitcher for the Cougars.
Fortunately for the Blue Jays, my good friend Artie Gianockers [ouch!] plays baseball better than he spells the names of opposing players.
Frank Montagano started for the Cougars, yielding five hits and too many walks to count. Regrettably, The Cats fell victim to some early season jitters as evidenced by six fielding errors, including four miscues in the second inning alone. Joe Kosek took over on the mound in the bottom of the fifth, allowing no runs over 1.1 refreshingly error-free innings.
Yes, second year player Greg Briscoe was, in fact, the Cougar who took a hanging slider over the left field fence. And I can attest that Big Greg's blast got no help from the wind.
Of course, I couldn't resist asking the Cougars to give Greg the traditional first-home-run "silent treatment" as he came back to the bench. Greg's a great guy and a fabulous teammate and he knows full well that the Cougars couldn't be happier with his impressive performance.
It was good to see Dave Latina back behind the plate for the Blue Jays after his recent absence from CDMSBL play. His double amply demonstrated that he can still swing the bat with authority.
Dave Foreman's double, on the other hand, should have been caught, as our right fielder, who was playing out of position, took three steps in instead of going back three steps on a ball that was essentially hit right at him. And that's not to take anything away from the formidable talents of Dr. Foreman, who we are fortunate to have on the roster of the 55+ Gray Cougars this season.
And, once again, my sincerest thanks to Black Sox manager Don Wixon, who was nice enough to catch the entire game for the Cougars. For as long as I've known him, Don has been an example to all of us of a man who is profoundly committed in both word and deed to the overall success of CDMSBL baseball.
Congratulations and continued good luck to Artie and the Blue Jays on their inaugural victory.
