It was Cougars versus Warriors at New Scotland on Sunday. Starting for the Cougars was CDMSBL rookie and Vermont SBL veteran Ken Dooley, who looked sharp early on, then ran out of gas in the third. He was relieved by Frank Montagano, who finished the five and a half inning daylight-deprived game for the Kitties.
Our scorekeepers had the game scored as a no-hitter for the Cougars, but when I spoke to Warriors manager Jamie Foster, he revealed that while he had originally scored a questionable play an error, he later changed it to a hit. We are sure of one thing--the Warriors didn't get the ball out of the infield against Cougars pitching. Yet by capitalizing on a bunch of Cougars walks and errors, the Warriors still prevailed, 6-2.
Regarding the questionable play: the ball did take a squirrelly hop, hitting the infielder on the chest area--but it seemed he had time to recover and make the play. The infielder in question thought it should be a hit, but after googling "bad hop errors," I've decided to give the Cougars pitching staff a boost by calling it a no-no, albeit a five-inning one. The fact that both teams had awarded the error on first blush, tipped the balance in favor of the pitcher--that, and the fact that he had had to endure two earlier infield errors in the same inning.
But the real pitching story was on the Warriors side, as lefty starter Brian Kent and righty reliever Mark Meola combined to hold the Friendly Felines to one earned run on a measly five hits. Kent, a hard thrower, was dominant, chalking up seven strikeouts in four innings of work. Meola was effective, as well, limiting a potential big inning by getting a well-timed strikeout of the Cougars' clean-up hitter. The Warriors second-baseman--I believe his name is Barber--made a beautiful back-hand pick to kill another potential big inning.
You won't find a nicer group of guys than the Warriors. After some first-inning fielding jitters, they turned in a well-played game. Congratulations to Jamie and the boys from Niskayuna, on their well-deserved win.
By the way, the Cougars are no longer in first place.
