Ron Massaroni twirled a complete game shutout in a 1-0 win over the Black Sox in a high noon showdown, and then capped off a Marlins sweep by producing the game-winning hit in the bottom of the seventh for a 3-2 comeback victory over Shasky''s in the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday at New Scotland.
Massaroni out-dueled Darrell Duncan in a low scoring affair that was highlighted by great defense and not-so-great baserunning. The Marlins had two runners picked off first in the opening inning, and the Black Sox ran themselves out a possible victory in the bottom of the seventh. With runners on the corners and one out, Massaroni snagged a sharply-hit comebacker and caught the runner breaking for home. He ran at him and chased him back to third where Andy Hoyle applied the tag for the second out and then ended the game by diving to get the runner trying to go all the way to third on the same play.
In Game 2, Marlins sub-mariner Wayne Nicholson held Shasky's in check and handed over the game ball to John Martin to start the seventh with the score tied at 1-1. Shasky's Tim Burns reached on error, stole second and moved to third with one out on a wild pitch. He alertly darted for home when one of Martin's overhand curve balls failed to travel the 60 feet necessary to make it to catcher Scott Ross' glove. As the ball bounded to the backstop, Burns raced in and belly-flopped across home plate for the 2-1 Shasky''s lead.
But this battle-tested Marlins team was not ready to pack it in. Jim Ansel led off the bottom of the 7th with a single and courtesy runner Tom Maney stole second and scored the tying run when Ross found the hole between first and second with a sharp single. After Ross stole second, Dan Fernandez was walked to load the bases with two outs to set up a force at any base. But Massaroni foiled the strategy by ripping a line drive over the left-fielder's head on the first strike he saw from reliever Denny Lane for the game-winner.
The twin-killing enabled the Marlins to climb over the .500 mark and now stand 4-3 on the season.
DISCLAIMER -- This recount is without the scorebook, and from memory -- which can be a scary thing at my age. I didn't get the name of the Shasky's starting pitcher, who had the Marlins baffled with several strikeouts via the breaking ball, so feel free to pipe in. It was great to get back to the ballpark, even if was just as a spectator -- TIM B
-- Edited by adtimbrown on Sunday 25th of June 2017 07:03:47 PM
-- Edited by adtimbrown on Sunday 25th of June 2017 09:15:11 PM
Maz was special - threw at 1-0 shutout and was clutch in the bottom of the seventh both games. Great games against teams that played well and fought hard, down to the last out. It is good to see our new PR Director, who writes on one foot. Jim A
Giving credit where credit is due. Mark Callahan was the starting pitcher for the Shaskys. Mark returned to the CDMSBL last season and has been a very valuable addition to the Shaskys.
The Shaskys got a very strong pitching performance from Jim Tesereiro and more solid defense - especially from Steve Hughes at SS - in the second game of our double-header only to lose to the Yankees 1 - 0.
