'Cats Crush Westerners in July Fourth Matchup
NORTH ADAMS — The North Adams SteepleCats posted season highs in runs and hits en route to outslugging the Danbury (Conn.) Westerners 16-8 in front of a fireworks-night crowd of 5,671 at Joe Wolfe Field.The SteepleCats jumped all over Danbury starter Michael Oskandy, starting in the first inning. With two outs, Kevin Carby singled and stole second before being brought home on an RBI single from Paul Hoilman for a 1-0 North Adams lead.
After the Westerners tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second, the SteepleCats plated a pair of runs thanks to four singles in the inning off the bats of Derek Shaw, Sean Parker, Greg Van Horn and T.J. Greig to take a 3-1 lead.
North Adams would chase Oskandy in the third inning. With one out, Cody Stanley was hit by a pitch, followed by a double from Ryan Semeniuk. After a sacrifice fly by Derek Shaw to make it 4-1, Sean Parker drilled a double down the left field line to score Semeniuk to make it 5-1. A Greig single and John Malloy double followed to score two more and make it 7-1 SteepleCats.
Danbury got back in the game in the fifth inning, scoring three unearned runs to cut the SteepleCats lead in half at 7-4. Not to be deterred, North Adams took full advantage of a pair of extra outs given to them in the bottom of the inning by Danbury second baseman Vinny Ganz to score five runs, the big shots in the inning, back-to-back, two-RBI singles from Kevin Carby and Paul Hoilman for a 12-4 'Cats advantage.
Both teams would score four more times in the contest for a 16-8 final. The 16 runs were an NECBL single game high for the year while Danbury's 20 hits were also a league best.
Greg Robinson (1-1) picked up the win for North Adams while Michael Oskandy (1-3) took the loss for the Westerners. Of all the offensive stars in the game, Paul Holman shone brightest for the 'Cats going 3-for-5 with five RBI. Vinny Ganz went 4-for-6 for Danbury.
North Adams remains home for the next three games starting on Saturday night against Manchester. Saturday is Ladies' Night at Joe Wolfe Field with the first 100 ladies into the ballpark receiving free flowers.
