North Adams SteepleCats' Season Ends in 12 Innings
 The SteepleCats ended their season in extra innings on Monday night. More game photos can be found here. |
On Monday night, no one was rushing to have any reunions.
But after 12 hard-fought innings, the 'Cats saw their season come to an end with a 3-1 loss to the Vermont Mountaineers in Game 2 of their best-of-three NECBL playoff series.
"It was a great bunch of kids," North Adams coach Kevin Smith said. "I had so much fun with these kids. They're really, really a lot of fun to be around.
"We had three quarters of the team for early hitting today. That tells you. ... I think other people are talking about flights going home and going back to school. These kids are still here taking extra [batting practice] and trying to get better."
In the end, hitting was the Achilles heel for the 'Cats, who tied for 11th in batting average and 10th in runs scored in the 13-team NECBL.
On Monday night, they scored a run on Joe Landi's third-inning RBI single but then stranded seven runners over the next nine innings to waste a standout effort from starting pitcher Mike Murphy.
Murphy, who led North Adams in wins with a 5-3 record, ended up with a no-decision despite allowing just four hits and one run in nine innings. Murphy did not allow a baserunner through the first six innings before Vermont's Thomas Roulis doubled to right field.
"He threw on Friday, and I thought he might be a little tired, but he was really sharp," Smith said. "To no-no this team for six innings says a lot about what he did. If we just could have squeezed another run, it would have been another great, complete, nine-inning game for him."
Murphy, a rising senior at New Jersey's Rider University, had two complete games this summer for the 'Cats.
He lost his shutout bid on Monday in the top of the eighth. With one out, Vermont's A.J. Ryan reached on a double to right, moved up on a single and scored on a basehit by Bret Dennis to erase North Adams' one-run lead.
Doug Willey pitched two innings of shutout relief, but Vermont touched Joeanthony Rivera for two runs in the deciding 12th.
The rally started with a single by Mike Triller. Chandler Brock then attempted to bunt Triller into scoring position, but his perfect bunt into no-man's land on the right side led to a hurried throw that sailed into foul territory, allowing Triller to score and Brock to land on third base.
Kevin Krause followed with a single to drive in an insurance run, but Vermont's Brandon Alphin did not need the cushion, picking up the win with his third inning of scoreless relief after taking over from starter John Miles.
Miles struck out six and walked two in a no-decision. He allowed North Adams' lone run in the third after Jacob Huckaby led off with a single, moved into scoring position on Kyle Richardson's sacrifice bunt and scored on Landi's seventh RBI of the summer.
Instead of hosting North Adams for a rubber game Tuesday, Vermont takes the night off before facing either Holyoke or Keene in the NECBL Western Division finals. Holyoke won Monday night, 4-2, to force Game 3 in their series.
Tags: baseball, playoffs, SteepleCats,
