NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- After a week in which it went 1-4 and watched its first place lead disappear, the North Adams SteepleCats could have folded up the tents going into Friday’s rain-rescheduled double-header at the Valley Blue Sox.

 

After seeing a 2-0 lead evaporate in a 5-2 loss in Game 1, the ‘Cats could have called it a day.

 

And after going behind, 2-0, two innings into the nightcap, North Adams could have given up.

 

But the SteepleCats battled back and tied the game, only to drop a heart-breaking 3-2 decision to the two-time defending NECBL champions and miss a shot at the postseason by one game.

 

“That’s all you can ask for, sometimes,” North Adams coach Mike Dailey said after the Blue Sox secured one of two wild cards in the seven-team Northern Division. “We fought. We had a lot of adversity the last week and a half -- losing guys, losing very, very key components to our team.

 

“And these guys just stepped up and tried to fill slots, doing the best they can -- guys playing out of position, or in a position that they’re not entirely used to and comfortable with and just battling. And I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

 

 

North Adams (24-20) went into Friday with a chance to finish first in the New England Collegiate Baseball League Northern Division if it swept the Blue Sox at MacKenzie Stadium, but the SteepleCats needed at least one win to finish second and get into Saturday’s one-game wildcard playoff.

 

Instead, Holyoke, which needed to go at least 1-0-1 on Friday, gets the honor of hosting Vermont in Saturday’s wildcard game, and Keene sits back and waits to host the Northern Division championship series that starts on Sunday.

 

“We were in both games, and both pitchers pitched their tails off, and, you know, sometimes it just doesn’t go your way,” Dailey said. “Tonight, Valley was just a little better. You know, congratulations, and I hope they go and just run right through it because they certainly deserve it after the way they played tonight.”

 

Holyoke native Endy Morales scattered seven hits and held North Adams hitless over the last three innings for a complete-game victory in Game 1.

 

In Game 2, Holyoke (25-18) got five strong innings from starter Kevin Gould before turning to its bullpen; Rob Griswold pitched the ninth to pick up his sixth save of the summer.

 

The first game was a lot like North Adams’ summer: a strong start, a disappointing finish and an end that came too soon.

 

Leadoff man Tre Kirklin reached base with a walk and scored to give the SteepleCats a 1-0 lead before Valley got to the plate.

 

Kirklin moved up on a single by Andrew Pedone and Joseph Poricelli’s groundout before he scored on a ground ball by Hoosac Valley graduate Matt Koperniak.

 

Gordon Graceffo pitched out of trouble in the first inning, stranding a pair of runners, and cruised from there, allowing just two more runners over the next four innings.

 

Meanwhile, the SteepleCats stretched their lead to 2-0 in the fourth when Kyle Brennan singled, moved up on a bunt by J.J. Sousa and scored on Nick Caruso’s single to center field.

 

But after Graceffo allowed just three hits over the first five innings, it all came apart in the sixth, when the Blue Sox batted around with five hits -- the big blow a three-run double by John Marti -- to erase the SteepleCats’ lead and take a three-run lead of their own.

 

“We had plans for guys to come in,” Dailey said of his bullpen. “But, at the same time, knowing that Game 2 was looming, we felt we had guys we wanted to save for that game at that point. If it was a one-run game, then we’d have certainly brought guys in. But at that point, we felt it was better to come into Game 2 with fresh arms if needed.”

 

Morales worked a 1-2-3 seventh for the complete-game win and kept his team’s playoff hopes alive.

 

Holyoke rode that momentum with a leadoff homer by Joe Lomuscio in the first inning of the nightcap.

 

The Blue Sox then got runners at the corners with two outs before Nicholas Payero closed the door.

 

Valley added an insurance run in the second, but North Adams got off the mat in the top of the fourth.

 

Poricelli led off the inning with a single to left, and he went to third on a double to right by Koperniak.

 

Scout Knotts drove in Poricelli with a ground ball, and Koperniak scored on a passed ball to tie the game, 2-2.

 

It did not stay that way for long.

 

In the bottom of the fourth, Valley used three hits to generate the winning run, which scored when No. 9 hitter Cody Littlejohn sacrificed home Travis Holt.

 

North Adams ran into some tough luck from there.

 

In the fifth and sixth innings, it hit line drives with men on base that Valley turned into inning-ending double plays.

 

“Not much you can do about that,” Dailey said. “You’re just going to sit there and say, ‘That’s baseball.’ I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again: Sometimes you’re the bug, and sometimes you’re the windshield. Tonight we were the bug, more than once.

 

“And there’s times when we start the runners, and that ball finds a hole, and we’re first and third or second and third. Tonight, it just wasn’t that fortunate for us.”

 

Payero -- one of five NECBL All-Stars for a SteepleCats team that led the Northern Division most of the summer -- ended up with six strikeouts in a complete-game loss.

 

“It’s tough to sit there and see your guys, knowing that their backs are against the wall and doing everything you can to try to help them,” Dailey said. “This league is designed that it’s survival of the fittest at the end. Sometimes, it’s not the first seven weeks how you play. It’s the last week how you play. And for seven and a half weeks, no one could touch us, and it’s just too bad.

 

“But we also look at the body of work and how we’ve changed the culture in North Adams and how we’ve raised the level of expectations from last year. … We like it when people are disappointed that we didn’t make the playoffs by one game. That’s a huge change from last year. We’ll just build from there.”