SteepleCats Finish Season with a 'W'
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- When SteepleCats designated hitter Tony Woodie Thursday crushed a two-run home run over the fence in left center, he rounded the bases pumping his fist and was greeted in the dugout by teammates leaping in a wild celebration.
For a moment, it was hard to tell which team at Joe Wolfe Field was playing for its postseason life and which was playing out the string.
Woodie's blast highlighted a six-hit attack for North Adams as it beat Keene, N.H., 7-4, in the SteepleCats' season finale.
Woodie went 2-for-4 with three RBIs -- two on the homer -- and nine North Adams pitchers, throwing one inning apiece, combined to strike out 10 as the 'Cats completed their summer with a record of 10-30 and dropped the Swamp Bats two games under .500 with one game left to play.
"Testament to these guys," North Adams coach Mike Gladu said. "They could have easily come out here today and not did what they did. When I talk to them about grittiness, it definitely showed tonight. I'm just happy for them.
"It's easy to walk away when things aren't going good. And for these guys to stay and go through this and find a little fun at the end of the tunnel, I'm excited for them."
It undeniably has been a long season for North Adams in terms of wins and losses, but it ended the year with two wins in its final three games: a road win on Monday at Newport, R.I., and Thursday's win over Keene, which ended the night two games behind Holyoke in the loss column.
Holyoke is scheduled for a double-header tomorrow while Keene finishes its season at home against Upper Valley.
It has been a while since the SteepleCats had to worry about the standings.
But they did what they had to do on Thursday to send their fans home with something to smile about.
North Adams jumped on top early with four in the bottom of the first to take a 4-0 lead and never looked back.
Woodie and Parker Camelo each singled in a run, and Taconic graduate Nick Guachione worked a walk and scored a run during the opening rally.
Keene got a run back in the top of the second and two in the third to draw within a run at 4-3.
But in the bottom of the fourth, Alex Barrist hit a two-out single and came all the way around to score on Matthew Colella's RBI double to make it a two-run game.
Then came the seventh, when Woodie gave the SteepleCats some breathing room.
After Nelphie Lopez was hit by a pitch and lifted for a pinch-runner with two out, Woodie hit his second home run of the season to put North Adams up by four.
Keene scratched out a run against Richie Kerstetter (two strikeouts) in the top of the eighth, but the winning pitcher in last weekend's New England Collegiate Baseball League All-Star Game got a groundball out to strand a runner at second and end the inning.
Parker Guthrie then delivered a scoreless ninth, striking out the last two Swamp Bats to end the game.
Although nights like Thursday were rare for the SteepleCats, Gladu said that it was a positive summer for the team -- in part because of the development that players look for in a summer league like the NECBL and, in part, because of North Adams' struggle to accumulate wins.
"We had some good things," Gladu said. "But at the end of the day, the things that we failed on, the guys have to learn from that and carry that on in their careers. You'll learn a lot more when you fail than you do when you win."
