20 - May 13, 2011
Hudson~Litchfield Sports Hudson~Litchfield Sports
Campbell Baseball Stays in Middle of Playoff Picture, Lady Cougars Keep the Goose Eggs Coming
Cougar Erin King launches a double to left center in a game vs. Mascenic
A Mascenic batter’s view of Lady Cougar flame thrower Julia Nolan
by Marc Ayotte The Campbell boys’ varsity baseball team is
slowly but surely nestling themselves into the middle of the Division III standings as a result of two wins and a loss over this past week. On Friday, May 6, the Cougars hosted Mascenic High
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School in a game that had a later ‘first pitch’ than normal due to the visitor’s inability to catch an earlier ride from New Ipswich. As it turned out, Mascenic’s late arrival was parlayed into an early exit, as a disputed call at home plate led to a coach’s ejection and subsequent Campbell victory. In a situation that has hurt the Cougars in the past, Campbell once again found the bases loaded without being able to drive in a single runner. As a result, the first inning ended scoreless. After falling behind Mascenic when they scored a run in the top of the second, Campbell responded in the home half of the third. A lead-off walk to Cullan Baker was followed with another base on balls to junior Chuck Neild. A quick hook by the Mascenic coach saw the new Viking pitcher enter the game, only to walk the first batter he faced to load the bases. A sacrifice fly to centerfield by Cody Caron tied the game at one and pretty much led to a miserable rest of the afternoon for the visiting nine (plus coach). When the Cougars headed back out to their defensive positions for the fourth inning, they had scored five more times to take a commanding, 6-1 lead. In the top of the fifth with Mascenic starting to show some signs of getting back
in the game, things turned ugly—and in a hurry. After one run had already scored, a second potential runner was ruled out after Cougar catcher Cody Caron appealed to the home plate umpire, saying the runner never touched the plate. In disbelief, the Mascenic coach questioned the umpire’s ruling, which resulted with an unnecessary ejection, thus forfeiting the game. On May 9, Campbell played the first of two games on their mini, two-day road trip. The first game found them taking on Farmington High School, where the Cougars absolutely mauled the Tigers by a score of 17-4. For the second game in succession, Campbell would not play a complete seven-inning game, though this time it was for more conventional reasons. The mercy rule- shortened affair saw Campbell jump all over the Tiger pitching staff with matching eight-run third and fourth innings. Farmington was held scoreless until their last at-bat when they scored three times. For Campbell on the hill, Cullan Baker picked up the win, going four innings before yielding to Garrett Sahlin, who came in to relieve the Cougar workhorse. Offensively, as the score would indicate, there was a lot of ‘ping’-ing going on when Tiger pitches approached Cougar bats. Leading the way in that regard were Chuck Neild, Tyler Coughlin, and Cody Caron, who each had two hits as well as three RBIs on the afternoon. Cullan Baker and Jackson Musco contributed nicely with three hits apiece. If only the Cougars could have reallocated some of their run production to the following day, it may have resulted in a nice, little three-game win streak for Campbell. Such was not the case, as Campbell was able to come up with only five hits on the afternoon as they went down to defeat 6-4 at the hands of Raymond High School. Even more impactful on the outcome of the game for Campbell was the commission of four costly errors, along with leaving the bases loaded in their last at-bat. The Cougars did manage to put up single runs in each of the first four innings. After four innings, the Campbell squad held a tentative 4-3 lead. The Rams took the lead in the home half of the fifth inning when they pushed two runs across the plate. They added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth for the eventual final score.
Cougar junior Sean Gray beats the throw to second base during Campbell’s forfeit win over Mascenic
In an ugly game that featured a combined eight errors, Travis Manning, in giving up only two earned runs in five innings, was the tough- luck loser. As head coach Jim Gorham observed, “Travis deserved better than what he got,” in reference to getting tagged with the loss. At the plate, Cullan Baker claimed two of the
five Cougar hits. Baker connected for a double as well as his lead-off home run in the third inning that gave Campbell a 3-2 lead at the time. After the loss to Raymond, the Cougars record fell to 6- 4, which put them in seventh place in the Division III standings. Lady Cougars Remain on a Tear The Cougar softball team continued to steamroll opponents with victories over Mascenic (at Campbell) and Farmington on the road. In more of the same statistically, the Cougars put up double-digit runs while rendering their foes scoreless. On Friday, May 6, while the Mascenic boys’ team was a few hundred yards away experiencing their own inning-shortened game, the Lady Vikings were being mercied to the tune of 13-0, compliments of another Julia Nolan shut- out. Nolan fired a no-hit, nine strike-out gem in helping the Cougars maintain sole possession of first place in the Division III NHIAA softball standings. The bulk of the Campbell offensive demolition
was provided by three standout performances. In a rare feat, Brittany McNulla spanked-out three triples while driving in seven runs in her five plate appearances. Lead-off hitter Julia Marra crossed the plate four times in going three for three, and Erin King picked used her three hits to drive in three runs.
Mike Hogan's
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