After six and a half innings of powerful pitching, it seemed as if the Hermon offense was going to bring home a win for the Hawks against the Old Town Coyotes.
The game was tied in the bottom of the seventh inning, with runners on second and third and nobody out for the home team from Hermon. A fly ball to the outfield looked like it would clinch the game, until Old Town’s left fielder and catcher teamed up to save the day in spectacular fashion.
Coyote left fielder Michael Garland ran under the fly ball, caught it and quickly heaved it home ahead of the runner tagging up and trying to score from third base. Catcher Nate Baker caught the ball slightly up the third base line with just enough time to lunge and swipe the runner’s leg for the game-saving out. An instant later and the Hawks would have scored and won the game — instead, it was an improbable double play for Old Town.
To follow, sophomore pitcher Julian Duty induced a groundball out in the next at bat and Old Town held on to extend the game into extra innings. The Coyotes only needed one extra frame to score three more runs and win 4-1.
Old Town coach Justin Crisafulli said he was feeling “relieved” and proud of his players after they escaped a game that either team could have won. And he described watching the pivotal play unfold.
“As soon as the ball was hit I’m like, ‘Oh, this game is over,’” the Old Town coach said when recounting the moment before his left fielder and catcher kept the Coyotes alive.
“Michael got under it, made a great throw. We worked on it in practice,” Crisafulli said. “Nate made a great tag. On that second half of that catch, Nate had to actually move his body, almost dove and got him out.”
Until that point, the game had largely been defined by strong pitching from both teams. Duty got the win in relief after fellow sophomore Tyler Priest pitched an impressive 4 ⅔ innings while striking out four and giving up one run. Duty added 3 ⅓ scoreless innings in relief that included five strikeouts.
Hermon senior Max Hopkins made it a pitching duel throughout the first seven innings, staying on the mound for all but the extra inning and only allowing one unearned run on five hits. Hopkins struck out seven in the non-decision performance.
Crisafulli called it “nervewracking” to go up against Hopkins because he wished his team had been able to score a couple runs against him, but it wasn’t until extra innings that his team was able to break through for three more after securing four walks during the top of the eighth inning. Alex McCannell scored the go-ahead and eventual winning run for Old Town by stealing third and advancing home after an error.
“Both teams, I thought, played really good, we just made a couple mistakes in the last inning, which they took advantage of,” Hermon coach Matt Kinney said after the game. “But I mean, that’s baseball. But otherwise I thought both teams played a pretty good, clean game for seven innings.”
Asked about the play Old Town made in the seventh inning, Kinney also cited a previous outfield assist for Old Town that saved another run at home.
“We forced them to make a couple of great plays, and they did,” Kinney said, crediting Old Town. “You can’t be too upset about that.”
Crisafulli pointed to the pitching performances from both teams as yet another example of what people can expect from Class B teams this year.
“North is going to be top-heavy with pitching, as you saw today,” the Old Town coach said.
Old Town moves to 2-0 on the season and its next game is Thursday against Hampden Academy. Hermon is now 2-1 and will play Ellsworth on Thursday.
“We made some mistakes, hopefully we learn from them. But we have the talent we need to have a good year, but it all comes down to execution,” Kinney said. “And they did a little bit better with that today.”
