Sports
Team Gold Wins Recreation Playoffs
The underdog team comes from behind to win the Major League Playoffs at Nash Field.
It was the bottom of the last inning and sixth grader Sam Blanchard, pitcher for Team Gold (a.k.a. Kevin Crouse Audio) in the Chatham Recreation Major League Finals, pitched his final pitch as the batter popped out in foul territory for the second out, while the first baseman threw to home for the double play, ending the game 5-2 to beat Team Orange (a.k.a. Avenue Travel).
“These kids played great all season,” said Matt Eig, head coach for Gold. “They knew what to do all the time and they were a pleasure to be around.”
Team Gold went into the playoffs in fourth position out of eight teams. Team Orange was tied with Team Green (sponsored by All American Tree) for first place going in to the finals. On Saturday night, Team Gold defeated the Team Green 8-6 in an exciting game that had the audience on edge the entire game.
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“After being behind the entire game and down to the final out, Sam Blanchard hit a grand slam to put us on top,” said Eig. “After that he pitched three quick outs and we won. It was an impressive performance from a super kid,” he added.
Monday night’s win looked like it was going to be easy with Gold up by 4 for almost the entire game. But in the last inning, Orange score two runs and there were players on base with only one out.
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“I was nervous,” said Blanchard, who added that he was surprised they scored two in the last inning. “I had the bottom of the order [at bat] so I felt confident I could do it,” he added.
“We were very lucky to have had great pitchers,” commented Lucy Malatesta, mother of Paul Malatesta, a Team Gold player. “All three pitchers [Blanchard and fifth graders Peter DeMaria and Billy Gyves] were amazing,” she added.
The spring recreation Major League baseball season got underway in April and had an up-and-down season with rainouts and cold weather. In the end, though, the playoffs were well attended with great weather conditions. Many of the players from the other teams along with their parents came to watch the final game at Nash.
Editor's note: A previous version of this article contained a typo of Billy Gyves' name. Chatham Patch sincerely apologizes to its readers for this error.
