by Ben Gaines
The somber team walked to the field for their last home game of the regular season on May 14 to face the NYS Class D #1 ranked Fort Ann Cardinals. The seniors, just before arriving at the field, noticed the walkway was lined with shirts hand crafted by Calli Gaines with their numbers, names and positions painted on them. Blue and White star balloons blew above each shirt. The seniors are #1 John Curtis Whitman-Right Field, #4 Billy Pine-Shortstop/Pitcher, #6 Cody Gaines-First Base, #7 Randy Tutunjian-Left Field, #12 Logan Brogue-Catcher, #22 Josh Brogue-Pitcher/ Third Base.“This group of seniors are a great group of boys and will leave big shoes to fill next season, the first graduating group that all started, and I will miss these young men” said Coach Mike Lilac, prior to calling each senior forward, to receive his traditional blue and white carnations to present to their parents. When you add the Senior’s numbers you have 52…now add the date together and again you will have 52. Seems the planets were aligned for the Panthers that day to add another win to their 8-5 league record, but the Cardinals were looking to win this game too.
The Panthers left Monday evening’s 7-9 loss to Stillwater a distant memory and took the field with Kealen Hitt at the mound. They had a nearly errorless game fielding the hits off the Fort Ann bats. The score was stuck at zero until Falls was able to convert hits to runs in the fourth inning on Tommy Peabody’s single that scored Randy Tutunjian. Cody Gaines warmed up the chilly Fort Ann bench that chased six foul balls down the left field line before he switched the field and hit one past the first baseman to load the bases. Josh Brogue hit one toward center field to score Tyler Rondeau and Tommy Peabody. Billy Pine, #4, hit in Cody Gaines for the fourth run of the fourth inning. The bats for both teams never went quite right to the end; but the fans cheered loudly on all the great defensive efforts.
Fort Ann’s best chances to score were left on base by great catches by Randy Tutunjian in left field and Tommy Peabody in center field. A ball was hit deep to right field and was cleanly fielded by the sprinting outreached glove of John Curtis Whitman and a diving catch to reel in a laser that would have scored a runner, but Cody Gaines scrabbled back to first base with the ball in his glove before the runner, slammed the book on Fort Ann’s second loss of their season in two days. The members of this team are not just fine baseball players that make their families and community proud, but an outstanding cross section of the Class of 2015, 2014 and this year’s graduating class of 2013. Sectional play will start on Tuesday, May 21, with the seeding decided on May 20.
