Written by The sun finally came out, and the blue sky was as beautiful as I remembered it. It was a gorgeous afternoon for baseball. Warmer temps, the sun shining and you would think maybe the offenses would be cranking. That did not happen though. But it was so nice outside that the teams decided that 7 innings would not be long enough. The Owls took down the Grizzlies, 3-2 in 9 innings on a walk-off double by Timberlanes’ Cam Sweet.
The game went quickly especially with Timberlane starting pitcher, Connor Abood on the hill. Abood worked at a quick pace, threw strikes, and faced only five counts of 5 or more pitches over seven innings. Abood pitched 7 innings, allowed 1 earned run, he gave up 6 hits, and a pair of walks, with 1 strikeout, all on just 94 pitches. Clay Campbell started for Goffstown and only allowed 1 hit over 6 innings. He allowed 1 earned run, struck out 5, walked 5, and hit a batter.
If you don’t think runs were hard to come by, only one run, the game-winner, was knocked in on a hit. Goffstown scored their runs on outs, a sacrifice fly from Bob Doherty in the 1st inning, which only happened because Connor Hujsak had walked and took third on a throwing error by Abood on a pickoff attempt. The other Grizzlies run scored when Hujsak grounded out to shortstop with the bases loaded in the 5th inning. Timberlane scored their first 2 runs on a passed ballon Kilbreth and a Cam Sweet groundout to shortstop. Timberlane left 11 runners on base but only had 5 hits as a team. The Grizzlies left 8 runners on base.
Goffstown failed to win two games in a row for the third time this season. After a shocking come from behind win against Portsmouth last week, the Grizzlies couldn’t figure out Abood or Colin Scully to score more than 2 runs in 9 innings of batting.
Liam Kilbreth had two hits, a run scored, and a walk for Goffstown. Part of the reason for the Grizzlies offensive difficulties was the defense played by the Owls. Cam Lovett, Kucas Harmon, Ryan Bourque and especially Donovan Kelley were outstanding in the infield. Kelley was everywhere defensively, and the infield recorded 13 putouts and 10 assists, without any errors. Antonio Pallaria was excellent behind the plate as well, including being very quick out of his catcher’s stance to pounce on any ball near him. He even ran down a ball halfway up the first base line to throw out a runner.
Donovan Kelley scored 2 runs including the game-winning run in the 9th, despite not getting a hit. He reached on an error and a walk that ended up being the winner. Harmon was hit by a pitch, walked, and had two singles. Cam Sweet was 1-for-5 but had the walk-off double in the 9th, and 2 RBI’s in the game. Cam Lovett walked 3 times, played a solid third base, and scored a run.
Timberlane improved to 4-7 on the season and moved into a tie for the last playoff spot with Winnacunnet for the moment. Goffstown slipped to 17th in a tie with Nashua South. Timberlane plays Salem tomorrow afternoon, while Goffstown hosts Salem on Wednesday.