With the rain surrounding the Watervliet High School diamond late yesterday afternoon,
the Cubs and Twins managers got together with Dennis Lane and John Reel and decided to give it a try to get in this game that had already been rained out 3 times.
The only issue was that there was an ominous green blip on the radar that looked like it would pass over the field right as the game was going to start, at 6:00 pm.
Pretty much on schedule it started to rain at 6:00 pm and continued through 6:15 pm. At that point, the rain halted and the field was still safe, so the two teams
got the game underway.

Once the game got going the 9-1 Cubs got off to a flying start, getting 3 runs in the top of the 2nd, and another 2 runs in the 3rd.
The rally in the 2nd started when Ron Lochner led off with a single and the courtesy runner stole second and third. Jim Bonaparte walked and Ron Massaroni followed with a RBI single.
Jim McQuade was the next batter, and he promptly singled to load the bases with no outs. John Coulombe then plated the Cubs' second run with a single. Carlos Espada was next up and
provided the Cubs with a 3rd run on a sacrifice fly to right. In the next inning, Mike Girard led off with a single, and again the Cubs' courtesy runner stole second and moved to third on an
error. Ron Lochner then doubled and plated the Cubs 4th run. After another courtesy runner stolen base, and a pop out to short, Massaroni got his second RBI of the night with a RBI groundout
to short. As the top of the 3rd ended, the Cubs were owners of a 5-0 lead.

That was it for the Cubs' scoring on this very humid evening, as the Pirates starter, Eric Westfall, shut them down over the final 4 innings. Westfall who had surrendered 7 hits in the first 3 innings,
allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk over the last 4 innings. He got some stellar defensive support from center fielder John Haff and SS Jose Moreno. Haff made 2 nice running catches on two hard
liners in the right center field gap - the second one with runners on second and third and two outs. Jose Moreno made 8 nice plays, including one that started a 6-4-3 double play in the 6th.

Meanwhile, Mike Girard pitched the first 3 innings for the Cubs, giving up just two hits (Haff and Jim Jasiewicz), while hitting one batter and striking out 2. Sherwin So came on in relief of
Girard and gave up just 2 hits (Greg Allen and Kim Burns) and no walks, while striking out 1 over the final 4 innings.

The Cubs came out of the game still on top of the standings at 10-1. The Pirates find themselves at 1-8 after the loss, in which they made a great account of themselves.
The two teams meet tonight at 5:30 pm this evening at New Scotland.





-- Edited by mgirard11 on Thursday 1st of August 2024 09:37:11 AM