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Health & Fitness

Warriors Bounce Back from Loss to Mercy-Rule Local Team at Tourney

Warriors come back from heartbreaking 7-6 loss to mercy-rule the locals on day two of Cooperstown action.

Noblesville (IN) 7 – Wilton Warriors 6 - After a rough 11-1 loss Sunday night to a mediocre team from Massachusetts in which they played very poorly, the 10u Warriors looked to bounce back in day two of Cooperstown action, with a game against a team from Indiana and one against the local Cooperstown All-Stars.

Coaches van Heyst, Strazza, Passaniti and Wallon had the Warriors fired up for a game against Noblesville, IN, allowing them to jump out to an early 2-0 lead.  Eli Ackerman’s leadoff walk turned into a triple as he advanced all the way to third on wild pitches.  Ryan van Heyst was robbed of a hit on a hard ground ball, but Ackerman scored on the play to put the visitors up 1-0.  Sam Strazza then singled, stole second and came home on Everett Andersen’s single to right center.

Van Heyst then took the mound for the first of three brilliant innings in which he surrendered just two hits while striking out three, allowing the Warriors to cling to a 2-0 lead through three.

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With the score still 2-0 in the top of the fifth, Wilton went in search of insurance runs.  With one out, Andersen singled, stole second and eventually scored on a wild pitch.  Ryan Johnson walked, stole second and also came all the way around as the Indiana pitcher struggled with his control, to make it 4-0.

Andersen pitched the fourth and fifth, and despite fanning four, surrendered his only hit of the tournament, a two run homer in the fifth to narrow the gap to 4-2.

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With one out, Jimmy McKiernan singled and advanced to third on wild pitches before Max Rothkopf drove him home with a single to right.   Strazza, who was a perfect 4-4 on the day, then drove Rothkopf home for a 6-2 lead.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, the wheels came off in the sixth as the bullpen and defense could not hold the lead.  Walks, errors and timely hitting by Indiana led to five runs, the last two scoring with two outs.  The 7-6 defeat was a bitter one for the Warriors, who were clearly the better squad for 5 ½ innings, and dropped them to 0-3 for the tournament.

Wilton Warriors 14 – Cooperstown All-Stars 4 – The misery continued early for the Warriors as Cooperstown immediately jumped to a three run lead on a long homer with nobody out.  But the Warriors proved their resiliency striking back for three in the bottom of the frame.  Ryan van Heyst was hit by a pitch, Sam Strazza walked, and a double steal put runners on second and third.  Van Heyst scored on Everett Andersen’s groundout, and after Ryan Sorbo was also plunked, Brian Cipri drove in two with a line single to right center.

The Warriors’ pitching, especially Davis Wallon, and defense was nearly perfect the next two innings while the bats were hot.  In the second, singles by Jimmy McKiernan, Sorbo, Cipri and Anthony Passaniti, and a double by Andersen plated four to make the score 7-3.

Six more Warriors crossed the plate in the third as everyone contributed.  Strazza and A.J. Preisano singled, Passaniti doubled the opposite way and Sorbo’s long fly missed going yard by just a foot.

With the score 13-3, the Doubledays pushed one across in the top of the fourth to avoid the dreaded 10-run “mercy” rule, but only momentarily.  Andrew Rubsam and Eli Ackerman both singled to put the pressure on Cooperstown.  Rubsam eventually scampered home on a wild pitch to push the score to 14-4, causing the umpire to invoke the “mercy” rule, giving the Warriors their first win of the tournament. 

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