Tonight was the annual coach's appreciation game at Blue Mountain Park. As usual the coaches from Blue Mountain's Junior, Senior and Big League divisions took on the coaches from Blastball, Mini-Minor, Rookie, Minors and Majors... yup 11 vs 17.
It was a tight one early on, with both teams exchanging runs through the first 4 innings, and at the 5th inning dinner break the score was tied 4-4. It looked as though the Blue Mtn boys had bit off more than they could chew with this year's crop of Mackin coaches!
After some pasta and refreshments, the boys took the field looking to settle the score once and for all. The fettuccini apparently didn't slow the Mackin boys down at all as they came out swinging and took an almost insurmountable 10-5 lead into the top of the 9th. The Blue Mountain coaches were 3 outs away from their first loss in recent memory (yup.. for some reason the Mackin boys scooped home team advantage) but they refused to quit. Rally caps on they managed to pull even at 10-10, and with 2 outs recorded they tacked on 3 more runs to cap off an 8 run monster inning!
Now it was the Mackin squad looking to claw back into it. They scored 1, but Junior Cardinals coach Kyle Davys reached back and slammed the door shut with his overpowering fastball.
Keeping to tradition, the Blue Mountain boys added another victory notch to their figurative belts with a 13-11 final score. Better luck next time Mackin coaches!
We all owe Ray Veltin and Dan Malicki HUGE props for all the time they spent at the park today making sure the field was playable after today's downpour. Awesome job guys!
Big thanks to the Coach & Player Development coordinator Mark Colligan for organizing another great game. And more thanks to the Executive members that came out to help out and enjoy the excitement.
