'Cats Winning Streak Hits Six
NORTH ADAMS — The North Adams SteepleCats got three strong innings of relief from Derek Shaw and a solo home run from Cody Stanley, lifting them to their sixth straight win, a 7-4 victory over the Holyoke Blue Sox on Sunday night.For the second straight night, the SteepleCats got on the board in the first inning at Joe Wolfe Field. After Mitch Clegg retired Holyoke in order in the top of the inning, John Malloy and Greg van Horn reached on errors. Kevin Carby sacrificed the runners to second and third. After Paul Hoilman struck out for the second out of the inning, Cody Stanley continued his hot hitting with a single back through the middle to score Malloy and Van horn for a 2-0 SteepleCats lead.
After Holyoke scored a run in the top in the second, North Adams got the run back in the bottom of the third as once again the top of the order came through. Malloy led off the inning with a double, extending his hitting streak to 14 games. Van Horn came through with an infield single to move Malloy to third. On a 1-0 count to Kevin Carby, Mike Lachapelle uncorked a wild pitch allowing Malloy to score and make it 3-1 North Adams.
Once again, Holyoke scored to respond with a run in the top of the fourth and plated two in the fifth to take a 4-3 advantage. North Adams came back in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 4-4 on a daring suicide squeeze to score Malloy, who led off the inning with a double.
The SteepleCats took the lead for good in the sixth when starting off the inning, Stanley launched a moonshot for his second homerun of the season for a 5-4 'Cats lead. North Adams would add two more in the eighth to seal the victory.
Derek Shaw (1-3) pitched three scoreless innings in relief for the victory. Mike Lachapelle (0-1) pitched well, but took the loss for Holyoke.
North Adams now heads out on the road for a pair of critical games at Keene, N.H., and at Newport, R.I., on Tuesday and Wednesday. All the action can be heard through the Web site at www.steeplecats.com.
