By: Dan Bahl

 

HOLYOKE, MA - The Valley Blue Sox began their five-game, three-day homestand with a wild, back-and-forth affair with the Mystic Schooners. The teams combined for 18 runs on 27 hits, and used ten pitchers between them. After all was said and done, the Blue Sox and the Schooners tied, 9-9, at Mackenzie Stadium on Saturday night.

 

The Blue Sox picked up where they left off from their win on Friday in Winnipesauke. Joe Lomuscio scored the game’s first run, and Richard Constantine plated Carter Williams with a single, to make it 2-0 Valley after one.

 

Mystic would tack on three runs to take a 3-2 lead, but the Blue Sox would respond with a crooked number of their own in the bottom of the third. RBI hits from Constantine and Travis Holt made it 4-3 after three innings. 

 

Mystic would wrestle the lead back once again, taking a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning. Constantine, who was named the starting first baseman for the Northern Division All-Star team earlier in the day, would deliver in the clutch yet again. His two-out, two-run single would knot the game at seven apiece, and the teams would need extras to decide this one.

 

Neither team would score in the 10th, but the Schooners did get close. A fly ball caught by right fielder JP Walsh appeared to plate the go-ahead run. The Blue Sox, however, would appeal to third base, and successfully claim that runner T.T. Bowens had left the base early. Bowens was called out, and the inning was over. 

 

The game would advance to the 11thand final inning. The Schooners would put two runs on the board to take a 9-7 lead heading into the bottom of the inning. Constantine would double, bringing home Carter Williams from second to bring Valley within one. With two outs, and a runner still at second, Griffin Lockwood-Powell would reach on a throwing error, scoring pinch-runner Collin Mathews to tie the score.

 

In the game, Blue Sox starter Riley Sorenson went the first four innings, giving up three runs on six hits. Tyler Hankins, Maddex Richardson, Rob Griswold and Tommy Costello would follow Sorenson, giving up a combined six runs in seven innings.

 

Offensively, Constantine finished with four hits and five RBIs. He ends the night third in the NECBL in both batting average (.390) and RBIs (33).

 

With the tie, the Blue Sox pull into a tie for fourth in the NECBL’s Northern Division with the Vermont Mountaineers. They both sit 2.5 games behind first-place North Adams, and 1.5 games out of a wild-card spot.

 

The Blue Sox are back in action on Sunday, with a double-header against the Sanford Mainers at Mackenzie Stadium. First pitch of Game One is scheduled for 3:35 PM.