It was another exciting night as the “Purple Gang” stormed the field at Cook Park for a battle with the team that has won the league championship 2 of the last 3 years. VFW has a mixture of 12 year old all-stars and young guns that make them a very tough opponent. They put last years “most outstanding 11 year old” Kyle Ruth on the hill, and had a batting order that could hit from the first spot to the last.

We started the game off with a lead off home run by Philly Cheese. It came with 2 strikes on him, off a curve ball that just got a little too much of the plate. Vellano was up 1 to nothing, and the boys were cheering.

Jimmy Morrison went 3 for 4 and had a great night in the field. It was great to see Jim stroking the ball that way and getting himself on base.

In the field Patrick Hilt had another clutch catch out in left field. The fans went wild for Zack Shaw playing center field with his cast on, and making really tough catches. It was one of the best outfield performaces ever for our team.

Andrew Shaw has shown himself to be a very serviceable second baseman. There was a very tight play where we had a force at second and Jimmy had time to field the ball and toss it to where the second baseman should be. Andrew was right on the spot, had a runner bearing down on him with a hard slide at second. Like money in the bank you could count on Andrew. He made the play and got he force at second to end the inning.

In my opinion the most underappreeciated defensive player on our team is Nate McCarrol. Vellano baseball has meant having lots of runners on, and the need for a real backstop of a catcher. Time after time Nate looks like a Hockey Goalie as he stops errant pitches from turning into free bases and extra runs. It is incredible play behind the dish. In the past week we have called on Nate twice to come in and pitch. Each time Nate has done a great job and delivered strike after strike. Nate says “Coach, I know I help the team more as a catcher.” I wish I had 2 Nates… one to pitch, and the other to catch.

Saturday is a big game for us. We will have our missing brothers James Hutton, and Andrew DiNovo back in the line-up. These are two of our strongest hitters, and we can use the help. The last 2 games of playing short have meant valuable experience for the players who share innings. Now we bring our best team of the year to the seasons home stretch.

Vellano promises to show up on Saturday ready for 6 innings of hard nosed Vellano baseball!