LANGDON- Fall Mountain baseball (5-7) welcomed Monadnock (12-2) on Tuesday and after a delay due to poor field conditions, came away with an upset win, defeating the Huskies 4-0 behind an explosive first inning on offense and timely defense.
In the top of the first, Monadnock left two runners stranded as Fall Mountain’s Hunter Paquette was getting used to wet conditions on the mound. In the bottom-half of the frame, Noah Lantz had a leadoff double to left for the Wildcats. After a strikeout and a groundout, a Kendal Heath walk would add a base-runner with two outs. Justin Beauregard then slapped a single up the middle to score Lantz to take the lead, 1-0.
Tucker Wright came up to the plate next, and would deliver in a big way. Wright belted a three-run homer to left-center on a high fly-ball that refused to stop traveling. Beauregard, Heath, and Wright crossed the plate to give the Wildcats the lead, 4-0.
On Wright, Fall Mountain head coach, Kyle Cavalliere, said, “This kid has made some serious strides from last year. Last year I either saw him pop it up every time or strike out. Now his batting is much improved. I can’t ask for much else from him. He’s been great behind the plate lately. Overall he’s doing a lot better. It’s a matter of being coachable and letting himself learn.”
In the top of the second, Nick Peltier recorded two put-outs at second base and Paquette ended the top-half with a strikeout. In the bottom of the second, the Wildcats grounded into a double play to leave a runner stranded.
Each team only managed one baserunner in the third. In the top of the fourth, the Huskies were knocking at the door, as they loaded the bases with two outs after a walk and back-to-back singles. Cavalliere then made the coaching decision to insert Heath onto the mound, and Heath came up big, striking out the batter to get out the jam. On the timely pitching change, Cavalliere said, “Bases loaded with Kendal Heath coming in… I decided to do that before the inning… to use Kendal to come in and shut them down if we get in a jam. It was a perfect opportunity… he came in and threw five pitches and got the strikeout. They almost had a big inning. I can’t ask for much else. It was a smart move because of course we’re aiming for the win in hopes of making the playoffs.”
After a quiet bottom four, Paquette re-entered to pitch for the Wildcats in the top of the fifth, and forced the Huskies into three straight fly-outs. In the top of the sixth, the Huskies started the inning off with a single and a double and had runners on second and third with no outs. Cavalliere once again made a pitching change that proved to be the right move. Nick Peltier came over from second and was thrust into a tough situation.
Peltier forced a grounder to Paquette, who had just moved over from the mound, and he made the play at first after looking back the runner on third. Next, Peltier struck out a batter and then walked a batter to load the bases with two down. But, the Wildcats were able to once again get out of a jam by forcing a groundball to third, which was scooped up by Heath who tagged third for the force-out.
In the top of the seventh, Monadnock had a leadoff single, but then Peltier locked in ad retired the next three batters. With the 4-0 shutout victory, Fall Mountain improves to 6-7 on the season. On the big upset win Tuesday, Cavalliere said, “To be honest I’m kind of speechless. A 12-2 team coming in and we had enough of what it takes to shut them out. I used to play on Monadnock so it’s a great feeling to actually beat them. We came close last game but finally today we were able to shut them down. I give them a lot of credit… they’re record is amazing.”
Fall Mountain hosts Stevens (9-6) on Friday night at 7 p.m. on Hubbard Field.
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