WALPOLE- Stevens came into Friday night’s game with Fall Mountain with a shot at hosting a playoff game with a win, but because of a dominant pitching performance from the Wildcats’ senior, Kendal Heath, Fall Mountain won 7-0 and secured the 9th annual Kirby Cup.
The Kirby Cup is in memory of Ethan Kirby of Acworth, NH, who lost his life in 2009. Ethan graduated from Fall Mountain Regional High School in 2007 and was a member of the Wildcats varsity baseball team. Proceeds from the game went to the Ethan Kirby Scholarship.
On the annual event, Stevens head coach, Paul Silva, had this to say: ““I’ve known [Ethan’s family] for years. They’re such a great family. I’m so honored that they’ve allowed us to be a part of this. It’s a fantastic facility and Fall Mountain does a great job. Really proud to take part in this game.”
On the Kirby Cup, Fall Mountain head coach, Kyle Cavalliere, said, “This game means a lot to them. The kids… they really wanted it this year. They’ve put in the work in years prior, they’ve just never wanted it as much as this year. I can coach them as much as possible but they have to want it, and today that showed… a 7-0 victory to a great team. I was telling them ‘look to the playoffs’ and they were saying ‘we want the Kirby Cup now,’ that’s just how bad they wanted this. They were all fired up. Everyone pitched in today.”
After three Heath strikeouts in the top of the first, Heath slapped an RBI-single to left-center in the bottom half, scoring Hunter Cannon and giving the Wildcats an early 1-0 lead after the first. After a scoreless second, Heath struck out the side again in the top of the third, and Fall Mountain racked up five runs in the bottom half.
After a groundout, a Noah Lantz single and two walks loaded the bases. A Heath walk knocked in the first run of the third-inning rally. Tucker Wright being hit by a pitch knocked in another. A single from Justin Beauregard made it 4-0, and a 2-RBI liner to right from Billy Wilder stretched the Wildcat-lead to 6-0 after three.
In the top of the fourth, Stevens’ Alex Taylor and Brendan Bean reached on base-hits, but were left stranded. In the bottom of the fifth, Heath had a first-pitch, leadoff single to left and was later knocked in by an Ethan McNamara single to put the Wildcats up 7-0.
In the top of the sixth, Drew Grenier had a leadoff single to center, but Heath retired the next three batters. And, Heath followed that up by striking out the side in the top of the seventh to gain the win and capture the Kirby Cup.
On the day for the Wildcats, Lantz went 3-for-4 with three singles. On the mound, Heath struck out 15 in his complete-game, allowing five hits.
Paul Silva saw it as a positive thing to face such a great pitcher before the start of the postseason, saying, “Kendal is a great pitcher. He knows what he’s doing out there. He changes pitches up and moves the ball around. But I was proud of my guys for sticking in there. We had some good at-bats. But, we got see some really good pitching going into the tournament, so hopefully this’ll help us.”
Despite the shut-out loss, Silva shared some encouraging words post-game, as his team preps for the playoffs. He said, “Our goal every year is to make the playoffs and if you make the playoffs… you got a chance. We got in and now we’ll see what we can do on Thursday. Today’s game definitely didn’t change how I feel about these guys. I’m just so proud of our guys… 10 wins in this Division (3)… top-ten seed. We got a lot of guys that are inexperienced. They come to practice every day and work hard.”
Stevens will most likely head to Bishop Brady for their first-round playoff game on Thursday. For Fall Mountain, it is looking like they will travel to Belmont on Thursday for their first-round matchup. Coach Cavalliere, on the upcoming playoffs, said, “It’s a lot of fun with these guys and I hope to get their first playoff win in a long time on Thursday. It’ll be fun.”
NHIAA playoff brackets will be finalized over the weekend.
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