Post 37 Falls to Wildcats

By Tom Haley
THE RUTLAND HERALD
CASTLETON, Vt. — Bellows Post 37 got off to the start they wanted, building a 4-0 lead over the Wildcats with two in the first inning and two in the third.

In the first, Elliott Graham had a double and Sam Presch was hit by a pitch. Tanner Swisher delivered both of them with a double to deep center.

Chase Swisher, Tanner’s brother, singled home two more runs in the third.

The Wildcats chopped the lead to 4-3 by scoring three in the third. Sully Beers’ RBI double was the key hit in the frame that also included base hits from Liam O’Connor and Keegan Goodwin.

The Wildcats drew even with a run in the fourth and ten took the lead with two runs in the fifth. Bellows Falls starter Grady Lockerby walked the first two batters of the inning and Cooper Smith brought one home with a sacrifice fly. Liam O’Connor doubled home the other run.

Bellows Falls kept fighting, a characteristic that has been their trademark in the tournament. Chase Swisher singled home a run to cut the lead to one in the sixth.

But the rest of the day was wrapped in Wildcat blue. They scored four in the sixth, an inning highlighted by Ray Cheung’s home run over the left field fence.

It was the first home run for Cheung in his Legion baseball career.

“I knew it was gone when I hit it,” Cheung said.

Cheung said playing with a loss in a double-elimination tourney does create some tension.

“It is a little pressure, but I knew we could do it,” Cheung said.

“It’s been a great season,” Bellows Falls coach Shawn Burke said. “We got in the tournament and then we won a game in the tournament so that’s a good year.

“We had them (South Burlington) on their heels early but they are too good of a team to keep down like that.”

Wildcats coach Cagney Brigham brought on Sully Beers to pitch the final inning.

“He was going to be our starter the next day so we had to keep him under 30 pitches and he was way under that,” Brigham said.