By Tom Haley
THE RUTLAND HERALD
CHESTER, Vt. — Green Mountain eighth grader Kaiden McCarthy did it all in his baseball team’s 1-0 victory over Bellows Falls. He pitched a complete-game victory and got the day’s only run home with a sacrifice fly to center field in the first inning that scored Tanner Swisher.
The hard luck losing pitcher Jamison Nystrom who only allowed three hits.
McCarthy possesses uncommon velocity that was on display during his four-hitter in which he struck out 13.
He said he topped out at 88 mph last fall.
But every bit as impressive as his velocity was his poise, an ingredient that stead him well.
Poise, Exhibit A: He had a 3-1 count on the game’s first batter and came back to strike him out.
Poise, Exhibit B: BF’s Noah Simino was on third base with one out in the third inning. McCarthy got the second out on a strikeout. Nystrom then hit a towering pop up in front of the plate. Simino was bearing down on his way home and was only a couple of feet from McCarthy when he caught the ball. It was a tough enough play without the distraction of the runner and knowing that if the pop up is dropped, a run scores.
“I didn’t know if I was going to catch it or not,” McCarthy said.
Poise, Exhibit C: Jake Moore led off the fifth inning for Bellows Falls with a double. He was stranded after McCarthy struck out two and induced a ground ball for another out.
Poise, Exhibit D: McCarthy was in a pressure situation again when Jesse Darrell led off the seventh inning by reaching on a bad-hop single. He then and got to second on an error with no outs. McCarthy struck out the last three batters of the game.
The game was as good of an advertisement for Vermont high school baseball as you could have. The pitching was outstanding, there were good plays afield and despite the brilliance on the mound, there were some hard hit balls.
“I don’t like winning by 15 and I don’t like losing by 15. This was baseball,” Bellows Falls coach Bob Lockerby said. “It was anyone’s game until the last out.”
“It was a Green Mountain-Bellows Falls classic,” GM coach Matt McCarthy said.
McCarthy was backed by some solid defense that included a couple of nice catches by center fielder Tate Pellerin and his catcher Tanner Swisher gunning out a runner attempting to steal in the sixth inning.
“I have a great defense. They were behind me all day,” Kaiden McCarthy said.
McCarthy said his fastball was good and his curve began working in the last three innings when he used that pitch as his strikeout pitch.
“Bellows Falls is a great team and Nystrom is a great pitcher,” Kaiden said.
It was in the top of the fifth when Bellows Falls had runners at the corners with two outs when Matt McCarthy made his only visit to the mound. His son fanned the next batter.
Cole Moore had two of the Terriers’ four hits, Jake Moore’s double was the lone extra base hit and Darrell picked up the only other base hit in the seventh when what appeared to be a routine grounder suddenly exploded for a bad-hop single in the seventh.
Swisher, Blodgett and Andrei Solzhenitsyn had the base hits for Green Mountain. Swisher made a strong bid for a second hit but Bellows Falls center fielder Walker James made a nice running catch in the left-center gap in the third inning.
Kaiden McCarthy showed no signs of fatigue. If anything, he appeared to grow stronger late in the game with seven of his strikeouts coming over the final three frames.
“I hope everybody that was here today that knows baseball knows what they saw today,” Lockerby said. “This was a great baseball game.”
Bellows Falls saw its record dip to 3-3 with the other losses coming to Burr and Burton Academy and Brattleboro.
Green Mountain stays unbeaten at 3-0 and will put that record on the line at Mill River on Tuesday.
Bellows Falls welcomes Windsor to Hadley Field that day.
It was an unseasonably cool day at Paul Adams Field complete with a biting wind. Nobody seemed to mind. They all knew they were watching something special.
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