‘Cats off to good start with three-game sweep of Sydney

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

What a difference a year can make!

The hometown Kentville Wildcats looked impressive at times, sweeping a three-game weekend series from the Sydney Sooners. Kentville came from behind to win 7-3 May 23, then swept a May 24 doubleheader 5-4 and 6-2.

The solid start is in sharp contrast to last year, when the Wildcats stumbled out with five straight losses - four of them to Halifax.

Trailing 3-1 in the eighth inning May 23, Kentville struck for six runs in the bottom of the inning for the win. Former Dartmouth Moosehead Dry Pete Sonier, the third of four Wildcats’ pitchers, picked up the victory in relief of starter Kevin Nichols. Nichols cruised through the early innings (he had a no-hitter through four) with seven strikeouts before being ejected for arguing a call by the umpire.

This would be a problem all weekend for the ’Cats, who had several players ejected for similar reasons.

In the first of two games May 24, Sydney led 4-3 entering the bottom of the eighth, only to see the Wildcats score one in the eighth to tie and one in the ninth for the win. Brad Steadman was the hero, his walk-off double off the right-centrefield wall scoring Les Berry. Steadman’s walk-off hit made a winner out of veteran Kevin Daurie, who picked up the 60th win of his distinguished Wildcats’ career. Daurie entered the game with none out and the bases loaded in the eighth, got out of the jam without any Sydney runs scoring and then pitched a scoreless ninth.

In the second game, Kentville got a solid seven innings from starter Curtis Falls, who combined with reliever Taylor Welch on a seven-hitter. Player/ coach Jeff Lockhart, playing first base (until he was ejected) had an RBI single.

Coach Lockhart, making his coaching debut at the senior level, made good use of his team’s depth throughout the series.

“It went really well,” he said May 26. “Pretty much everything fell into place. Everybody got in and everybody contributed. Sydney has a strong lineup, and our pitchers held them to nine runs in three games. All we have to do now is keep it up.”

Lockhart is pleased with the team’s depth, particularly in terms of players like Ryan Pearl, “who can play both the infield and outfield,” and Tim Clayton – like Pearl, recently returned from Alberta – “who can play the infield and pitch.”

Along with Pete Sonier, Clayton and Trevor Wamback, scheduled to start Tuesday in Halifax; Kentville has “three new pitchers” in Welch and John Rowe, both former Kentville juniors, and Jay Brown, a former Centreville junior now a doctor in Kentville.

As well, Jason Shepherd, formerly of the Nova Scotia Youth Selects, “warmed up with Ian (Mosher) Saturday, and Ian really liked the way he looked.”

Kentville continued a busy start to the season with games scheduled Tuesday in Halifax and Thursday in Dartmouth. The next home game will be June 4, when they host the Truro Bearcats in a 7:30 p.m. start at Memorial Park.