Wildcats lose doubleheader, fall to fourth in NSSBL

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

There were six home runs hit at Memorial Park in Kentville July 27.

Unfortunately for the Kentville Wildcats, all six of them came off Truro bats.

The visiting Bearcats swept both ends of a doubleheader 12-2 and 11-10. The sweep dropped Kentville’s record to 11-14 and relegated the Wildcats, at least temporarily, to fourth place in the NSSBL standings, one game behind Truro (11-12), which had played two fewer games.

Bill MacKenzie led the Bearcats offensively with three homers, two in the afternoon game and a third round-tripper in the evening contest. MacKenzie ended up with a single, triple and two homers in game one and two singles and a homer in game two.

In the afternoon game, Truro’s 15-hit attack overshadowed a fine pitching performance by Craig Higgins, who allowed just two runs on seven hits through eight innings.

Wildcats’ starter Kevin Nichols didn’t pitch that badly, but he seemed to be off his usual game, allowing seven runs on just seven hits before departing after five innings. Kevin Daurie and Taylor Welch both appeared in relief.

After the first two scoreless innings, Truro broke through on Jason Davis’s RBI single in the top of the third, only to have the Wildcats respond on an RBI bloop single by Les Berry, who would end up with three singles on the day.

Truro made it 2-1 on Joe MacPherson’s RBI single in the fourth, then tacked on five off Nichols in the fifth, the key blows being a solo homer by Iain Lapointe and a two-run blast by MacKenzie.

Another RBI single by Berry made it 7-2 in the bottom of the fifth, but the Wildcats, who never really got their game together all afternoon, left the bases loaded. (Kentville would strand a total of nine runners in the game.)

Truro scored one in the seventh on a John Chapman RBI single, one in the eighth on MacKenzie’s second homer (a solo shot), and one in the ninth on a long RBI single by Davis for the final 12-2 margin.

In addition to MacKenzie’s four hits, Davis had three singles and a double and Lapointe homered and doubled. Berry was the only Kentville batter with more than one hit.

In a must-win situation in the second game to hang onto third place, the Wildcats started well with three runs in the second, and managed 10 runs on 14 hits in all - but it wasn’t enough, as they were edged 11-10.

Trailing 6-2 after five innings, Truro struck for a run in the sixth and four in the seventh to take a 7-6 lead. Kentville tied the score in the bottom of the seventh, but Truro scored four in the top of the ninth. The Wildcats responded with three in the bottom of the ninth, but their comeback fell short.

John Chapman picked up the win in relief of starter Matt Black, who had been relieved by veteran Jeff Fielding in the seventh. Corey Kent started for Kentville, with Pete Sonier tagged with the loss in relief.

MacKenzie again led the way with a pair of singles and a three-run homer. Jason Hoyt and Joe MacPherson each homered and singled and J.P. Wood added a pair of doubles as Truro scored its 11 runs on just 10 hits.

For the Wildcats, Kevin Benjamin had three singles and one RBI. Ryan Brothers singled and tripled and drove in two, and Ryan Pearl and Luke Smith each singled and doubled and drove in a run.

At the start of the week, Kentville had four games remaining to regain third place - and avoid facing Dartmouth in the first round of the playoffs. The Wildcats were scheduled to play in Halifax July 29, then host Dartmouth Aug. 3 at 4 p.m. and Halifax next Aug. 6. Kentville also has a game to make up against the Bearcats.