Wildcats drop fifth straight with 6-2 loss

BY JOHN DECOSTE

The Advertiser/NovaNewsNow.com

With their loss to Dartmouth Aug. 3, the Kentville Wildcats were officially eliminated from the race for second place in the NSSBL.

The way they’re playing of late, the ’Cats soon may not have to worry about finishing third, either.

Kentville dropped its fifth straight game last Wednesday at Memorial Park, with a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the second-place Halifax Pelham Canadians.

The loss dropped the Wildcats’ record to 11-16 with just two regular season games remaining -- both makeup contests Aug. 15 in Truro and Aug. 17 in Halifax.

At first, it looked like Kentville might have snapped out of its recent woes, opening the scoring in the bottom of the first inning on an Ian Lockhart single, his first of three hits on that night; a stolen base; and Luke Smith’s RBI double.

The Canadians responded in the top of the third, tying the score with Paul Davie scoring from third on Adam Lucas’s sacrifice fly.

Halifax then put the game away with a five-run fourth that featured a series of well-placed bloop hits and errors – both physical and mental – committed by the Wildcats.

Chris Gallivan reached base to start the inning, then Joel Pelham attempted to sacrifice, only to have Kevin Nichols throw low to second on a force attempt.

Kevin Benjamin’s wild throw on T.J. Heighton’s sacrifice attempt allowed a run to score and left runners at second and third. A second run scored on Shawn Walsh’s sacrifice fly, a third on Davie’s bloop single and a fourth on a bloop double by Lucas.

After Jay Turple was walked intentionally to load the bases, Gallivan beat out an infield hit that eluded both Smith and Ryan Brothers to drive in another run.

Kentville starter Nichols pitched seven innings, and although he wasn’t hit particularly hard, he did allow six runs and seven hits. Davie ended up with three singles for Halifax, and Lucas singled and doubled.

Mark Haverstock went the distance for the Canadians, settling down after the first inning, scattering seven hits and not allowing Kentville another run until the bottom of the ninth.

Ian Lockhart finished with two singles and a double to lead the Wildcats’ offense.

At 11-16 with two regular season games remaining, the Wildcats can still mathematically finish third -- and avoid a first-round playoff meeting with Dartmouth -- but their chances of doing so are dwindling, and they will now need help from other teams.

Truro, in third place at 11-12 entering play this past weekend, had six regular season games to play – three of them this past weekend in Sydney – including one game with Dartmouth, one with Halifax and one, Aug. 15 in Truro, against Kentville.