Late Rally Falls Short for Arlington Legion

Top of the seventh. Bases loaded. No outs. 

The Arlington legion baseball team had a golden opportunity to erase a three-run deficit and complete a surprising comeback in the final frame against Ashland on Monday, but Ben Levine struck out Mitch Coiley to preserve the 5-4 win for Post 77. 

"They battled real hard in the end and put themselves in a position to win," said Arlington manager Joe Sancinito of his team's come-from-behind effort. "Give credit to their guy. He made pitches when he needed to down at the end."

Arlington (3-3) entered the final frame trailing 5-2, but Ashland starter Mike Maresca walked the first two batters of the inning and gave up a single to quickly load the bases. 

Levine inherited the jam in relief of Maresca and Arlington appeared poised to make it a game after knocking out Ashland's starter. Dan Csaplar grounded into a fielder's choice and drove in a run, followed by Alex Finigan's RBI single to left to cut the lead to 5-4. 

Rob Shea flied out to right for the second out of the inning, but Bobby Alexander walked to load the bases before Coiley struck out looking to end the game.  

Arlington jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but Maresca kept Post 39 off the scoreboard in the middle innings and appeared to be on his way to a complete game before running into trouble in the seventh inning.

"Just throwing strikes, hitting his spots. As a pitcher, that's what you want to do," said Sancinito. "He had our guys off-balance all game."

Arlington starter Rob Caggiano encountered some tough luck in four innings of work. 

An error on a potential double play ball loaded the bases in the third inning.  Caggiano hit the next batter, forcing in Ashland's first run of the game. Three batters later, Chris Papadellis dropped a bloop single into the outfield, driving in two runs and giving Ashland a 3-2 lead. There appeared to be some miscommunication on the play, as the ball fell in between Arlington's second baseman, center fielder, and right fielder.

"It was a big field and they just hit the ball where we weren't tonight," Sancinito said. "It turned out to be the difference in the game.  A couple of those ones today were just unlucky balls."

Rob Cahill also pitched for Arlington, allowing one run in two innings. He walked in a run with the bases loaded in the sixth inning to give Ashland a 5-2 lead, which proved to be crucial in the end.

Despite the loss, Sancinito was looking at the bright side after the game. "Guys fought really hard, played well. A couple mistakes early in the game cost us."