Baseball is a game often determined by just a couple of inches. Fair or foul, ball or strike, safe or out, can all be decided by the slimmest of margins.
The inches worked in Arlington's favor against Belmont on July 15, as catcher David Cunningham threw out the go-ahead runner at second base on an attempted steal in the top of the seventh inning, to preserve a 7-6 win for the Pond Rats .
"David's a great catcher," said Arlington skipper Jim Robillard. "He's got a great arm and we were going after [the runner]."
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Arlington led 7-4 entering the final frame, but the Marauders quickly rallied, loading the bases with one out on three consecutive walks. The Pond Rats brought in pitcher Byron Johnson, who started the game and pitched the first two innings, to help get them out of the jam.
Mark Rocha greeted Johnson with an RBI groundout and Michael Rocha followed his older brother by knocking in a run on an infield single to cut the lead to 7-6. With runners at the corners, the younger Rocha was looking to move the go-ahead run into scoring position, but was cut down by Cunningham, on a bang-bang play while trying to steal second, for the final out of the game.
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"We wanted to get him to second base to put pressure and it didn't happen," said Belmont manager Dan Kelleher. "We wanted to get out of having them have the chance to make a force play. He's a pretty good runner. I wouldn't have sent someone who didn't have that speed."
The other big moment of the game came in the bottom of the sixth, when Arlington broke a 4-4 tie with a three-run inning, highlighted by John Lepore's two-run double with two outs.
"He's done it before for us too and he's only 15," said Robillard, who has lamented his team's inability to come up with consecutive hits in key situations this season. "He's a young player, but he's a good ball player and a good hitter. That was a big hit for us."
Despite the tough loss, the Marauders took solace in the fact that they never gave up, coming back from a 4-0 hole earlier in the game and almost erasing a three-run deficit in the end.
"Nobody feels good about losing, but we battled back to tie it," said Kelleher. "What I admire about coaching these kids is that sometimes I have to light a fire under them, but we don't quit."
