CCHS Baseball Loses to Newton South in 10th Inning

Thursday night baseball was played with complete passion and perseverance. Concord-Carlisle High School and Newton South High School both showcased the heart of the age-old sport – America’s game.

The teams combined for 16 runs. Six pitchers dug their feet into the mound, including Newton South High School’s Grady Colnon, who pitched six innings, five of them with an injured foot after being hit in the top of the second. And three hours (yes, 180 minutes) had gone by as the mid-May sun slowly dipped in the sky by the time the Lions pulled off a 10-6 victory in 10 innings.

Players, coaches, bystanders, little leaguers and dogs sat and stood, in the bottom of the 10^th, watching with wide eyes to see whether a strike would give Newton South its ninth win of the season, or if a ball would keep Concord-Carlisle’s hopes alive.

C-C’s Seamus Vahey stood in the batter’s box, Newton South’s Eric Davis on the mound. Two outs were on the board with call waiting.

The home-plate umpire raised his right fist in the air, signaling a called third strike to end the game.

“It was a tough ending for all of us,” said CCHS coach John Kelly. “We played hard, the guys really battled. They had some opportunities late in the game and we just didn’t capitalize on them, but they had the opportunities to put a run across and it just didn’t happen.”

Adam Koski did keep the Patriots swinging in the bottom of the seventh when they were down 6-5 against Newton South’s Reed May.

Brendan Canavan walked to first after being hit and then stole second and third. May threw to second base as Canavan was approaching, but the ball went wide and his frustration was seen as he crouched on the mound, realizing his costly error.

With Canavan securely in scoring position, Koski blasted a May pitch into center field. Canavan gratefully crossed home with the tying run, as his teammates scurried to meet him in celebration.

“That was a big hit,” Kelly said. “He focused the whole time, he battled; he did a nice job.”

But Koski’s RBI wasn’t enough.

In the top of the tenth, Newton South’s John Jennings smashed a grand slam off C-C’s Alex Gutwillig, the team’s third pitcher of the game, driving home Alex Foner, Mike Kinch and Justin Moy, putting the Lions up 10-6.

“I put a pitcher in there, I wanted him to throw strikes and he did; the ball just got hit hard,” said Kelly. “(Gutwillig’s) a solid pitcher, you know. I wanted him to go in and throw strikes, he did and (Newton South) just hit the ball hard. Didn’t matter if he gave up four or one, because we needed to score.”

Concord-Carlisle and Newton-South went back-and-forth between scoring from the start of the game.

In the top of the first, Foner got the first run against C-C’s Gibson Holland on an Alex Bennett single up the middle.

Then C-C earned a one-run advantage in the second against Colnon. Derrick Amodei smacked a single deep into center, scoring Canavan and then Andrew Dellavolpe singled up shortstop bringing home Koski.

The Lions had the lead again, 3-2, in the top of third, after Will Davis blasted the ball deep into center field, scoring Bennett and May. But the Patriots took a 4-3 lead when Aaron Nickelsberg and Canavan scored on Koski’s and Amodei’s RBI singles.

In the top of the fourth, Newton South got three more runs when Phil Couturier hit a lead-off solo home run and Kinch and Moy scored off doubles, making it a 6-4 game.

Then C-C’s Canavan brought it to a one-run game in the top of the fifth, crossing the plate after Amodei hit a single through the hole at shortstop.

“We lost the lead, we got the lead, we lost the lead, we got the lead. They did a nice job,” Kelly said. “Our team plays with a lot of heart. And they showed that today by coming back over and over again.”

Next up, Concord-Carlisle hosts Arlington High School on Monday at 3:45 p.m.