Milton Legion Post 114 Crawls Back with Seven-Run Comeback to Tie Game

Milton Legion Post 114 survived a horrendous first inning to earn a 9-9 tie with Cohasset Legion Post 118 in a game that was called due to darkness after six innings last night at Cunningham Park.

There were threats of showers and ominous clouds hanging around all game, but Mother Nature decided not to spit a drop and decided to shut the lights off on these two teams instead.

It wasn't pretty in the top of the first inning for Milton. Kerrigan Grifiths walked two batters and his defense let him down with two errors as Cohasset plated three runs in the frame. The team wasn't sharp from the first pitch and Pat Bryan though his team didn't bring their best game in the first inning. 

"The biggest thing is we usually go out and our pitcher doesn't give up three runs in the first inning and we don't make two errors and throw the ball around," said Bryan. "That's not Milton Legion Baseball. We didn't come ready to play."

Cohasset chased Grifiths from the game in the top of the fourth as he allowed the first three men to reach base in the inning. Cody Clark came into the game in relief and was introduced rather rudely with a sharp liner for a two RBI single by John Giuggio on the first pitch Clark threw.

Clark would surrender two more runs in the frame and Milton would face a 9-2 deficit.

But this team is a resilient bunch, and it sits at the top of the standings for a reason. The home team plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth and put home four runs in the bottom of the fifth to get back in the game before time wasn't on anybody's side.

Nate Ellis, Josh Ellis and Kevin Lamere delivered with back-to-back-to-back RBI singles to provide a spark at the bottom of the order to tie things up for Milton.

Clark settled down to retire the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings to secure Milton an ever important point to keep them in the drivers seat of the league. 

This is an important and rather busy week for Milton. They play a double header on Tuesday in Quincy and also face a tough tournament test over the weekend. The loss would have stung a bit to begin the week, so Bryan was glad to see his team battle back when their collective backs were up against it.

"The kids battled," said Bryan. "They are winners. They just had to chip away and they did that. They just had to pick up the intensity."

But Bryan also thought what might have been if the team came out firing in the first inning.

"If they don't make those plays in the first inning they probably escape with the 9-7 win," he said.