Wildcats Use Small Ball to Get Back Into the Win Column

The baseball team’s bats have been listless lately. So after four more scoreless innings on Tuesday, the Wildcats decided to take things into their own hands to breath some life into their aluminum.

Head coach Aldo Caira’s charges bunted, stole and sacrificed as they finally found a spark against visiting Manchester. Before the game was over, the Wildcats even found a few blasts as well en route to a 5-0 win.

“Our bats really haven’t been doing anything the last couple games,” said Cairo, whose team was shut out in its previous two games, including a one-hit loss to Triton. “I felt like we needed to run and do something to put them on the defensive a little more.”

Andy Owens scored the first run of the game for either team in the home half of the fifth when he reached on a single, stole second, and crossed home as Dalton Rolli was caught attempting to steal second base after he reached on an infield single.

Later in the inning, the Wildcats added another infield hit, a single and eventually a second run on a wild pitch.

In the sixth, Vinny Scifo laced an RBI double before he took third on a perfectly executed delayed steal. Owens then lofted a ball to the outfield to bring home his teammate.

Rolli, who has been white hot at the plate in recent games, continued his torrid stretch as the next batter following Owens.

The catcher dug in and scorched a line drive to right-centerfield. The ball carried nearly 370 feet and snuck over the high fence, capping the scoring for the game.

Several of Rolli’s classmates stood at the fence near the dugout, joking to Rolli that he received an assist from the wind on his solo home run.

“That was just a rocket,” said Cairo, before lightheartedly adding, “I didn’t feel any wind on that one. Maybe it was just the wind of the ball as it was going by them.”

The complete game shutout was the second straight for Scifo, the game’s startng pitcher in his previous trip to the hill.

Still, it’s the bats that Cairo is concerned about. The mentor led his team in an all offensive practice on Monday.

“We’re getting the pitching. We’re field the ball pretty well. It’s just that we can’t seem to get the bats going. I don’t know what it is,” said Cairo, whose team is now 5-6 on the campaign. “We have to get the bats going and we’ll be OK. But it’s a big if.”