Pools Cruise Toward Playoffs

Pitching and defense may win championships — but it can't hurt to have hot bats heading into the playoffs.

The Johnston Pools, one of two local teams in the Rhode Island Independent Amateur Baseball League, made sure their bats were warmed up on July 27 at Macomber Stadium in Central Falls, defeating the Ocean State Dogs, 11-1, in the second-to-last game of the season.

The win came at a cost for Jonston — starting pitcher Vinny Gieck had to leave after just one inning due to arm stiffness. Matt Okruta took the mound in releief and gave up just one run over seven innings before officials called the game under the league's mercy rule.

The win pushed the Pools to 18-7 and into a three-way tie for second place as they head into the playoffs, scheduled to start next week. Ocean State fell to 3-16 and wrap up their season this week.

"That was a nice win for us tonight," said Pools player-manager Dan DaCunha. "Our bats have been kind of quiet lately and it was nice to get them going tonight heading into the playoffs. It's big that we could pick up Vinny and Matt, too, and make their job a bit easier."

The Pools offense came out swinging early and often to start the game, scoring three runs in each of the first three innings, and one in the fourth to take a 10-1 lead after four.

Chad Warnack had an RBI double to left field in the first, while Brian Desack chipped in with a bloop RBI single of his own.

Okruta and Ross Lincoln then had back-to-back doubles in the bottom half of the second after Ron Perry led off the inning with a walk.  Gary Stapleton then ripped an RBI single to right making it 6-0.

The surge kept coming in the third as Lincoln had another big hit with runners in scoring posistion, this time poking a two-run single to center scoring Mike Callahan who had singled to left and DaCunha who had walked.  

In the fourth, Callahan singled home Ben DaCunha after he doubled. That made it 10-1, and by that time Okruta was in a groove on the mound. He racked up six Ks and gave up just one run in the second inning.

Johnston capped off the scoring in the sixth, loading the bases and getting the game-ending run on a dropped pop fly.

The Pools are scheduled to close out the regular season tonight in Narragansett against Spartan Trap at Sprague Field. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m.