By Katie Vieth
July 3, 2004

HYANNIS — It was sunny, it was balmy. It was a good night for baseball. The first inning started out with a bang. Brad Boyer, the left-fielder from Arizona, led off with a single. Though the next two batters, Dennis Diaz and Justin Maxwell, would strike out, Boyer would advance to second on yet another stolen base. Then, on a 1-0 count, Bryan Harris hit a single to right field, scoring Boyer. Hope of a larger rally dimmed, though, as Chase Headley flew out to center field … but not before making Hyannis pitcher Mike Wlodarczyk throw nine pitches (including the fly ball).

The defense was definitely at McKeon field. In the second inning, Mike Costanzo of Hyannis hit a 1-1 pitch that deflected off the pitcher, Cody Evans, was grabbed by second baseman Geoff Strickland, and thrown over to Bryan Harris for the out at first. Dennis Diaz, in this game playing center field, made an excellent diving catch in the fifth (oddly enough, also a ball hit by Costanzo), showing just why Cotuit desperately needs a laundromat to sponsor the team.

But then again, the Mets were there, too.

The Mets turned two double plays and had no errors. They struck out eight and only walked one (though another was hit by a pitch). Both Cotuit and Hyannis had seven hits, but the score, in the end, would differ.

Cotuit thought it might see another run scored in the third when, with one out, Brad Boyer ran hard all the way to first and was safe, another example of this year’s Kettleer running ethic. But no runs would tally, as a fielder’s choice would eliminate Boyer, and Maxwell would hit into a fielder’s choice, making Diaz the third out.

Hyannis would score their first run in the seventh. Jay Miller (1-4 in the game) would get a single to right field, advance to third on a Joe Holland single, and score on a Mike Costanzo fly out to left. Pat Reilly and Kyle Keen would fly out and ground out, respectively, to end the inning, but the damage was done.

And due to a scoreless ninth, we headed, yet again, to extra innings.

Bobby Felmy led off the inning with a single to left field. A sacrifice bunt by Jason Donald advanced him to second, and a Geoff Strickland ground out moved him to third. So there was hope, there was a man on third, there was two outs. Mike DeCarlo, the catcher, stepped up to the plate … and on three straight strikes, DeCarlo would go down swinging, along with a little bit of hope. But we could hold them… right?

A pitching change brought in Saunders Ramsey. Pat Reilly stepped up to the plate, and worked the count to 1-2, then hit a single to right field. He stole second. Kyle Keen would strike out, and Justin Tordi, the shortstop who had been 0-3, stepped up to the plate. Tordi watched two balls, then fouled a pitch off, before choosing a pitch and sending it deep to the left-field corner. Brad Boyer tried to field it, but Reilly was running hard, and would score to end the game.

Well, maybe next time.