July 1, 2021 at 7:30 a.m.
Snowhawks open 60th snowshoe baseball season with win
Snowhawks open 60th snowshoe baseball season with win
By by Brett LaBore-
"Oh this is awesome. I mean we've been anticipating this day for a long time," coach Jeff Smith said. "And the weather turned out for us tonight for the opening and we couldn't be happier."
After two leadoff singles in the top of the first, the departments struck first with a hit by Rob Dumovich. He hit a liner to center and two runs scored. After one inning, the departments had a 3-0 lead.
The Snowhawks were eager to get their bats going in the bottom half of the inning. Brent Cella hit an RBI single to left center that brought home their first run.
Later in the inning with runners on second and third, Jesse Robinson hit an inside-the-park home run to center that scored three runs. The maximum five runs were scored in the inning and Snowhawks led 5-3 after a busy first.
"I think we looked OK for the most part. (The departments) opened up to kind of an early lead," Smith said. "They got on us right away but we were able to answer back."
Now in the bottom of the second, the Snowhawks added to their lead. Derek Young hit a two-run double down the left field line. Cole Punches doubled to deep left center to bring home a run and Dustin Schowalter had an RBI single up the middle.
After two innings, the Snowhawks led 10-3.
"I think once we got a few runs under our belt it came a little easy after that," Smith said. "I think guys were playing a little bit less tight, they were playing a little loose. They were having fun."
The police/fire departments came back with a nice inning of their own. Trevor Giamp got a base hit up the middle. Then, Ryan Schowalter hit an inside-the-park home run to deep center to make it 10-5.
"It's great, great effort," Smith said in regards to the police/fire departments' play. "Ryan (Schowalter), normally on our team, put this whole team together. And kudos to him in getting that accomplished. This is a new team, this is the first time for them on snowshoes. We hope to play them again next year."
So far, the Snowhawks had reached the maximum five runs in every inning thus far. The third was no different.
They played small ball to start the inning with two infield hits. Next, Robinson stepped up and hit his second homer of the day to deep center once again. It flew by the centerfielder and kept on rolling. Dave Nance also singled to shallow left to bring home a run.
Then, Billy Kuckahn lined out to bring the fifth and final run of the inning home on a sacrifice fly. It was now 15-6 Snowhawks after three innings.
"Love to see (the bats get going). We need that next week," Smith said. "Usually we run a little thin on hits against the (Chicago) All Stars so we are looking forward to keeping these bats alive and carrying this into next week."
Now in the bottom of the fourth, Donnie Moore and Paul Miller had singles that brought home runs.
In the top of the fifth, the departments had some runs of their own. Schowalter hit an RBI single to center and then Dumovich hit an RBI single to left to make it 18-8.
It was a good inning for the departments. They didn't allow the Snowhawks to score in the bottom of the fifth, turning a double play as well.
Two home runs were already hit in the game by the Snowhawks. Cella made it three. He hit a grand slam to deep center and he easily trotted around the base paths and scored.
The Snowhawks led 22-8.
Moving to the seventh inning, the runs kept coming. Ryan Schowalter and Nick Seeger hit RBI singles to center and left center to make the score 23-13.
"It was a lot of fun and I think they did a real nice job," Smith said. "They had some fast guys and they had some guys who could hit. So yeah 15 runs is not easy to do so I think they did a great job."
Then in the eighth inning, Terry Pockat singled to shallow left to bring home a run. Elisha Williams did the same thing as she found space between shortstop and left field. They cut the deficit to under ten runs.
Still, the Snowhawks won by a commanding score of 24-15.
Up next, the Snowhawks play their annual Fourth of July game Sunday against the Chicago All Stars. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. They're going to need more runs like on Monday to beat the All Stars.
"Everybody's got to hit. We got to hit them. We usually play pretty good defense but they're a really good defensive team so they can take a few runs away," Smith said. "We need to outhit them."
Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
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