BRATTLEBORO – Teddy McKay threw a complete game clean sheet to help the Brattleboro 10U All-Stars cruise to a 5-0 victory over Bennington on Saturday and even the district playoff series at 1-1.
“It’s super exciting. It was a very close game from the beginning,” Brattleboro head coach Rob Rea said of the win. “To see the guys just focus, play and swing the bat, I couldn’t ask for anything better. … I knew we could break through. It was a close game, but I knew with their hard work they could break through.”
While Bennington had a few chances throughout the game, McKay and Brattleboro’s defense did a good job of containing the attacks, getting some timely outs, and cutting off the leading baserunners to keep Bennington off the scoreboard.
The game remained scoreless through the first two innings, although Bennington’s starting pitcher Logan Gulley also had a strong performance early in the game. In the first two innings, Gulley allowed only one hit, a single to left field by Bryson Letourneau in the second inning. Letourneau got to third base after a groundout to second base and tried to get home on a wild pitch, but Gulley was covered and made the tag in time to get out of the inning unscathed.
“We haven’t used Logan much in the tournament,” Bennington head coach Matt Mitchell said. “It was his turn to come out and he did what he had to do and threw strikes. We definitely need a little better defense, but he threw strikes and I’m proud of Logan.”
After McKay retired the team in order in the third inning, Brattleboro began the bottom of the inning with a flyout and a popup. Hayden Scott was able to get things rolling for Brattleboro by getting a single on a ball hit to short. A throwing error on a ball hit by Patrick Carrol put runners on second and third base and a fielding error on a ball hit by Majer Rodriquez gave Scott what turned out to be the game-winning point. McKay then helped his own cause with an RBI single to right that scored Carrol to make it 2-0 before Gulley could end the inning.
Brattleboro got back to work in the fourth inning when Mason Rea singled just past the second baseman. A fielding error on a hit ball by Letourneau put runners on first and second base. A double to center field by Benson Urban put Rea in the game for a 3-0 lead, and a fielding error on a hit ball by Jacob Gallagher put Brattleboro up 4-0 with runners on first and second base and one out in the inning. Brattleboro was able to load the bases a short time later with two outs, but Bennington was able to get out of the jam and avoid further damage.
Bennington opened the fifth with two singles by William Burrington and Vance Volkmer, but McKay struck out the next three batters to end the inning.
“He was just focused. He was absolutely focused. He didn’t want to give up on anything today,” Rea said. “He had the fire in him and that really helped the team to persevere.”
A single to shallow center by Rodriquez with only one out in the bottom of the inning gave Brattleboro a baserunner, and McKay was able to single on a ball hit short to put runners on the corners with no outs. A pop-up in the infield by Drew Alexander was dropped, loading the bases for Brattleboro, and Simon Potter worked a walk to score the game’s final run.
Before Sunday’s decisive game, Mitchell said it was important to play clean baseball.
“We’ve got to fix some of the things defensively that happened today,” Mitchell said. “These guys can do it. They’ve proven that in the past, so we’re just going to get back focused and get it done.”
The third game will be on Sunday at 11 a.m. in Brattleboro and Potter will get the ball for Brattleboro.
