Community rallies around recent loss
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NORWICH – The Chenango Hellcats picked up their fourth win of the season on June 29, when Legion team from Homer/Cortland came to town.
The Hellcats would rally in the game, slowly picking apart their opponents, leading to a 5-1 league win on the day, moving them to 3-3 in league standings.
“It's a big win for us, huge win,” said Hellcats head coach Jason Miller. “My guys tonight, we have a team made up from all over the county. But most of these kids started out right in the Norwich/Oxford Little League programs.”
Miller went on to explain that a recent loss of life of a young student athlete in Oxford, shook his squad, as many of his team were friends and prior teammates.
“(Josh) Nelson, he was on one of my first all-star teams that I ever coached... I coached him in little league and all-stars... so I knew him and I am good friends with his mom. There is no answer to the problem, everyone is just left hurting.” said Miller. “A bunch of these kids have played together for years, so it has an impact on our team. We stepped outside of our boundaries tonight, we played a beautiful game tonight, #NelsonStrong.”
After jumping out to a early 1-0 lead in the first inning, The Hellcats found themselves tied up shortly there after when Homer/Cortland would send a runner of their own home to tie it at 1-1 in top of the third.
“(Joe) Devona was struggling a little bit there, but he corrected himself,” said coach Miller.
Pitching for The Hellcats for six innings was Joe Devona. Devona proceeded to strikeout six batters, while allowing five walks, but only three hits on the night. Following Devona's six innings Joe Purdy stepped onto the mound for The Hellcats to finish out the final inning.
“(Kyle) Crawford, from Oxford, he hit the triple, and he broke down crying at third base,” said Miller of the hit that he said started the game off. “The biggest hit was Crawford's triple. But we just kept grinding. We had 11-hits and no errors. Everything just came together.”
The Hellcats would proceed to shut down the offense of Homer/Cortland for the remainder of the game, while their 11 hits in the game proved enough to round the bases for an additional four runs, with two coming in the third inning and an additional two runs in the fifth.
“I told them 'that is what I have been telling you guys we could do. You guys are a phenomenal team',” said coach Miller.
Hellcat batters: Jonathan Liuzzo 1-3 with a run, Johnathan Predmore 3-4 with a run, Nate Scheer 1-4 with an RBI, Conor Graven-Briggs 2-3 with two runs, Vince Caiati 2-3 with two runs, Joe Devona 1-3 with an RBI, and Kyle Crawford 1-2 with an RBI.
Next up for The Hellcats (4-8), they will be traveling to Harpursville later on today, June 30, for yet another league game. The game is slated to begin at 6 p.m.
“I don’t know and I don’t care, I do know they’re not as good as us,” said coach Miller of the Harpursville team. “The only challenge tomorrow is I might just have nine guys, but I'm not too worried about that either.”
H: 1 0 2 0 2 0 X– 5
H/C: 0 0 1 0 0 0 0– 1
NORWICH – The Chenango Hellcats picked up their fourth win of the season on June 29, when Legion team from Homer/Cortland came to town.
The Hellcats would rally in the game, slowly picking apart their opponents, leading to a 5-1 league win on the day, moving them to 3-3 in league standings.
“It's a big win for us, huge win,” said Hellcats head coach Jason Miller. “My guys tonight, we have a team made up from all over the county. But most of these kids started out right in the Norwich/Oxford Little League programs.”
Miller went on to explain that a recent loss of life of a young student athlete in Oxford, shook his squad, as many of his team were friends and prior teammates.
“(Josh) Nelson, he was on one of my first all-star teams that I ever coached... I coached him in little league and all-stars... so I knew him and I am good friends with his mom. There is no answer to the problem, everyone is just left hurting.” said Miller. “A bunch of these kids have played together for years, so it has an impact on our team. We stepped outside of our boundaries tonight, we played a beautiful game tonight, #NelsonStrong.”
After jumping out to a early 1-0 lead in the first inning, The Hellcats found themselves tied up shortly there after when Homer/Cortland would send a runner of their own home to tie it at 1-1 in top of the third.
“(Joe) Devona was struggling a little bit there, but he corrected himself,” said coach Miller.
Pitching for The Hellcats for six innings was Joe Devona. Devona proceeded to strikeout six batters, while allowing five walks, but only three hits on the night. Following Devona's six innings Joe Purdy stepped onto the mound for The Hellcats to finish out the final inning.
“(Kyle) Crawford, from Oxford, he hit the triple, and he broke down crying at third base,” said Miller of the hit that he said started the game off. “The biggest hit was Crawford's triple. But we just kept grinding. We had 11-hits and no errors. Everything just came together.”
The Hellcats would proceed to shut down the offense of Homer/Cortland for the remainder of the game, while their 11 hits in the game proved enough to round the bases for an additional four runs, with two coming in the third inning and an additional two runs in the fifth.
“I told them 'that is what I have been telling you guys we could do. You guys are a phenomenal team',” said coach Miller.
Hellcat batters: Jonathan Liuzzo 1-3 with a run, Johnathan Predmore 3-4 with a run, Nate Scheer 1-4 with an RBI, Conor Graven-Briggs 2-3 with two runs, Vince Caiati 2-3 with two runs, Joe Devona 1-3 with an RBI, and Kyle Crawford 1-2 with an RBI.
Next up for The Hellcats (4-8), they will be traveling to Harpursville later on today, June 30, for yet another league game. The game is slated to begin at 6 p.m.
“I don’t know and I don’t care, I do know they’re not as good as us,” said coach Miller of the Harpursville team. “The only challenge tomorrow is I might just have nine guys, but I'm not too worried about that either.”
H: 1 0 2 0 2 0 X– 5
H/C: 0 0 1 0 0 0 0– 1
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