Tracie Vinal Photo

NORWICH – Summer is here and that means Legion Baseball is underway. The Chenango Hellcats played two straight games, ending the first week on a high-note with wins in both.
Two-run fifth inning leads to win over Harpursville
The Hellcats snagged a late lead on Thursday, June 7 to take a 4-2 win over the host Harpursville, taking the first game of their summer schedule.
With the game even at 2-2, J.T. Vinal stepped up to the plate in the top of the fifth. Facing a 0-1 with two outs, Vinal hit a hard ground ball through the infield and into left. His teammate, Justin Bates scored from second and Vinal recorded a double.
Just one batter later, Marcus Cashman hit a grounder to the second baseman. Unable to field the ball cleanly, Cashman reached on an error and Vinal came rounding third to score at home, making the score 4-2 in favor of the Hellcats.
Harpursville fired up the offense first, scoring one run due to an error in the opening frame. The host team added another when a ball got passed the Hellcats’ catcher.
The Hellcats answered by knotting the game up at two in the top of the third inning, as Cashman drove in two runs when he singled in his second at-bat of the game.
As his at-bats helped his cause on the mound, Cashman picked up the win as the pitcher. He allowed just four hits and surrendered just two runs over six innings of work on the hill. He struck out eight.
Coming in on relief for the final inning was Nate Scheer. He recorded the final three outs of the game to earn the save.
Leading the Hellcats at the plate was Vinal, going 2-for-4 on the day while Cashman picked up two RBI’s. The eagle eye of the night for the visiting team was Keegan Wright as he recorded three walks in his plate appearances.
Voce walks away with dramatic win for Hellcats
Friday’s first home game ended with an exciting finish as the Hellcats’ Tommy Voce drew a walk, giving the home team the 8-7 win over Sherburne-Earlville.
Tied at 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh, the Hellcats were up to bat. With the bases loaded and two outs already picked up by Sherburne-Earlville, the Hellcats needed to make something happen offensively to avoid extra innings.
Voce watched the first two pitches go by for called balls by the plate ump.
Luke Ough, S-E’s pitcher at this point in the contest, threw a strike that Voce was caught looking at. However, the next two pitches were in favor of the batter and Voce trotted down to first base. Scoring the winning run from third was Nate Sheer.
Sherburne-Earlville kicked off the scoring in the second inning with Troy Slentz drawing a walk and it scored one run for the visiting team. Every inning after the second, S-E’s offensive tallied one run until the top of the seventh when they scored two, taking a 7-5 lead.
The Hellcats tallied two in the third inning, three in fifth and three in their final at-bats in the bottom of the seventh.
Voce led all batters for the game, recording three hits in four trips to the plate. Vinal, Cashman, and Ben Skillin each went 2-for-4 for the game batting. As
Voce and Vinal picked up two RBI’s a piece.
Despite the loss, Derek Bowman went 2-for-3, scoring two runs for Sherburne-Earlville. Slentz also scored two runs in the game.
The Hellcats head to Oneonta on Tuesday as they face the Oneonta Green Wave at Damaske Field. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Chenango Hellcats 4, Harpursville 2 (Game 1)
Cats 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 – 4 3 2
H’Ville 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 2 4 1
Doubles: (Cats) J.T. Vinal; (H’Ville) Smith and O’Connor
Chenango Hellcats 8, Sherburne-Earlville 7 (Game 2)
S-E 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 – 7 3 2
Cats 0 0 2 0 3 0 3 – 8 12 6
Doubles: (Cats) Tommy Voce, Nate Scheer, J.T. Vinal (2) 
Triples: (Cats) Marcus Cashman (2)