Monday July 26, 2010

North Adams Transcript

NORTH ADAMS -- The SteepleCats made a minor move at 8 p.m. July 20. They signed Justin Corso as a third string catcher, whose main role was bullpen catching.

Three pitches into Saturdays night's 12-7 win over the Keene Swamp bats and he was thrust into the game.

Keene's Mark Onorati swung at a Stephen Rivera offering, missed and on the follow through, hit catcher Chris Leon on the side of the head, cutting the catcher and forcing him out of the game.

With Garrett Gray in the designated hitter spot, manager Bobby Segal decided to go with his new catcher from Rhode Island College instead of having his pitcher bat in the No. 6 spot.

Turned out to be the right decision.

Corso was 2 for 5 in the game with a pair of RBIs; the first of which proved to be the game-winning run.

"You got to think you're better than [the pitchers]," Corso said. "You can't go up there like ‘Who's this guy? Where's he from? What school does he go to?' It really doesn't matter. It's a clean slate when you come to this league."

That was just on the offensive side. Corso was a machine behind the plate, blocking balls, a couple general manager Chis Moore thought he had "no business blocking" and making spot-on throws to second and third base.

More importantly, Corso hasn't had much time to see the ‘Cats' pitchers throw and see they're pitches.

"I've only caught a certain amount of

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bullpens, so I really haven't caught all the guys who threw tonight," he said. "I just adapted out there and we worked like we've been working all year. Felt like it was fluent."

It certainly looked it. He had to go out to the mound only a few times to get on the same page as his pitcher.

On top of not knowing all the pitchers, he had to deal with five of them during the game.

Stephen Rivera started, but lasted just 21 3. After North Adams had a long at-bat in the second inning, putting up five runs, Rivera got Ben Klafczynski to fly out on the first pitch to start, but then couldn't find his command and gave way Matt Klein.

Klein then carried the ‘Cats through the sixth and earned the win.

Randall Bulliard, Corey Vogt and Taylor McInnis combined for the final three innings.

"Justin Corso was just amazing tonight, blocking balls, making accurate throws. I couldn't ask for a guy to come in and do a better job than he did." manager Bobby Segal said. "Just coming in and being the third guy on the totem pole, the next thing you know you're in the game and Justin did a phenomenal job with just showing a lot of poise. We're definitely going to get some innings out of him this next week for sure."

That's because Leon returned with a few staples in his scalp to hold the cut closed.

Leon said the staples are supposed to be coming out in a week.

If losing Leon wasn't a bad enough start for the SteepleCats, Keene's No. 2 hitter Klafczynski hit a two-run homer in the first.

But the ‘Cats responded with a pair in the bottom of the inning to tie and then five in the second for a commanding 7-2 lead, or so they thought.

The Swamp bats struck right back in the top of the third with four of their own and it was a game again.

"When you put five up, to give up four, it kills you," Segal said.

The game continued 7-6 until Corso drove in Cam Kneeland in the sixth with an RBI single.

Keene answered in the seventh, but North Adams had had enough of letting the Swamp bats hang around.

So in the bottom of the seventh, the ‘Cats struck for another four runs, but it wasn't without some help from the Keene pitching staff.

North Adams' first three batters of the inning were all hit by pitches, loading the bases.

Matt Petty then did some hitting of his own, drilling the first pitch he saw down the third base line, scoring two runs.

"That two-run double was just huge at that time of the game," Segal said. "Petty's been real solid for us in the four-hole all year for us. He's a guy who will take pitches that he knows aren't in the zone. To see discipline like that out of your four-hitter, I just get really excited, and it's just a matter of time before he really starts turning on the jets."

He doesn't have much more time as the SteepleCats enter the final week of the regular season this week.

They begin the final stretch today with a game on the road versus the vermont Mountaineers.

The ‘Cats then play four more road games, including two on Wednesday -- one at Bristol and the other at Danbury -- before returning home for their regular season and home finale. They take on Danbury Saturday at 6:30 p.m.