Keene out lasts North Adams in offensive onslaught

The North Adams SteepleCats lost in an offense-centered thriller on Thursday, dropping their
matchup with the Keene SwampBats at Alumni Field by a final score of 14-6.
Even in defeat, there were some impressive individual performances that took place. Nelphie
Lopez (Missouri Western) and John Heitzman (Portal) each went yard during the contest,
powering the offense on the night. The pitching impressed at times as well, with Kellen Moore
(Lafayette) recording another solid outing on the mound, as well as Nick Krompegal throwing a
scoreless bottom of the 8th inning.
North Adams started the scoring in the top of the second inning, when Jake Butler (George
Mason) stole home to give the ‘Cats the early advantage. However, Keene would respond in
their half of the inning with a four spot. Micah Kendrick (Kansas State) would single to center
field, scoring TJ Schuyler (Georgia Southern) and Dylan Fitzsimmons (St. John’s), and then
Charlie Meglio (Rutgers) would hit a single of his own to score Kendrick and Gavin Speirs
(Charleston Southern).
After a quiet third and fourth inning, the scoring would resume in the 5th inning when North
Adams put up four runs of their own. First, Heitzman homered to right field to cut the deficit to
two, and then Matthew Colella (Lafayette) made it a one run game when he singled to bring in
Alex Barrist (Lafayette). Finally, Lopez gave the ‘Cats the lead with a homer of his own, bringing
in Colella and making it a 5-4 ballgame.
Keene would take the lead back in the bottom of the 6th inning, putting up two runs to make it
6-5. Eli Stephens (Georgia Tech) doubled to left field to score Petey Craska (North Alabama),
and then Fitzsimmons hit a sac fly to score Stephens and reclaim the lead for Keene. Keene
would score a further 8 runs in the next inning, making it 14-5. Keene would send 13 batters to
the plate in the inning, and despite North Adams putting up a run in the top of the 8th to cut the
deficit to 8, they would not be able to score any more, making the final score 14-6.
Despite the loss, there were several encouraging trends that took place that the ‘Cats should
take pride in. With the bats, they were tenacious, taking fantastic at-bats and forcing a very
talented Keene pitching staff to work extremely hard all night long. They were hitting the ball
sharply, forcing the defense to make good plays, and not making anything easy for the
SwampBats. The pitching also looked sharp, keeping the ball in the strike zone and forcing
Keene to make the offense happen, rather than giving them anything easy to work with. Overall,
North Adams should hold their heads high despite the final score.
Next up for North Adams, they face the Danbury Westerners at home after a couple of days off,
with first pitch scheduled for 4:00 p.m., before a road trip to Vermont to take on the
Mountaineers for the last time this season, with first pitch in Montpelier scheduled for 6:30 p.m.