“Inch by Inch. Play by Play.” Al Pacino screams these famous words to his team before “the biggest battle of their professional lives” in the movie “Any Given Sunday.”
As the Wreckers try to look past a slow start and sneak into the F.C.I.A.C. playoffs, these words perfectly sum up Staples’ battle against Westhill and their season moving forward.
It was a tough fought game right from the get-go, and an inch here and an inch there was truly the difference between winning and losing.
The Wrecker offense wasted no time and got to work in the first-inning. Brian Terzian ’13 belted a liner over the center fielder’s head for a double. Next up was Matt Smith ’13 who sent a shot into right, which cleared the fence by a few inches, for a two-runhomerun to put the Wreckers up early.
“He put a good swing on the ball and it just kept carrying, all the way over the fence.” said Justin Gallanty ’14. “It got us an early lead that we were able to use to keep us going for the rest of the game.”
However, Westhill struck back in the second. With runners on second and third, they managed to put one run across on an R.B.I. single and looked primed to do even more damage with a runner on third and only one out.
On a strong fly ball into the left and center field gap, James Frusciante ’13 made a diving grab and caught the ball a mere inch from the ground. He then had the instincts to get up and throw the runner out who had left third early for a game changing double play.
“James’ catch really ignited us to stay in the game,” said Andy Floyd ’14. “It kept a really important run from scoring.”
After Westhill managed to tie the game at two in the sixth-inning, the Wreckers managed to load the bases and Frankie Vartuli ’13 stepped to the plate.
He shot a hard ground ball a few inches to the left of the diving first baseman to put the Wreckers back on top.
Staples then piled on three more runs as they extended the lead to 6-2. After an easyseventh-inning, the Wreckers shook hands as they landed their eight win of the season.
“Our team has fixed some of the kinks we had earlier in the season.” Said Adam Dulsky ’14. “We’re clicking on all cylinders and we’re going to show the rest of the league what Staples baseball is about.”
An inch here and an inch there went the right way for the Wreckers on this drizzly Thursday afternoon, and that was the difference between winning and losing.
With four games remaining in the season, the Wreckers do not have any breaks. Three of the remaining games are against teams who have locked up spots in the F.C.I.A.C. already and would like nothing more to put the Wreckers on the outside looking in.
However, according to Dulsky, this Wrecker team is playing with a new found confidence as of late and it is really showing on the field as they have strung together three huge wins.
