North Adams, MA – After finishing 3-1 on their four-game roadtrip, the North Adams Steeplecats returned home to Joe Wolfe Field confident that they had what it took to win in pressure situations. With nine-inning comebacks against tricky division foes Keene and Holyoke to score crucial victories, the ‘Cats were finally beginning to show signs of coming together as a team. Manager Clayton Kuklick had been saying for weeks that as long as this unit bought into the team concept, they would find success in the Western Division despite a slow start to the season that dropped them to last place. Saturday night’s starter for Danbury would be freshman right-hander Nick Williams from the University of Tennessee, who had already defeated the ‘Cats in the only meeting back on June 17. In that game, Williams was brilliant, picking up the win with a season-high 8 strikeouts and just two hits allowed across 5 innings of work as the Westerners rolled 7-0. But there’s two sides to every coin, and although Williams had been an unsolvable puzzle the first time around, the SteepleCats hitters had already seen him once. Plus, this was a totally different team now.

In the first, Williams fell into hot water when he put runners at first and second following four-pitch walks to both Steven Zavala and Jacob Daniel. That brought up catcher Brett Frantini, who went down on strikes on a day in which the ‘Cats wouldn’t stumble upon too many opportunities. Williams picked up two more strikeouts in the second and the teams were scoreless going into the third. Danbury tacked on a run in the top of the third off Tim Thiesing as cleanup hitter Kyle Convissar brought in the speedy Kyle Richardson with a two out RBI single after Richardson had stolen second off Frantini. In the fourth, North Adams wasted another promising opportunity as designated hitter Drew Gadaire reached on an error by Convissar at shortstop. Daniel then punched a single and the go-ahead run was on base, but Williams locked in once again and struck out two of the next three batters he faced. At that point, the K total stood at 6.

Danbury added two more off Thiesing (0-3) in the fourth after first baseman Mike Ford scored Chase Butler with a double, after the Westerners third baseman led off the frame with a single. Richardson reached on a fielder’s choice with two outs and stole second for the straight time. Dangerous center fielder Tanner Krietemeier brought home the second run with an RBI single, having entered the game with the league’s second-highest batting average. In the home fifth, Chantz Mack’s two out double was useless after Zavala grounded out to short to end the inning. Up to that point, both teams had left runners five on base but the score still stood at 3-0. Richardson made it 4-0 in the sixth with an RBI fielder’s choice that scored Ford, who had picked up a one out double following a Butler strikeout. In the next half inning, Daniel walked and Cameron Griffin singled with two outs before both advanced on a Williams wild pitch to put a pair of potential runs in scoring position. Sam Russell was then used as a pinch-hitter for Kyle Boudreau, but the junior from Central Michigan grounded out to short to end the threat. SteepleCats lefty CJ Tsoumakas came out for the seventh and allowed a five pitch walk to leadoff hitter Chris Waylock. Waylock then stole second and third on consecutive pitches, for the Westerners fifth successful attempt in as many tries on the night. Convissar tacked on his second RBI with a weak groundout to Tsoumakas on a tricky play near first base as Waylock came in to score easily.

North Adams would get its only scoring in the seventh with the deficit standing at 5-0. It all happened with two outs as Williams walked Mack and Zavala before allowing an RBI single from Gadaire to make it 5-1. Nick Williams (2-1) was pulled for Chris Williams, having topped his previous outing against the ‘Cats with a season-high nine strikeouts. The fresher Williams quickly gave up an RBI single to Daniel, who finished perfect at the plate 2-for-2 with a pair of walks. But there was a problem, Gadaire was thrown out at third for the final out. When I spoke to Drew about it later, he said he was definitely safe. This prompted a Kuklick argument with field umpire Mike Sadowski, the previous night’s home plate umpire in Holyoke.

Danbury would score three more times in the top of the eighth for the final runs of the game, capitalizing on a pair of errors. The final blow came on an RBI triple from Krietemeier off Andrew Loynaz, who would pitch the ninth and work out of a second and third jam with nobody out and not allow another run.

The SteepleCats (6-13) are back on the road Sunday night at 6:30 to take on Western Division rival Keene (7-5) at 6:30. If you can’t make the game, make sure you support the SteepleCats and listen or watch the game by accessing the TeamLine link at the bottom of the team’s newly designed website at www.steeplecats.com.