12U Pirates Pick Up Two Wins

The Patterson Pirates 12 and under Black team won two games last week to put an end to a three-game skid. The Pirates defeated Patterson’s 12U Gold team 15-8 on Monday night after beating Kent 13-2 last Thursday.

Those victories sandwiched a 4-4 tie against Bedford Hills at Peckham Park on Saturday. The WPBA has ruled that that game must be replayed in the future.

In the 15-8 win over the Gold team on Monday at Peckham Park, the offenses for both teams were the stars of the game.

“It was a wild game,” Black team coach Armand Lemieux said. “The pitchers were not very effective.”

He pointed out that one of the keys to the game for his team was that Scott Maynard was able to provide 2 1/3rd innings of solid relief pitching, which slowed the Gold team down. The score was 8-5 in favor of the Black team when Maynard came in.

“We needed somebody to control things a little because we knew that they were going to score runs,” Lemieux said.

On offense for the Black team, Brennan Farrell hit a three-run homerun in the first inning that gave his team a 3-0 lead. He also pitched one inning in relief to close the game. John Morris also made some nice catches in leftfield.

Lemieux pointed out that Van Finisi and Matt Whitworth both saw time behind the plate during the game due to the heat.

“They both did a great job with all the pitchers that were coming in,” he said.

In last Thursday’s 13-2 victory over host Kent, Zach Onufrik picked up the win on the mound after tossing a complete game. The game was stopped after six innings due to the 10-run rule.

“Zach has been our best pitcher. You know he is going to give it his all,” Lemieux said, adding that he always feels confident when his team is able to give Onufrik a lead.

“It is money in the bank,” he commented.

The homerun ball played a big part in this game for the Pirates. Farrell hit another three-run homerun. Reece Pijou, Evan Pasquale and Kyle Christian also put balls over the fence.

Prior to this victory, Patterson had been on a three-losing streak that saw the offense falter.

“They finally came to life and it was a nice way to break out of the funk we were in,” Lemieux said.

Prior to the losing streak, the Pirates played in the Williamsport Tournament, where they played on a field that was a different size than they usually play on. Lemieux believes that the three-game slide after the tournament had to do with the fact that his players had to get used to their normal field size all over again.

“It took about a week and they came out of it big time on Thursday,” said Lemieux.

In the 4-4 tie with Bedford Hills on Saturday, Brett George pitched four innings for the Pirates and gave up three runs.

“It was a very solid outing,” Lemieux said. “Bedford Hills has some very good hitters.”

The Pirates took the lead in the top of the seventh inning. However, Bedford Hills was able to tie it in the bottom of the seventh and the score remained tied. The teams only play seven innings and the WPBA ruled that the game must be replayed since it was tied at the end of regulation. That was disappointing news to Lemieux, who originally thought that the game would be continued another day instead of restarted.

Although he knew his players would be disappointed with the news, he had no doubt that they would be ready to face Bedford Hills again whenever the game is replayed.

“They will be raring to go back at them,” Lemieux said. “They are resilient. They will come back.”

The Pirates were scheduled to play at Lewisboro and New Castle earlier this week after press time. Their next game will be Saturday against Armonk beginning at 6 p.m. at Peckham Park.