I4C Victory wins 2-1 over Gators - full story, with injury update

Carp Wins Close Game Over Orleans, 2-1
Kevin McGuire Injured and Out for Undetermined Length of Time
from Shawn Williams

The Carp I4C Victory ran its winning string to four games last night with a 2-1 win over Chad Hargrove and the host Orleans Gators but in the process lost star shortstop and leading hitter, Kevin McGuire with an ankle injury. McGuire was taken to the hospital after injuring himself while sliding into home. McGuire has a broken ankle and could be out of the line-up for up to 10 weeks. He is expected to be in a cast for six weeks.

On a cool and breezy night, things started off well for Carp. McGuire led off with a triple and was followed by Shawn Houle. Houle hit a routine grounder but with the defence playing in, shortstop Jordan Adams was charging in and Carp Head Coach, Shawn Williams sent McGuire. It was a decision that Williams would later regret. McGuire lay on the ground for several minutes in obvious agony before being helped off the field. He was later driven to the General Campus of the Ottawa Hospital where he was kept overnight and fitted with a cast on Friday morning.

Carp opened the scoring in the top of the fourth when Steve McLaughlin singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI double off the bat of Al Read. Orleans responded in the bottom of the third when it loaded the bases despite not getting a single hit. Brian Frieson lead off with a walk and advanced to second when Eric Lafleur reached first on a bunt that was mishandled by Carp starting pitcher, Neil Cooke (2-0-1, 1 SV). With one out, both runners moved up on a fake bunt steal. Then with a drawn in infield, Derek Bergeron grounded to Paul Ceppi at second. Ceppi threw home to a surprised Houle who was not able to hang onto the ball allowing Frieson to come in from third. However, on the play, Frieson did not touch home and on an appeal by Houle the home plate umpire ruled Frieson out for the second out of the inning with Bergeron now at second on the fielder's choice and an error charged to Houle. Lafleur advanced to third and the Gators still had two runners in scoring position. But the Gators could not score as Cooke managed to strike out Matt Bowman for the third out of the inning. It was one of 15 strikeouts for Cooke on the night.

In the top of the seventh, Carp managed to score an important insurance run when Mike Money led off with a single and was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Eric Rosenquist. That was followed by a shallow fly ball down the line in leftfield from Trevor Wood. Despite a great effort from Brandon Werthner to make the play it was just too far to come and the ball dropped in allowing Money to score from second.

The importance of Carp's second run was highlighted when Kurtis Summers started the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to left. But it was Cooke's night as he managed to retire the next three Orleans batters in order for his second regular season league win.

On the mound for Carp, Cooke was dominant going the seven full innings and giving up one earned run on two hits. He struck out 15 and walked two. Carp made two errors. For the Gators, Hargrove went the distance giving up only two runs while scattering eight hits, striking out seven and walking one. He also had a wild pitch. Orleans had one error.

At the plate, for Carp, Read was 2-3 with a single, a double, an RBI and a stolen base. His average has now climbed to .364 in the regular season. Money and McLaughlin were both 1-3 and both scored a run on the night. Carp left five runners on base. For Orleans, Summers was 1-3 with a home run and an RBI. The Gators stranded four runners, three of them in scoring position.

The Victory is off to Grafton for the Jim Bradford Classic this weekend. Jim Bradford was an outstanding umpire and an Instructor/Evaluator in the Softball Ontario Umpire program. Jim was a teacher and a family man with values that befitted his quiet and calm demeanor. His sudden death several years ago was a tragic loss to his family and friends and the softball community. Williams had this to say about the man for whom the tournament is named, "I remember when I first met Jim in North Fredericksburgh at the OASA Junior Eliminations in 1986. I was a young, 24-year-old replacement umpire for that tournament and still learning how to officiate competitive ball. At first, Jim seemed to me like he was too perfect but that was because he worked so hard at being the best he could be at his chosen craft and he passed on his knowledge to other umpires. I used to laugh and think that when Jim punched someone out at the plate on a called third strike, he looked like John Travolta in that famous Saturday Night Fever pose. But that didn't matter. He was still a great technician and a teacher of the rules. He was always willing to talk ball with other officials at any level and he was a great listener. He took the time to hear what you had to say before offering up an opinion. The softball community and the communities from Cobourg, Grafton and the surrounding area greatly miss Jim."

The Victory have added Darren Featherstone from the Stittsville 56ers for this weekend and with the injury to McGuire have picked up Joel Langford from the Orleans Gators to provide some added depth and speed on the bases.

Carp's next game is Tuesday, June 12th when the victory travel down the road for another all West Carleton match-up with the Fitzroy Harbour West Carleton Electrics. Note that the game time has been switched to an 8:45 PM start. The Victory returns home on Thursday, June 14th to play the Ottawa Blitz. Game time is 8:30 PM and admission to all games is free.