Quyon splits doubleheader in Manotick on Wednesday

from Moe Laframboise

Game 1 – Barrhaven 5 Quyon 4

In game one of the Manotick Wednesday night doubleheader, Barrhaven came out on top with a 5-4 win.  Paul Ceppi took the win while Matt Greer suffered the loss in relief of Earl Kearns.

Quyon opened the scoring in the 2^nd inning.  Kearns singled and was put out on a Curtis Daley fielder’s choice.  Steve Armstrong followed hitting into another fielder’s choice for the 2^nd out.  Joe McCleary then scored Armstrong from first with an RBI double.

The lead was short-lived however, as the Blues put three across in the bottom half of the 2^nd.  Lindsay Medynski led off with a single and advanced to third on a Kevin Williams single.  Williams advanced to second on a ground out and both runners scored on a 2-RBI single from Joe Allan.  Donny Cox and Kevin Shonfield followed with singles of their own, with Allan scoring on the latter.  Greer then entered the game for Quyon and got out of the jam.

Quyon tied the game at 3 in the top half of the 3^rd inning.  Dennis McCleary singled with one out and advanced to third on a Nick Armitage single.  Both runners would eventually score on Kearns’ 2^nd hit of the night.

The Blues regained the lead in the bottom half of the 3^rd.  Medynski led off with a walk and advanced to 2^nd on a sacrifice bunt from Mike Branchaud.  After a walk to Jordan Adams, Medynski scored on a Joe Allan single.  Cox drove in the eventual winning run with a laser-beam double to the fence in right-centre.

The Flyers threatened in the 7^th.  Dennis McCleary hit a one out triple to left field and scored on a Steve McCord single to make it 5-4.  With the tying run on first Ceppi was able to end the game with a strikeout.

Joe Allan gets the nod for Caveman's Choice as player of the game - he was 3 for 4 and drove in three runs, despite injuring himself in the first inning.

Game 2 – Quyon 8 Manotick 5

The Flyers got back in the win column with an 8-5 win over the Blitz in the second half of the doubleheader.  Matt Greer had the complete game win while Shannon Borho took the loss in relief of Jamie Blakely.

Quyon took the lead in the top of the 1^st.  Dennis McCleary led off the game with a single and later scored on a single from brother Joe.

The Flyers added to their lead with a run in each of the next two innings.  In the 2^nd, Steve “Big Cat” Armstrong was hit by a pitch and scored all the way from first on a D. McCleary single that was misplayed by the left fielder and went all the way to the fence.  Greer led off the 3^rd inning with a triple and scored on a Nick Armitage groundout to shortstop.

In the 5^th inning Quyon added two more runs to jump out to a 5-0 lead.  Jordan Kearns led off with a controversial hit-by-pitch call to put one on and none out.  The Big Cat followed that up by missing the bunt sign and lacing a double over the centrefielder’s head to score Kearns all the way from first.  After a strikeout and a groundout, Big Cat Armstrong would score on a Joe McCleary single.  Borho came on to relieve Blakely and the scoring went quiet until the bottom of the 6^th.

In the bottom of the 6^th the Blitz answered back sending 9 batters to the plate and tying the game up at 5.  Adam Grier walked and advanced to second on a Matt Bowman single.  Jon Ferguson then walked to load the bases.  Greer was then able to get Tony Searle to ground into a fielder’s choice at second base, but scoring Grier in the process to put the Blitz on the board.  Bowman would then score when Searle attempted to swipe second and the throw was air-mailed into centrefield.  Derek Martin reached base on a soft grounder to first base that was misplayed.  Borho followed that up with a single which scored Searle to make it 5-3 Quyon and runners on the corners.  Blakely then came to the plate and knocked a hard fly ball over the head of the right fielder that was playing shallow.  With the ball going all the way to the fence, both runners would score but Blakely was thrown out at home by a 9-6-2 relay to leave the game at 5-5.

Quyon regained the lead in the top of the 7^th.  Earl Kearns reached on an error while pinch hitting for Nick Armitage.  Armitage then re-entered to run for the veteran.  McCord then hit one to the gap in left-centre that went off the base of the fence, scoring Armitage all the way from first.  This brought Daley to the plate and he hit a soft grounder to third base.  McCord was running on contact, and if he hadn’t have taken a nose dive halfway home he should have scored easily.  Still, the ball wasn’t fielded cleanly, and as the runner attempted to dog-paddle his way home the catcher applied the tag just in time.  After Jordan Kearns drew a walk, Borho was able to sit the Big Cat down on strikes for the 2^nd out.  With two runners in scoring position, Shawn Laframboise came in to pinch hit for Blake Howarth.  Laframboise knocked the first pitch he saw over the head of the second baseman to score both insurance runs and the Flyers held on to win by a score of 8-5.

Steve McCord gets the nod as the Caveman's Choice for player of the game, going 2 for 3, with a triple and a walk and several defensive gems at shortstop.