Kars defeats Stittsville 5-2 on Wednesday night

from Chad Milne

Kars Aces travelled to Stittsville on Wednesday night to take on the 56ers, looking to avenge their last meeting that ended in a tie after Stittsville staged an improbable comeback.

Back on June 29^th in Manotick, Kars looked to be cruising to a 4-1 win when with a two out and nobody on in the top of the seventh and Stittsville down to their final strike, the 56ers erupted for 3 runs to tie the game 4-4.

Fast forward to Wednesday, the Aces jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. With one out in the top of the first inning, Brad Pender walked and scored on Nick Ellis’ two-run homer. Ellis hit the first pitch he saw from Adam Smith down the line in left field, curling it just enough to sneak it around the foul pole.

Stittsville got one run back in the bottom of the third, but the Aces immediately answered with two more runs in the top of the fourth. Cory Morrison led off with a double down the right field line and later scored when with two out Kyle Gourgon drilled a pitch into the left-centre field gap. It would have been an easy stand-up triple for the speedy Gourgon, but Stittsville had some trouble getting the ball back to infield and Gourgon never slowed up, scoring easily to make it 4-1 Aces.

Stittsville threatened in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with one out, but only managed to score one run. Trevor Scott hit a flare just over the infield in right field that second baseman Kristian Knapp raced a long way to catch but lost control of the ball. Knapp recovered to throw the ball toward home, but the short relay from the pitcher Severson to the catcher Alkerton was not in time to get the out at home. After a pop-out, the next batter grounded into an unassisted double play by the third baseman Gourgon to end the inning.

The Aces got an important insurance run in the top of the seventh, playing some textbook fastball. Gourgon led off with a single, was sacrificed to second on Chad Milne’s bunt and was driven home on a two-out single by Knapp.

Stittsville tried to stage another last inning comeback in the bottom of the seventh loading the bases thanks to some defensive miscues on the Aces’ infield, but Severson wriggled out of the jam to preserve the 5-2 win. Cory Alkerton had the win, with Severson getting the save in relief. Adam Smith took the loss for Stittsville.

With the win and the Micksburg loss to Quyon, Kars moved into sole possession of first place in the GOFL with a record of 10-4-1.