Lumberjacks sweep Chateaugay; Shaheen tosses no-hitter
Dan McClelland
Grant Godin follows through after delivering a ball on May 4 against the Parishville-Hopkinton Panthers. The batter took a swing and missed. (Rich Rosentreter photos)
by Rich Rosentreter
The Tupper Lake Lumberjacks varsity baseball team took a pair of wins on May 18 in a doubleheader sweep of the Chateaugay Bulldogs by scores of 13-0 in game one and 14-0 in game two. As of Monday, the ‘Jacks were in third place in the East Division with a 4-4 record.
The Jacks' pitchers dominated the Bulldogs as Griffin Shaheen pitched a no-hitter in the second game while striking out nine batters and Grant Godin surrendered just one hit and took the victory in the first game notching 10 strikeouts. Both games were shortened due to the “mercy rule” and that it was a doubleheader.
Manager Paul Pickering said his team played well and he was happy with their effort against a winless Bulldog squad in the twin bill.
“The team came out ready to play and I was very pleased with our performance. Grant and Griffin pitched well and gave them fits on the mound. Chateaugay was a young and inexperienced team and we got out to a fast start,” he told the Free Press. “The team was responsive to knowing they were a much better team and played baseball, but didn’t run the opponent into the ground. I’m very proud that the team was compassionate but still aggressive. Both games were good wins and we were able to work on some stuff to prepare ourselves for other games.”
In the first game, the ‘Jacks got on the board after Griffin Shaheen singled with two outs and Grant Godin and Owen Whitman walked to load the bases. Ryley Hill got an RBI when he was hit by a pitch to give Tupper Lake a 1-0 lead. The Jacks added four more runs in the second inning for a 5-0 cushion before blowing the game wide open in the fourth inning with eight runs.
Standout players for Tupper Lake were: Grant Godin who went 2 for 2 with 3 RBIs along with his 10 strikeout, one-hitter; Owen Whitman who went 2 for 2 with 3 stolen bases; Owen Gonyea who went 1 for 3 with an RBI and 3 stolen bases; and Griffin Shaheen, Ryley Hill, Jay Gagnon and Noah Varden, who each contributed an RBI.
Jayden Farnsworth follows through on a swing during a May 4 game against the Parishville-Hopkinton Panthers.
In the second game, it didn’t take long for the ‘Jacks to jump out in front as they plated five runs in the first inning. Leadoff batter Owen Gonyea got it going when he reached base on an error and then swiped second. With one out, Griffin Shaheen, Grant Godin and Owen Whitman had consecutive singles followed by a double by Jayden Farnsworth. Ryley Hill reached on an error and Jack Desmarais singled to cap off the ‘Jacks offense in the inning.
In the second inning, the ‘Jacks picked up where they left off as Griffin Shaheen got the inning going with a single and a steal of second. Owen Whitman, Jack Desmarais and Owen Gonyea all contributed hits in the inning and Shaheen added his second single of the frame as the ‘Jacks scored seven runs and had a commanding 12-0 lead.
Tupper Lake added two more runs in the third as Ryley Hill, Jack Desmarais, Noah Varden and Owen Gonyea had consecutive hits to highlight the inning.
Standout players for Tupper Lake were: Owen Gonyea who went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs and 3 stolen bases; Griffin Shaheen who went 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs and 4 stolen bases along with his no-hitter and 9 strikeouts on the mound; Ryley Hill who went 2 for 3 with an RBI; and Jack Desmarais who went 3 for 3 with an RBI.
On May 21, the ’Jacks lost a 7-6 heartbreaker to the Norwood-Norfolk Flyers as they had a 6-2 lead going into the sixth inning and lost in extra innings.
Once again the ‘Jacks started the scoring with two runs in the first inning, but the Flyers responded with one run in the bottom of the inning and one run in the second to knot the score at 2-2.
The ‘Jacks came through with some clutch hitting in the third and fourth innings as they plated two runs in each stanza to take a 6-2 lead. Then the Flyers began to claw their way back. In the sixth inning, Norwood’s first two batters drew walks and both base runners would eventually score to close the gap to 6-4. In their final at-bat, the Flyers rallied once again by plating two runs to tie the score at 6-6 - with the tying run crossing the plate with two outs.
In the bottom of the eighth inning Norwood’s leadoff batter walked, stole second and scored the game-winning run on a double to give Tupper Lake the loss.
“We capitalized on some errors and scored some runs early. The bats went quiet and Norwood capitalized on some errors also. We had the situation we wanted in the bottom of the seventh, up one with two outs and a runner on second,” Pickering said. “The Norwood player had a good hit and they tied the game. We couldn’t hold them in the bottom of the eighth and it was a tough loss.”
Still, the Tupper Lake manager had lots of praise for his team.
“We did a lot of great things in this game. Jace Desmarais played excellent in center field and tracked down several hard hit balls. Our pitching was solid and I’m happy with the outing Grant Godin had,” he said. “We were in position to win. We have to do a better job getting on base and putting the ball in play. This team never gives up and puts forth their best effort every outing. As a coach that’s what I want from my team is their best effort, we came up short on this one.”
Standout players for the Jacks were: Jace Desmarais who went 1 for 4 with an RBI and 2 stolen bases; Griffin Shaheen who went 1 for 4 and an RBI at bat and had 4 strikeouts while giving up 3 earned runs on 5 hits on the mound; and Grant Godin, who was the starting pitcher and had 7 strikeouts while giving up just 1 earned run and 3 hits.
The Jacks are scheduled to play a home game today at 4:30 p.m. against the St. Lawrence Larries and then the team will honor its seniors during a home game at 11 a.m. on Friday against Madrid-Waddington.