Highway Hammers plow the road with Long Home Run

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On Wednesday August 5, Cobbling Rock Construction faced the Highway Hammers at Reis Park, and a low scoring game had Cobbling Rock ahead 3-1 in the top of the fourth. So the Hammers needed a boost and a grooved pitch did the trick.

 “It was right there,” said Scotty Pires and tying the game with a two run homer propelled the visitors to an 8-4 victory.

 The eventual winners started small, though.  Steve Danko and Mikey Pires led off with singles, and Matt Pires moved Danko 60 feet away with a sacrifice fly to left center field.  Joe Veca’s one hopper to short was then gobbled up by JT Genovese, but the snare was not good enough to keep Danko at third base.

 1-0, and Cobble Rock took their turn at the plate. Joe Festo led off with a single, and Brendan Smith tripled him in with a shot to deep center field.

 Genovese proceeded with his own laser. Only his blast went off the pitcher’s glove, and on the overthrow, Festo came home for the run.

 The lead changing hands, the next three half innings kept the game status quo, and two more great plays by Genovese did its part. His mishit base hit to left also had a say, and with Smith moving to second, Joe Andriano’s single made it a 3-1 game.

 Onto the top of the fourth, Veca set the table.  The third baseman’s single to right field brought up Scotty Pires up with one out, and his drive over the very long left field fence was more than unexpected.  “I’m not supposed to ever hit a home run,” he joked.

 All tied, Cobbling fought back. Tom Watson singled to left, and Festo singled in a 4-3 lead.

 Of course, the Hammers weren’t done nailing Smith’s high arc.  Tommy Mullin smoked a line drive past third, Alex Carson reached on an error, and Danko and Matt Pires added singles to retake the lead.  A little luck next, Erick Carazza’s fly ball to center looked like easy pickins, but Festo didn’t put the squeeze on.

 Now 6-4 in favor of the Hammers, Tommy Mullins had the complete confidence of his team. “He’s the best pitcher in the league,” said Michael Mariani. “We call him Shohei O’Tommy.”

 So after Genovese led off with a single, the winning pitcher forced a pair of pop ups in the fifth inning, but he did get some help from his third baseman on a one hop laser down the line. “He’s a monster,” said Mariani, and the highlight reel play took care of the fifth inning.

 As for the sixth, Mullins did it all himself. Three popups made for three outs, and after singles by Danko and Matt Pires led to two more insurance runs, the Highway Hammers were three outs away.

 A one out walk by Baranowski offered hope and so did Smith’s line drive into the left center field gap. But giving chase was a state champion. “Matty Pires is a first team all section football player,” said Mariani, and the former wide receiver made up the ground like he hasn’t lost a step since the 2016 football season.

Pires got the last one too, and at 9-5, the one half game separation from first place wasn’t hard for Mariani to explain.  “It’s good defense and all the high fives,” he jokingly concluded.

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