FRANKLIN - Thursday’s Hockomock Cup Championship game between the Franklin Panthers (16-2) and the Oliver Ames Tigers (12-6) featured the class of the league in a contest to determine which division winner truly sat atop 2012’s highly competitive field.
Though threatening weather postponed the much-anticipated premiere divisional baseball crossover from Wednesday until today, the extra wait was well worth it for Franklin who came with a 4-1 win and some new hardware to add their trophy case.
The Panthers drew first blood off an RBI single from right fielder Joe Palazini who knocked in senior captain Bobby Chaiton – who’d singled to lead off the second inning, then stole second base on a wild pitch, and then stole third base on a passed ball pitched to second baseman Cam Flateau.
Oliver Ames evened things up at 1-1 in the fourth inning off a deep RBI single from junior centerfielder Drew Mancini that pushed junior pitcher David MacKinnon across home plate from first base.
Franklin wasted no time recapturing the lead, though, going up 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning thanks to timely triple from senior captain Brendan Skidmore, followed by an RBI double from fellow senior captain Tyler Buck.
Franklin tallied two more runs in the sixth inning, after Oliver Ames opted for a pitching change despite five solid frames from MacKinnon. Tigers’ senior David Holmes was brought in in relief but allowed the Panthers to load the bases with no outs, and was pulled and replaced by junior Eddie Daveau. Franklin junior left fielder Neil Hart capitalized by hitting a 2-RBI single to increase the Franklin lead to three runs, which was a margin that would prove to hold.
Franklin entered the game with a 15-2 record on the season, fresh off a surprising stumble on Monday – a 6-3 loss at home to Mansfield – that snapped their 15-game winning streak.
Franklin shortstop Brendan Skidmore, who earned the Hockmock League’s MVP award this season as well as being named to the Hockomock All-Star team, had 2 hits (a single in the first inning and a triple in the fifth) and drew a walk in the third inning, by which he was able to reach third base on a attempted steal that drew a bobbled exchange at second.
“We knew OA was going to come out and give us a good game,” said Skidmore. “We knew we’d have to come out and match their intensity and come out with a strong performance, which we got from Marc [Mele] on the mound, and from our players out in the field, and we had some timely hitting that really helped us get things done.”
Niro, too, felt that sophomore pitcher Marc Mele, (5 K, 2 BB, 3 H, 7 IN) came up big for the Panthers who’ve impressed their coach all season long with their consistency.
“I thought Marc did an outstanding job today,” said Niro. “I think he only gave up three hits, maybe four. It was just a great job by everyone. Skiddy [Skidmore] stepped up, [Tyler] Buck stepped up – got the big hits, drove in runs – and hey I’m proud of these guys. With 16 wins how can I be mad at them?”
Franklin began their season with a 6-2 loss to King Philip – a result unindicative of how the remainder would play out.
“We lost our first game and that was a real wake-up call for us,” said Niro. “But we won 15 in a row after that until we got beat Monday at Mansfield. I was disappointed we got postponed yesterday because I was anxious to see how they’d bounce back.”
That minor hiccup at Mansfield may have proved to be much more of a benefit to the Panthers than a setback.
“After losing to Mansfield the other night that really got us going again,” explained Skidmore. “It made us realize that we can’t just walk out here and beat anyone. So coming out here and proving to OA that we’re the best team in the league is definitely something to be proud of and certainly gives us some momentum heading into the playoffs.”
In the opposite dugout the Oliver Ames Tigers weren’t taking today’s loss too much to heart.
“This doesn’t mean anything,” said Oliver Ames head coach Leo Duggan, now in his 27th season at the Tigers’ helm. “Honestly no one cares. Franklin is the best team in the league. I’m kind of a traditionalist and we came in second. We had the second best record so I don’t really count this and I don’t really like that they’ve decided to do it this way, but it was a good high school game.”
The Tigers’ had nothing to apologize for when the final out was recorded. They only surrenderd 2 runs through the first five innings behind a strong performance on the mound from junior captain MacKinnon who was named a Hockomock All-Star this season, alongside seniors Matt Harding and Jim Sullivan.
It was the OA bats falling relatively silent that ultimately sealed the Tigers’ fate.
“We just couldn’t come up with big hits at the most important times,” said Duggan. “We had runners on second and third with one out (in the fifth inning) and just couldn’t come through.”
Duggan was quick to acknowledge the Panthers’ own hands in capturing the victory, though, and he feels that OA will have to get their offense going if they are to make a postseason run.
“We give Franklin a lot of credit,” said Duggan. “They’re a good team and that’s why they’re 16-2. I think our pitching and defense were pretty good actually, but if we don’t hit we’re going to be one and done in the playoffs.”
Niro, too, noted the limited impact of the game’s outcome, despite being proud of capturing the league title.
“We’re really trying to take one game at a time,” Niro explained. “We have Lincoln-Sudbury tomorrow (Friday at 4 p.m. at Natick High School) in the Metro West Classic, so we’re focused on that and we’re not even worrying about the state tournament yet because it’s most important that we finish out the regular season the way we want to. We’re glad to get this win, but we want a few more.”