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Canton
Athletics qualify for Stan Musial playoffs
By Mike Berger
Citizen Staff
With two
must wins last week, the Canton Athletics finished the regular
season at 18-11-1, its second best record in the last eight
years, and qualified for the Stan Musial playoffs. The tourney
begins this weekend, most likely on the North Shore in a double
elimination format.
The Stan
Musial Tournament involves 16 teams from Massachusetts and Rhode
Island. Athletics head coach Cab Devoll of Canton said it is
very likely his team will play two games on the North Shore
Saturday and one Sunday if needed. The Athletics qualified as
the fifth and last spot in the Cranberry League and will likely
face the top team from another region.
The
Athletics enter the playoffs healthy and in good spirits as they
beat Wrentham 6-4 and Middleboro 3-1. Four Canton Athletics made
the league all-star game, including catcher Joe Belmosto,
outfielders Steve Delanian and Mike Trachtenberg and pitcher
Greg Lyons of Canton, who was also named one of the league’s top
ten pitchers with a 3-2 record and an earned run average of 1.96
prior to pitching the last game of the regular season.
In the 3-1
win over Middleboro, which qualified the A’s for the tourney,
Lyons pitched a complete game and struck out eight batters.
Leading the team offensively was Alex Rossi, who drove in two
runs.
In the 6-4
win over Wrentham, Kie Argambeault started and had a 4-0 lead in
the third inning, thanks to aggressive base running by the A’s
and a two-run triple by Canton’s Billy Curry. Wrentham came back
with three runs in the fourth. In the fifth, the Athletics stole
several bases and played good defense including a leaping catch
by Chris Fegan at second base. Sharon’s Andy Poliferno came on
in relief and induced a double play with two runners on to get
out of trouble. Poliferno also fielded a sharp ground ball in
the last inning to start a key double play to end a rally and
preserve the 6-4 win.
Devoll said
he is optimistic about the team’s playoff run with his top four
pitchers (Lyons, Brian Bodjiak, Chris Smith and Poliferno) all
rested.
July 24, 2008
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