Springfield falls to Otter Valley at home

Cosmos’ baseball fell behind early against the visiting Otters and although they battled back to make it a ballgame, they would eventually come up short, losing 7-3 on Tuesday evening.


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Springfield falls to Otter Valley at home Kameron Towle May 9, 2018 0 Stokarski Cosmos' Adam Stokarski eyeing a runner on first while on the mound in Tuesday's loss to Otter Valley. Kameron Towle SPRINGFIELD- Cosmos’ baseball fell behind early against the visiting Otters and although they battled back to make it a ballgame, they would eventually come up short, losing 7-3 on Tuesday evening. Otter Valley used a big rally in the top of the first to jump out to an early lead. With two outs, Springfield made a couple of mistakes in the field. An overthrow from the outfield to second base would allow a runner to score, and after a 2-RBI single, a walk knocked a run in with the bases loaded, and a run was scored on a passed ball before another 2-RBI single. After just a half inning, the Otters were up, 6-0. In the bottom-half of the first, Springfield would score a run to chip into the lead, on an RBI-single from Matt Veysey that scored Adam Stokarski. The game remained 6-1 until the top of the fourth, when the Otters would score on another throwing error. Springfield responded in the bottom of the fourth with a run of their own on a two-out, bases-loaded walk by Dylan Merrow. However, a strikeout with the next at-bat would leave three runners stranded for the Cosmos. In the bottom of the fifth, Levi Perham had a lead-off double for Springfield by hustling to reach second when no one was covering the bag. Two batters later, Perham was knocked in by a Veysey single up the middle, to make the score 7-3 in favor of Otter Valley. Although the Cosmos bats would cool down for the remainder of the game, head coach Jim Winslow was still proud of his players, who out-hit the Otters on the day, 8-6. Winslow said, “I was really happy with how my kids came back… we had a big attitude change and a big confidence change [after the first inning]. We battled that team, and that’s a game we win if you take that first inning out. It’s really good to see that out of our guys and see the improvement today. If you erase that first inning, we’re fine. It’s tough to come back from six runs in the first inning, but we made it a competitive game, which is all I can ask for with a team like that… that’s a quality program. For us to compete with a team like that, it shows we can compete with just about anyone.” advertisement Springfield outplayed the Otters for the final six innings of play, but mistakes (5 errors to OV’s 0) hurt them on Tuesday. Despite the loss, Winslow had words of encouragement for his team after the game, saying, “Big step… big step forward. I don’t think our record [2-6] really describes how far we’ve come. I think we’ve come a long way… a lot further than I expected. I’m really happy with how we’re forming and how we’re improving on the season.” J.J. LeCouffe started on the bump for Springfield, throwing four innings, giving up 7 earned on 5 hits, and striking out 2. Stokarski pitched the final three innings, giving up just 1 hit and no runs, while striking out 2. Veysey led the Cosmos’ offense, going 2-3 with 2 RBIs. Kaleb Chambers was also 2-3, and Stokarski, Perham, LeCouffe, and Collin Pinney each contributed a hit. McKeighan earned the victory on the mound for the Otters, pitching a complete-game, allowing three runs on eight hits, striking out nine and walking one. Springfield falls to 2-6 and will look to bounce back on the road against Mill River on Friday.