2016 Walpole Maples Repeat in Connecticut River Valley MSBL

Connecticut River Valley MSBL

Walpole Maples 7, Keene Summit Athletics 1

‘Corey’s No-Hitter Jump Starts Playoff Run’

Submitted by Mark McGill, Walpole Maples

The Walpole Maples are back to back champions of the eight-team Connecticut River Valley MSBL! The regular season ended with us in fifth place with a 9-5 record. That brought a first round playoff matchup with the four seed Walpole Wild Blue. We split the two regular season match ups.

The two home town teams took to the field in the first round of the playoffs. Steve Corey started on the bump for the Maples as the Wild Blue countered with Adam Kuhn. The Maples got on the board first in the first inning with a Garin Clough double, who would score two batters later on a John Maciejewski single for 1-0 lead. In the second inning we padded our lead with four more runs. It started with a Jake St. Pierre double followed by a single by Hank Bailley to score Jake. After a ground out, Steve Corey singled to score another run. Then came back to back doubles by Tyler Benner and Garin to push two more runs across. The game remained that score till the sixth inning when we added one more run. We then added one more in the seventh and two more in the eighth for the eventual 9-0 win. The biggest story of the game was the pitching of Steve, who went the complete game and threw a no-hitter!

Up next came a huge challenge against the first place Claremont Cardinals. In the regular season we also split our two match ups. We once again sent Corey to the mound. We started the scoring early again as Jed led off the game with a single. Garin followed that up with a single to move Jed to third base. Jed would score on a sacrifice fly by Shane Salmonson and then Adam Kobeski doubled to drive in Garin for a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the first inning Claremont answered with two runs of their own to tie the game at two. The second inning was scoreless then in the third we pushed one more run across to take a 3-2 lead. We scored five runs in the fourth, all coming with two outs. The big blow in the inning was a three run home run by Jed. We added three more in the sixth, three in the seventh and three in the ninth for the eventual 17-2 win. Steve Corey once again pitched the whole game to get the win.

In the championship game we would face Keene Summit Athletics, who beat Putney in the other semi-final game. During the regular season we lost both meetings to Summit. In this game we sent Hank Bailley to the mound. Once again we got on the board first in the first inning. Jed St. Pierre led of the game with a double and moved to third on a ground out. He would score on a sacrifice fly by Shane for a 1-0 lead. The game would remain that score until the sixth inning when Jed hit a triple then scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Shane. Summit would get one run back in the seventh for a 2-1 score. The eighth inning was scoreless then in the ninth we tacked on five more runs to lead 7-1. After three outs we claimed our second straight CRVBL title. Hank Bailley pitched the complete game for the win.

Walpole Maples 2016 roster: Coaches– Ken McGill and Glenn Yardley. Scorebook keeper– Elizabeth McGill. Players– Mark McGill, Shane Salmonson, Hank Bailley, Jake St. Pierre, Colby McAllister, Jed St. Pierre, Steve Corey, Adam Kobeski, John Maciejewski, Tim Carey, Caleb French, Billy Smith, Garin Clough, Kevin Russell, Tyler Benner, and Matt Barnes.