YARMOUTH — Everyone from fans to managers at the Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game knows the final outcome means nothing. They watch from their lawn chairs, red visors tipped over tanned brows, for the joy of watching. They jeer at umpires from the dugout for the joy of jeering. And the players, many of them still teenagers, run and throw and dive for the joy of running, throwing, and diving.
“It’s not about anybody else but the players and the fans,” said Kelly Nicholson, the Orleans Firebirds’ manager since 2001. “I don’t do a thing — I just watch.”
Charlie Kearley, an 11-year-old Firebirds fan and amateur first baseman, told the Independent he was excited to see the players he met at the team’s youth clinic earlier this summer. “It’s fun trying to get autographs,” he said. “Sometimes, I go down to the bullpen and like talking to the pitchers, too.”
Saturday’s contest at Red Wilson Field in South Yarmouth featured 7 home runs and 21 total runs scored, the most in a Cape League All-Star Game since 1985. An early spurt of power hitting carried the East Division to a breezy 13-8 win over the West Division, bringing some measure of glory to Orleans’s 7 representatives on the roster: Cashel Dugger (C), Elijah Ickes (SS), Robbie Lavey (OF), Anthony Potestio (OF), Ethan Foley (RHP), Steele Murdock (RHP), and Cole Tryba (LHP).
Ickes lined the first pitch he saw into left field for a single. After advancing to second and stealing third, he darted home on a wild pitch, prompting the East’s third-base coach to yell, “Ka-ching! Ka-ching!”
Homers from Dalton Wentz and Dee Kennedy made it 3-0.
The third inning was defined by a costly error behind home plate. Once Chatham outfielder Jackson Freeman reached base on a dropped third strike, East hitters Lavey, Dee Kennedy, Tre Boussard, and Dugger recorded 4 consecutive hits and 3 runs, an outburst followed by outfielder Ashton Larson’s gratuitous 3-run homer into the trees.
“It’s too easy! It’s too easy!” said the East’s third-base coach, his arms flapping as Larson scored the team’s 10th run.
Despite a towering 9-run deficit, the West tried for a comeback in the 4th inning. Second baseman Ryan McKay struck a 2-run double against the left-field wall, bringing the score to 10-3. Then Falmouth shortstop and Norfolk native Antonio Morales doubled to center, allowing McKay to scuttle home.
In a game marked by fast-paced, even frenetic offensive performances, the comparative calm of the 5th inning gave pitchers Ethan Foley and Kaleb Appleby their moment in the spotlight. Foley, a 6’3” righty for Orleans, retired the side with long-limbed effortlessness, while Appleby avoided trouble after an initial single by forcing a double play and groundout
The scoring resumed with gusto in the 6th, if only for the East. Chatham’s Daniel Jackson and Harwich’s Aiden Robbins sent back-to-back two-out home runs beyond the center-field wall, reestablishing their 9-run lead.
The West’s offense, try as it might, could not reverse the game’s momentum in the 7th, even with a home run, stolen base, walk, and single against Orleans southpaw Cole Tryba. The commotion of Bear Harrison, Jon LeGrande, and Kyle Lougee dashing across home plate could not conceal the team’s persistent deficit against the East, now a respectable if intractable 6.
When Chase Krewson, a lefty batter for Wareham, homered to right center field in the 8th inning for the West’s eighth and final run, he set the final score at 13-8. An unremarkable sequence of doubles, double plays, and groundouts marked the final inning and a half of this 34th annual contest.
‘Pack the Hill’ for Foster Families
The Orleans Firebirds’ second annual “Pack the Hill” will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 27 at Eldredge Park. During the game against the Falmouth Commodores, the team will collect donations of new backpacks and school supplies, which the Cape Cod Foster Closet will distribute to families before the new school year begins. The Firebirds encourage fans to wear red and pack Eldredge Park’s storied hillside on Sunday. —Mark R. Harsch
