Braves’ Bats Go Silent, Fall 2-0 in Title Game

By: Madeleine Balestrier

The difference in venue and weather made all the difference on Sunday afternoon as Saturday’s 20 runs became Sunday’s diving catches and double plays. The Bourne Braves dropped the CCBL Finals winner-take-all duel against the Brewster Whitecaps in a 2-0 shutout.

The sun and stifling heat at Stony Brook Elementary School had no impact on the Braves’ bats as they went cold through three innings; the Braves got their first hit in the top half of the fourth.

Before Lyle Lin (Arizona State) knocked a leadoff single in the fourth, the Whitecaps struck first off of a Marty Costes (Maryland) sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third.

The wind of momentum shifted towards Brewster’s dugout early in the contest and never really faltered. Costes’ sacrifice fly and Hunter Bishop’s (Arizona State) solo homerun in the sixth inning were the only action on the scoreboard for both teams.

While the Whitecaps’ offense capitalized on their seven hits, the Braves’ bats beat themselves as they failed to answer in a shutout.

The lack of offensive output from missed opportunities from Bourne left bases loaded in the top of the fourth and seventh inning on Sunday’s contest.

While double plays ended a number of the Braves’ bids at the plate, the seventh inning line drive to center field that Costes miraculously grabbed was the demoralizing Achilles heal on the day.

Before Lin knocked the ball deep, Tyler Fitzgerald (Louisville) singled into a pitching change, while Richie Palacios (Towson) came in to pinch hit for Andy Atwood (Texas-Rio Grande Valley). He successfully worked the count to walk. Then Grant Williams (Kennesaw State) singled and Fitzgerald dove into third base to load the bases as Lin approached the plate.

Two more double-plays in the eighth and the ninth sealed the Braves fate until the 2018 Cape Cod Baseball League season.

You can contact the author via email (madeleinebalestrier@gmail.com) or follow her on Twitter (@mads_balestrier).