Thursday, January 1, 2009

The birth of a champion 2 by Skip McCarty











This is the second in a series of stories by Coach of the Year Skip McCarty of the East Boston Bluefish

The hitting slumps of the 2006 playoffs and the pitching slumps of the 2007 playoffs may have been solved at the beginning of the 2008 season. To ensure this marked the returns of jack o'all trades Anthony Leonelli, along with the pesky recruiting of Larry Charbonneau, which would bring the Bluefish their latest round of stellar shortstops, Eckerd college grad Jason Recore.

Jason would follow in the steps of YBL allstars Ryan McCrann and Bluefish turned future Brockton Rox, Nick Vadaro, with stellar offense at the top of the lineup.

Then one day, I received an e-mail from Chris Santosuosso, asking if we had room for another Billerica kid on our team named Chris Hartery. After clearing things up with Savin Hill, the Bluefish had added their third baseman of the future. This one had not only a great bat, but also a great glove.

The last pieces of the puzzle would be our pitching staff. Leonelli would come through with the biggest prize of all; Chris Sandini, a college player who just one year earlier had received a cup of coffee in the Cape Cod league.

If these additions were not enough, just as the season began I received a call from Nate Titcomb, who was interested in playing for us. He would bring with him yet another big pitcher, his older brother Ian. Each of them would prove to be a vital cog in the maverick clubs championship run of 2008.

-Continued next month.

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