By Doug Smith
Niagara, NY — And on Sunday, the Power rested. All faith aside, they needed it, after a walk-off, 13-inning, 6-5 victory over the Wellsville Nitros that lasted nearly four hours and kept fans, friends and players chewing the fat in the newly-nicknamed “Barber Shop” of Sal Maglie Stadium as Saturday night approached Sabbath morning.
Returning rightfielder Adam Taylor ended it with a home run to right field that put him in the Power record books at least twice. In the more than 200 games of their history, never had the Power won a game on a last-pitch homer. It was Taylor’s second home run of the game, tying a team record set in a 2010 game at Geneva, a game the Power lost by 10 runs.
“I was just trying to make contact,” Taylor insisted in the frenzy of the jammed pressbox after the game, “and I got a change-up, down low. I was just trying to reach base, we’ve got so many good sticks, I knew somebody would get me in somehow.”
Maybe, maybe not. The Power left 16 looking for a boost, nine in innings seven through 10, and tried even to break through on a two-out steal of home in the ninth.
Celebrated speedster Shakeel Newton, on third after having been hit by a pitch, took off against a left-handed pitcher with a slow windup but was tagged out by an eyelash at the plate. Virtually every one of the 310 fans in attendance roared approval of the daring, if not the result.
Behind the precise nine-strikeout, one-walk pitching of Steve Beckham, Niagara carried a 3-2 lead into the ninth, largely on the strength of Taylor’s monster two-run home off a brand-new Nitro hurler in the sixth. But Riley Goulding drilled a two-RBI double to put Wellsville on top. Niagara rallied to tie on two errors before Newton’s failed swipe.
Wellsville scored in the 10th and loaded the bases with none out before the Power picked two runners off base and catcher Frank Polino made a seemingly-impossible head-over-heels catch of a popup. Newton then tied it for the Power in the home 10th, singling home Patrick Worthen.
Seth Ellers earned the mound victory with a two-strikeout 1-2-3 13th. The Power had 14 hits in all, including three each by Taylor and Sears. The team begins a two-game exhibition road trip Tuesday, entertains Burlington, ON, in an exhibition Thursday, then resumes New York State Collegiate League play vs. Olean Friday at 7.
POWER POINTS – With Gazette alumni Tim Schmitt broadcasting over WLVL and newcomer Jason Patterson voicing a TV webcast, the pressbox was alive with hubbub. It was Patterson who dubbed the ballpark “The Barber Shop,” made all the more appropriate by all the gab, as the PA guy is no shrinking violet, either… Third-baseman Malachi Melton made three spectacular plays, including one in which he did a shortstop-style pivot before firing to first… Plenty of prayers were called into play when the lights seemed to fail just as darkness fell, but they rose to shine again ‘til Taylor sewed it up… Rain began in the 11th and a downpour that probably would have halted play arrived 10 minutes after the game ended… Mayor Paul Dyster hurled a dubious strike for the first pitch, the Falls Air Base Honor Guard presented the colors and Rachel Bowden delivered a heartfelt National Anthem that seemed still to be echoing as Taylor’s tag left the shop.
Great (as usual) description of the game and a not-to-be-missed-finish, too! Sorry I can’t attend the games but will try and listen to them on the web (if they are broadcast) Doug Smith is the best when it comes to relating the action in print. Continued success………..