Steele Powers 'Cats Past Crosscutters

By, John Ginder - jginder@capitalregionsports.com

TROY, NY – T.J. Steele’s walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning lifts the Tri-City ValleyCats past the visiting Williamsport Crosscutters 8-7 in front of nearly 3,700 at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium Wednesday night.

Steele’s double in the ninth was his fourth extra base hit of the night including two other doubles in the sixth and seventh inning, and a homerun in the top of the third inning the first of back-to-back homeruns by the ValleyCats with the other being hit by first baseman Phillip Disher.

The ball was carrying for both teams most of the night with the two teams combining for eight doubles and five longballs. Crosscutters left fielder Bryan Frew hit his first professional homerun off ValleyCats starting pitcher David Duncan in the second inning.

The ValleyCats continued to have their trouble in the field adding to their already staggering error total with two blunders, one by Phillip Disher and the other by David Flores. Earlier in the game Flores made a “Web Gem” on a ground ball by Crosscutters Cody Overbuck by bear handing a bad hop and firing it to first to get Overbuck by a half of a step. Flores would also hit a long homerun in the bottom of the eighth to more then make up for the error.

This was a classic back-and-forth battle between two basement dwelling teams in the New York Penn League. Both teams would come back from small deficits to take the lead with the hometown ValleyCats taking the lead for good in the bottom of the ninth.

“We swung the bats well with some power” ‘Cats manager Pete Rancont said, “hopefully the guys are starting to figure out how to win” he added.

The ValleyCats are back in action tomorrow night to face the same Williamsport Crosscutters before facing the Staten Island Yankees this weekend. First pitch is scheduled for 7pm.

**During the second inning of Wednesday’s game between the Tri-City ValleyCats and Williamsport Crosscutters at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, Troy Mayor Harry Tutunjian announced Eddie Money would be headlining the 2008 New York-Penn League All-Star Fan Fest with a FREE concert.  The All-Star Fan Fest will be held on Monday, August 18 at 6:00 pm on the Troy Riverfront.