Queen Anne Mall Mauls Fischer Plumbing

(April 17) The home stands were filled with blue plungers, and the skies cleared long enough for the Plungers to complete their first game of the season. The offense, however, could not make up an early deficit as the Plungers fell 10 – 6 to visiting QA Mall.

Fischer Plumbing exhibited solid, veteran pitching from starter Isle Raftery and long reliever Neale Foody.

“You could tell they were shaking off the winter rust”, said catcher Jack McLeod. “They made some dandy pitches and kept the pressure on the Mallers by being around the plate. They also worked fast which really helped move the game along on such a cold day”.

Third baseman Nicholas Nishi chimed in after a failed attempt at getting McLeod with a shaving cream pie, “Our outfield was especially solid. They backed up the infield well and forced the action at first base whenever balls got to right field. Lino (Marioni) showed his cannon on one play as he almost got the out at first”.

QA Mall took an early lead in the top half of the first. That lead was cut in half in the bottom frame by a one out, RBI triple by Raftery. The fatal inning was the third when the Mallers scored four runs on just one hit. It proved to be too much for the Plungers who fought back with three runs in the bottom of the third only to fall short as the game was called at the end of five.

Another highlight of the day was the naming of Raftery and McLeod as team captains. “These kids deserve to be captains”, said first base coach Dante Marioni. “They are the senior members of the team and they both show good leadership qualities. They will be a big help to the coaching staff during games”.

Raftery was awarded the game ball for his great work on the mound and his first inning blast.