Beacons robbed of comeback; Cook cries foul

ROLLINSFORD – The Beacons found themselves trailing P. Hussey, 12-7, in the top of the sixth with two outs and the bases loaded after Bob Cook lined a sharp single to centerfield. With Jason Claffey on deck, the team thought it was on the verge of a big inning when everything came to a grinding halt.
“Out!” shouted home plate umpire Dave Williams after Beacons first baseman Rick Coughlin was tagged at third base. Cook, the Beacons manager, immediately raced toward Williams from first to argue the call.
The Beacons skipper said Coughlin had been pushed away from the bag by the P. Hussey fielder and tagged out, which should have resulted in a safe call and possibly a run. Instead, the Beacons mounted another courageous comeback attempt in the top of the seventh inning. Once again, the Beacons had the bases loaded with two outs and they were trailing, 12-10, with Darryl “Extreme” Cauchon at the plate.
Cauchon flied out to right field to end the game, but some Beacons players and their coach were still fuming over the controversial call.
Cook was nearly ejected from the game when he blurted out an expletive during his exchange with Williams, who felt the P. Hussey third baseman did not force Coughlin off the bag and tagged him out after Coughlin’s momentum took him away from the base.
“That call could have gone either way, but when a call like that goes against you during such a critical point in the game, it makes it especially painful,” Cook said.
Although the loss dropped the Beacons to 2-14 on the year, the team still played a very good offensive and defensive game.
At one point, the Beacons trailed 6-3 and came roaring back on a number of singles and a towering homerun by Beacons leftfielder Jeremy Knowles that sailed just out of the reach of a P. Hussey outfielder.
The Beacons also helped themselves when centerfielder Jason Claffey and first baseman Rick Coughlin combined on a double play where Claffey caught a fly ball and threw a strike to Coughlin to double up the runner.
Husband and wife combo Justin and Molly Palmer also shored up the Beacons infield with some strong play at shortstop and second base. Cook and Cauchon shared the pitching duties.
With three games to go before the regular season ends and a playoff tournament looming on Aug. 22, the Beacons front office is already looking at this season as a building block for next season.

Beacons break on through with first win

ROLLINSFORD – July 13, 2008, will always have special meaning to the Beacons co-ed softball team and their growing legions of fans.
That was the day the Beacons won their first game in franchise history, 18-14, over Pink Cadillac at GoldStar Park on a hot, windy and dusty day at the old ballyard that resembled a sandstorm at times.
Solid pitching by Beacons starter Darryl “X-treme” Cauchon, great hitting and stellar defense paced the Beacons to their first win that Beacons Manager Bob Cook celebrated by spiking the ball after the team recorded the final out.
The Beacons never trailed in this one after dropping a well-played game against Navy Yard, 11-4, during Sunday’s double-header.
Beacons shortstop Jeremy Knowles hit an inside-the-park homerun in the first inning to put the Beacons out in front, 3-0. The team’s hitting attack, led by Cook, who went a combined 8-9 in both games and hit a sharp double in the first inning against Pink Cadillac, helped the team score six more runs in the second inning to create a commanding 9-1 lead.
The Beacons allowed Pink Cadillac to climb back into the game when a combination of hits and spotty defense closed the gap to 9-6. The Beacons then scored another five runs in the fifth inning to put more distance between them and Pink Cadillac.
Cauchon settled down and pitched one more strong inning before Cook pitched the last two innings of relief.
“We won, we won our first game. I can’t believe it,” Cook exclaimed after spiking the ball near third base in the 7th inning.
Beacons rightfielder than doused his coach with the water cooler in pure Gatorade fashion (minus the Gatorade.)
“It feels great to finally get that monkey off our back,” Cauchon said as he high-fived his teammates. “I think we’re ready to go out and get some more wins.”
The win puts the Beacons record at 1-11 with eight games to play before the playoffs begin in mid-August. Cook said winning was great, but seeing his team play well and come together was even better.
“I’m just so proud of these people. We hung in there and we’ve been working so hard all year to get to this point. They deserve to know what it feels like to get a ‘W.’ Hopefully, we can win some more games and keep getting better.”
The Beacons win also occurred under some strange circumstances. The team’s first game versus Navy Yard was delayed 30 minutes when the umpire was absent. During the team’s second game, a canopy erected by some fans blew into the Salmon Falls Transformer station, which precipitated a call to the Rollinsford Fire Department and Public Service of New Hampshire. The area was cordoned off with yellow tape until a utility crew could arrive and remove the canopy.

Beacons double-header Sunday; First 5,000 fans to receive Jason Claffey bobblehead doll

ROLLINSFORD -- The Beacons are gearing up for a double-headed Sunday versus Navy Yard and Pink Cadillac that will usher in the second half of the 2008 season.
The first 5,000 Beacons fans will receive a Jason Claffey bobblehead doll if they arrive at the GoldStar Park gates for the team's first game at 1 p.m. versus Navy Yard. The Beacons are scheduled to complete the twin-bill at 2:15 p.m. versus Pink Cadillac.
"We have been playing much better ball lately and we are becoming a tight unit," Beacons Manager Bob Cook said. "I expect us to play well Sunday and I am hopeful we can get our first win."
Currently, the Beacons are 0-10 even though they have played much better defensively and offensively in the last few games.
Cook said the good news is that the players are still loose and feel pretty confident in their abilities. It's only a matter of time before the wins start piling up.
"We just want to give our fans something exciting to cheer about," Cook said. "They have been very patient and stuck with us the whole season and we appreciate that."
The Beacons have already tangled with Navy Yard a few times this season and have one game to make-up against the league's top franchise. Pink Cadillac will also prove to be a formidable foe.

Controversial call derails Beacons comeback

ROLLINSFORD -- It was the bottom of the sixth inning and the Beacons had the bases loaded with one out. Trailing 13-5 to Chumley's, this was the team's golden opportunity to have a big inning off a tiring Chumley's pitcher.
Then the homeplate umpire summoned Beacons Manager Bob Cook and informed the skipper the team was assessed its second out. Beacons outfielder Josh Rosenson had to leave the game in the 4th inning and the Beacons did not have another male player to sub for him in the batting order.
According to the umpire, that resulted in an automatic out. The call couldn't have come at a worse time for the struggling Beacons, who fell to Chumley's, 13-5, and lost their 10th straight game to fall to a league-worst 0-10 record.
"I have never heard that call before," Cook said, noting that the same situation has befallen other teams and the rule was not invoked. "That essentially cost us any chance of winning that ball game."
The Beacons sported strong defense and the team had its share of opportunities, but couldn't cash in. Two of the Beacons best power hitters, Jeremy Knowles and Sonny Ecker, weren't able to get the big hits when there were ducks on the pond and Knowles even registered an uncharacteristic strike-out on foul balls.
Meanwhile Beacons rightfielder Molly Palmer and Beacons thirdbaseman Justin Palmer continued to swing hot bats.
Beacons outfielders Jason Claffey, Rosenson and Sonny Ecker held the line against extra base hits and caught every lazy fly ball hit their way. Beacons starting pitcher Bob Cook pitched a strong game, but walked into two runs with the bases loaded before giving up a grand salami homerun.
Claffey provided some exciting base running and managed to score after hitting a single thanks to some Chumley's errant throws.

Beacons, Chumley's duke it out; teams score 56 runs

ROLLINSFORD -- The Beacons' bats broke out of their collective slump and scored 21 runs against Chumley's on June 30 only to see the Dover Co-Ed League's second best team belt out even more runs.
The two teams scored a combined 56 runs as Chumley's defeated the upstart Beacons, 35-21, to keep pace with first-place Navy Yard.
But Beacons fans had plenty to smile about as they watched their team battle Chumley's inning after inning with a gutsey performance.
Beacons players Bob Cook, Justin Palmer, Jeremy Knowles and Sonny Ecker all went 5-5. Ecker had a bases-clearing, inside-the-park homerun in the fourth inning to keep pace with Chumley's power hitters.
The Beacons actually jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning with a revamped batting order that Beacons Coach Bob Cook hoped to jump start a dormant offense that was shut out by P. Hussey the day before, 24-0, in just four innings.
Cook batted in the lead off spot and Palmer, Knowles and Ecker batted closer to the top of the order so they would have more opportunities to knock in more runs.
Playing with a sprained thumb wrapped in a cast, Beacons outfielder Rick Coughlin played first base to shore up the team's defense. Cook pitched another complete game, but Chumley's hitters packed too much of a whallop for the Beacons defense to stop.
One of the most siginficant plays of the game occurred in the top of the 5th inning. Chumley's was up by 31-15 and the Beacons needed at least two runs to avoid losing the game with the 15-run mercy rule. Up with two outs and runners on second and third, Cook stroked his fourth hit to knock in two more runs and keep the game going.
The Beacons are scheduled to play Chumley's again on Wednesday night at GoldStar Park and the team hopes to keep its offensive production going and buoy it with better defense.
"The amazing thing about our last game was that even though we lost, the whole team felt really good about what we did out there," Cook said. "Everybody is starting to believe that we can play in this league and compete with some of these more experienced teams."
Jeremy Knowles, who has rotatated between center field and left field and short stop this season, also feels positive about where the Beacons are headed.
"This season is really about getting better for next season," said Knowles, a veteran softball player who hails from northern Maine. "We just have to look at it that way and keep working at it and we will be all right."