Central Catholic High School - Florentian Yearbook (Lawrence, MA)

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First Row: G. Lefebvre, B. Smith, D. Donavan, C. Beland, co-capt., Hackney,co-capt , R. Leslie G. Lane, B. Godbout, fmissixig M. Moranj. Second Row: F. Nader, Messina, G. Abdulla, E. Morris, H. Gallant, W. York, Moran, Bro Linus, coach. Third Row: G. Hajjar, mgr., N , - . 'uv mg- W . - . 1-,1 ,gi Billy York, our outstanding mounclsman . Paris, W. Delaney, D. York, P. Calarneau, Hamilton. Uwmltg. Ended-aff Back in early spring, there was an announce- ment over the loudspeakers .... All candidates for the Baseball team report for. practice this af- ternoon after class. At that time prospects looked very promising for a successful season. Actually in the pre-season books we were conced- ed the Catholic League title. In a way this was an unwarranted prediction, since we had only Myles Moran and Joe Hackney, and the veteran hurlers, Beland, York and Gallant returning from last year's varsity. Wle filled in the vacant spots in the infield with Ray Leslie, a reliable little hall player at short stop, and George Lane at the 'keystone sack. Dan Donovan took over at first base and J oe Hackney became our regular at the hot spot. Our outfielders reading from left to right were Billy Delaney, who patrolled the

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Z Z ! Ha,4,eKLa,6Z - 1947

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Tk N I sun gardens, Joe Messina, center, and Ted lllorris, right. The batteries usually found Myles Moran, our veteran receiver ,handling the slants of York, Beland, Gallant, or a very promising newcomer, George Lefebvre. Thus our ball club shaped up. As the season slowly unfolded it became more and more apparent that the prophets were wrong. Our first few games were on the debit side of the ledger, marked by poor hitting and erratic fielding. As the season pro- gressed most of the wrinkles in our fielding were ironed out but the hit- ting of the team was never at the right time. Before we knew it we were in the hogs of a losing streak. Bro. Linus, our coach, tried everything to bring us out of it, but by the time we hit the win column, it was too late to do anything in league competition. It-was apparent that our only hope to salvage the season was to beat Lawrence High in our inaugural of the city series. Billy York was chosen as our moundsman in the first game of the series. He locked horns with Dick Kowalski, the Lawrence ace. The game was a good one to watch, though marred in one or two places by errors. Billy turned in a masterful job, but Lawrence edged us out in the last of the ninth, tallying a ru11 to beat us 3 to 2. In the second meeting of the series the same two pitchers started . Again, after pitching an extremely tine game, Billy York was bested by Dick Kowalski. 'YVe started a rally in the ninth inning of this second game that might have developed into something big. Vxlith the score 7 to +1 in favor of Lawrence, we filled the bases with one out and Ray Leslie and Myles Moran coming up. Kowalski proved his mettle by strik- ing out Leslie and forcing Myles to top a grounder to the third baseman. Thus we dropped our first two encounters to the boys in the Blue and Wliite. So also ended our 1947 baseball season. The boys on the team fought hard all seasong they never gave up hope in any ball game until the last man was out in the ninthg but that unpredictable X factor, the breaks did not favor us. Hopefully we look forward, with those famous words in our hearts- NVait till next year ...... Hack rounding third Danny sliding into third safely The squeeze