St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

Page 126 text:

On Wednesday, May lst, the Boston High School of Commerce visited our Hill for the first time, and it was a welcome respite, after the furious struggles at Exeter and Mal- den, to have them accept a 10-3 defeat with- out too great a struggle. They did, how- ever, enjoy a brief splurge in the opening frame when they took advantage of Paul McGrath's wildness to chalk up their only tallies of the day. After that, Paul settled down and held them scoreless until he was relieved in the sixth by McNabb who lim- bered up his wing by getting 9 strikeouts in the last four innings. Offensively, Mc- Auliffe, Boyle and Ellard led our attack, get- ting two safe blows apiece, and each con- tributing a double. We batted around in the third to forge into the lead 4-3 and we were never headed from there ing in fact, we picked up six more runs in .the remain- ing frames to make our margin 10-3. In the never-to-be-forgotten department must be recorded jack Boyle's terrific round-trip- per to deep center in the third which was nullified by his failure to touch third. In BALL HAWK jack Cremmen gets set for a high 0116. the field we played flawless ball for the first time in 1946 and our heads-up running of the base paths left nothing to be desired. May 4th found us paying our first ath- letic visit to Groton School and bringing home a 5-0 trophy. To add zest to the day, we had the prospect of facing Henry Gray, considered one of the outstanding pitchers in private school ranks. When he retired our first six batters via the strike-out route, we realized that his reputation was not un- founded. In the third, however, it was evi- dent that he had tired for we pieced to- gether three runs, aided by his wildness and a timely error on the part of his third base- man. The fourth frame yielded us three successive walks but no score, and eventu- ally Gray gave way to a relief hurler an inning later. Our stickwork accounted for the last two rallies in the seventh, when Sul led off with a single and came in on a Mul- hern triple to the woods in leftg to rescue the catcher, Ellard punched a single down third and that ended the scoring. Once again, McNabb was superb on the mound, scattering four hits and giving only three free tickets. Although Gray had started in whirlwind fashion, Bob edged him in whiffs, 10-9. In the fielding line, Mac turned in a neat, unassisted double play, when he caught Gray's attempted squeeze pop with bare hand and then chased and tagged out Zabriski as he was attempting to scramble back to third. For all the work they had to do, our fly-chasers might have stayed at home, for not one of them was called upon to make a putout or assist. At Kent Field, Brookline, Paul McGrath returned to the mound to humble Hunting- ton School in easy fashion, 12-2. While our hurler was keeping the foe at bay, we had little trouble scoring in every chapter of the seven-inning game, except the third. Mul

Page 125 text:

MOUND ACE The NO-HIT KID in a warm- an inside pitch and Gregg ran for him. At this point, Ladd, the big rangy short- stop who had smashed out a vicious dou- ble in the third, drove out a long fly to left which Henry Lane took easily, the run- ners advancing to second and third. Lynch again entered the picture but was given an intentional pass to load the sacks. Now the chips were really down and McNabb poured everything he had into each pitch to Moses, the centre fielder, until the ball and strike total ran up to a full count. Finally, with the stands in a frenzy and the runners off with the pitch, Bob blazed in a letter- high, inside pitch which Moses failed to touch and the game was decided in our favor by a 5-4 hair. David had slain Goliath again and we had achieved the most remark- able victory in our diamond history. johnny Ellard and Eddie Quirk had been out of the Exeter game with injuries but they returned to the line-up the following week when we visited Malden Catholic to submit to our first defeat in two years. Op- posing our McNabb on the mound was jack Mulrennan, son of a former major league player, and he had just enough of an edge on Bob that day to eke out a 2-0 ver- dict. We lost a golden opportunity in the fourth when we loaded the bases with no one out, but Mulrennan set down the next three men in order without a run scoring. On their part, Malden scored when a third strike, that would have retired the side, got away from jack Mulhern and allowed Pilot- ta to register from third. The next batter pushed a single through the infield to send across another tally that made it 2-0. While we threatened in the last two innings via Andy McAulifTe's triple in the eighth and two men reaching in the ninth, we didn't have enough to bring them in. The result was that, even though he had fanned 14 and had given up only five hits, McNabb suf- fered his first defeat as a St. Sebastian hurler. JOLTING JOHNNY Ellard demonstrates the swing that gives him a consistent .500 average. up pose. KEEPING HIM ON A n d y McAuliffe makes Parker Har- rison hug the ini- tial sack in the Roxbury Latin game.

Page 127 text:

led the attack with three timely bingles that drove in a run each time, while Ellard col- lected two, one a terrific double to left tht was held down by fast fielding. Paul's con- trol was excellent until the last two frames when two walks in each stanza set up lone Huntington rallies. Another new sporting contact was made by the School on May 8th, when Thayer Academy came to St. Sebastian Field to re- ceive a 9-2 setback. On that occasion our batmen layed down an impressive barrage of 10 hits, 7 of which were for extra bases. Collupy began the tallying in the first by doubling down the left field foul line, ad- vancing on Gunn's error, and then register- ing on a delayed steal of home when Mul pilfered second. There followed then three scoreless innings, but Andy McAuliffe whaled out a four bagger to farthest center field in the fifth to set a good example. To start the sixth, Captain Dan Sullivan poled out his longest hit of the year, a triple to left, and scored when Gibby lashed a dou- ble to right. This unsettled the Thayer moundsman for he walked Doyle, McNabb and McAuliffe. During his wild streak, Bullock, running for Gibbons, stole home and Doyle followed shortly after on a wild pitch. In the last two frames we garnered four more markers that were practically gifts, for our only contributions to them were doubles by Ellard and Gibbons. All this time, young Mr. McNabb was having his best day of the year, mowing down the Braintree aggregation with regularity and fanning 17 visitors. Once again he unfurled a four-hitter that would have been a shut- out, were it not for his generosity in issuing free transportation to two men in both the fifth and the ninth. The neighboring Sacred Heart of Newton nine climbed the Hill next and left with a 23-2 reversal. On this occasion, Dick Griffin received his first Varsity starting nod and it was only equitable recognition of his steady work as a J. V. boxman for three years. Rising to great heights, Griff was always in VERSATILE johnny dons the protector to take Mul's place behind the bat. command of the situation, scattering four singles over the nine inning route and fan- ning l0. In contrast, the visiting hurlers ran into the nightmare of a 10 run first in- ing which pyramided with each successive frame as our total grew. Every player on the bench saw action, McNabb taking . short duty in the outfield so as to carn a time at bat. During the week following, rain caused postponement and eventual cancellation of games scheduled with Belmont Hill and Lawrence Central Catholic. On Monday, May 20th, Malden Catholic returned our visit of earlier in the season and gave us the opportunity of turning the tables on them by a 6-5 edge. McNabb was on our mound again, but Malden started Bob Donahue and not Mulrennan who held the earlier deci- sion over us. Both sides went down in order in the first, but the second witnessed an outbreak of our batting strength which had been so dormant in the first game. Before the stanza ended, we had scored five times on as many hits, with the assistance of some daring base-running and two Malden errors STRIKE 3 MONOTD Nous mate was is C'ETTIN' 1 I 7 ' Q3 W 2