HUDSON – The opening day of the John Ahearn Memorial Tournament brought two longtime rivals together.
On April 16, the Hudson Hawks hosted the Marlborough Panthers in the tournament’s opening round. With large crowds gathered around Guidotti Field for the early-season rivalry game, the Panthers’ late-inning offensive outburst stunned the Hawks. Marlborough won 7-3.
“This is a divisional game. Any time you see the red-and-white and orange-and-black going against each other it’s just special. It’s a great rivalry that both of the towns and communities have,” Marlborough Head Coach Jon Cruickshank told the Community Advocate.
The game featured two strong performances from both teams’ starting pitchers. Hudson’s Chris Aucoin pitched six innings, striking out three and keeping the Panthers off the board until his final frame. Marlborough’s Tyler Moore pitched seven innings, striking out nine and allowing only two hits.
Despite Moore’s dominance, Hudson scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Although Marlborough started to rally in the sixth inning and narrowed the Hawks’ lead, the Panthers still trailed, 3-1, heading into the top of the seventh inning. Marlborough had three outs to make magic happen.
The Panthers’ offense – led by Ryan Dillon (3-4, 2RBI) and Jack Cincotta (2-4, 3RBI) – came to life in the final inning, registering consecutive singles and doubles to take the lead. When the damage was done, the Panthers scored six runs in the seventh inning and led 7-3.
The Hawks couldn’t match the scoring in the bottom half of the inning.
“They just continue to grind; they’re trusting the process, they’re trusting each other. I just tell them to revert back to their training, believe in themselves. Just keep grinding and focus on the next play, not the last play. That’s really big for us,” Cruickshank said.
While Cruickshank light-heartedly said he hopes the team doesn’t find itself in many more come-from-behind situations, he acknowledged he was proud of his team’s resilience. The team never threw in the towel, he said.
“Some of these guys have been playing together for many years. They’ve always been gritty-type kids who don’t really like to give up. They do learn well from their mistakes. Resilience is something that they learn on their own – it’s not a skill we could ever teach at practice… It’s great to see them go together, stay together. Even though you do go through some ups and downs over the game, they do a great job staying together and not quitting,” he added.
