Brave return to field after scary shooting

Players, parents and fans made a defiant return to Cooney Grauer Field on Monday, just three days after a 9-year-old girl whose brother plays with KBLL was hit by a stray bullet near the diamond on Bailey Avenue. 

Amanda Chauan was released from Jacobi Hospital the day before the game, still nursing a graze wound in the stomach. Hours after her release, 17-year-old Billie James turned himself in to police. He was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of a weapon (for the full story, go to A1).

When the incident occurred, the KLL major division Braves and Phillies were in the fifth inning of their best-of-three championship series. 

The Phillies were up one game to none, having defeated the Braves 4-3 on June 12. 

The series’ second game resumed on Monday evening, tied at 1-1.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Braves’ Matthew McLaughlin singled with 2 outs. McLaughlin moved to second on a wild pitch. Carlos Herasme came in as a pitch-runner, followed by Anthony Tirado’s base hit between second and third base to knock in Herasme for the winning run.

With his team facing elimination, Tirado called his winning hit in game two, “a relief.” 

Herasme said that crossing the plate for the Braves “felt really good, and now we have another chance to win the championship.”

Julio Paca was the winning pitcher for the Braves. 

The Phillies’ win on June 12 also came in the bottom of the sixth inning. The bases were loaded when Chris Fox hit a ground ball single for the 4-3 win. Gabriel Zambrana pitched five strong innings for the Phils. 

The deciding game will be played on Wednesday, June 19, at 8 p.m.

The major division game will be preceded at 6 p.m. by the second game of the minor division championship series, with the Cardinals up one game to none over the Marlins.

Both games will be played at Cooney Grauer Field. 

—Felix Holoszyc-Pimentel contributed reporting to this story.

N. Riverdale Baseball League

Cards, Yanks set

for major battle