Rye Neck Baseball

By Mitch Silver

 

It was post-season baseball played in pre-season weather. Less than 24 hours after a pair of 90°-plus days brought summer to Westchester, the thermometer registered half that at game time Saturday morning between 11^th-seeded Rye Neck and their 6^th-seeded rivals, Blind Brook.

 

The 8-11 Panthers were clear underdogs as two-dozen of their bundled-up fans huddled in the stands behind home plate. Not only were they playing on the other guy’s field, the 11-9 Trojans in the home dugout were brimming with confidence after traveling to Hornidge Road nine days earlier and defeating Coach Joe Carlucci’s squad by 4-1.

 

But these were the playoffs, and Rye Neck had an extra ace up their sleeves. Not only was their ace on the mound, Conor Liguori, hurling a 13-strikeout gem, but new Section One playoff rules extend a starter’s pitch count to 125 throws. So Liguori was able to keep bringing the only heat to be found in the area for 9 1/3 innings of an extra-inning game. 

 

How did they get there? Corey Parker led off the game with a walk, took second on a groundout, and scored on a Jack Sheldon single up the middle. In the 3^rd, another walk, a balk, and Sheldon legging out a single for a second RBI made it 2-0. 

 

Blind Brook tied things up in the bottom of the fourth. Three base hits and a balk called on Liguori did the damage. It would have been more, but Christian Cefaloni made a stellar throw to third to cut down an advancing runner.

 

The score stayed 2-2 into extra innings, thanks in part to a tough catch of a windblown pop fly along the fence by first baseman Anthony Miceli. Sheldon got his third hit of the game to lead off the 8^th on a grounder to deep short. He moved up on a perfectly executed hit-and-run (or more accurately, run-and-hit) single by Kevin Tamucci through the vacated second-baseman’s spot. But the rally died there.

 

The scoring drought extended through the ninth as both starters were throwing BBs (figures, since they were playing at Blind Brook). But even a 125-pitch limit has its limits. Corey Parker struck out on that 125^th pitch to lead off the 10^th, and Colin Kelley greeted his replacement with a solid single to center that became a triple when the center fielder slipped playing the ball. A walk to Sheldon placed runners at first and third. But instead of walking Tamucci to load the bases and create a force at the plate, the Trojans elected to pitch to him. A mile-high sacrifice fly brought home Kelley in a cloud of dust at the plate for the go-ahead run. A refrain of “Slide, Kelley, Slide”, anyone?

 

In the bottom of the 10^th, it looked like turnabout would be fair play as Liguori’s own pitch limit saw him hand the ball to senior Christian Cefaloni after yielding a broken-bat liner past third on a one-out toss. Cefaloni walked the first batter he faced, but then calmly K’d the next two Trojans for the save.

 

After the game, Liguori acknowledged that, “We’ve been up-and down all season. So this win is really great for us.” The jubilant coach echoed his thoughts. “We played an error-free game. Their pitcher was good, but ours was just a little better.”

 

 

NEW: Rye Neck moved on to play three-seed Putnam Valley in the quarterfinals this past Tuesday. Sadly, the 15-6 Tigers ended the Panthers’ season in convincing fashion, with John Rainieri throwing a 10-strikeout five-hitter in the 9-0 victory.

 

 

Corey Parker blasts off after scoring the first run of the game.

 

A stunned Christian Cefaloni realizes his strikeout just won the game.