It’s always good to have a team led by upperclassmen.
Shoreham-Wading River advanced with an 8-5 win over Harborfields in the Class A bracket by their lineup of seniors, including RHP and MLB draft prospect Brian Morrell. The flame-throwing RHP was credited with the win for his five innings of work with five strikeouts, 0 earned runs, two hits, and a walk. The Notre Dame-commit finished the day 1-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a run at the plate.
The Wildcats crushed three home runs to account for six of their runs. The first of the three HRs came in the second inning as senior catcher Thomas Brady crushed a two-out three-run shot over the left field fence to give the home team a 3-0 lead.
“It always helps when you hit those home runs and get some instant runs like that,” said SWR head coach Kevin Willi. “Brian [Morrell] pitched great again, we played really solid defense today, we made a couple great plays in the infield and outfield.”
Senior and College of Charleston-commit Miles Kelly lifted a towering two-run shot over the right field fence in the third inning to put SWR ahead, 6-0, early in the game. Brady came across scoring the Wildcats’ seventh run in the fourth inning on an error charged to the first baseman. Senior Jon Luppens cranked a pinch-hit solo shot in the Wildcats’ half of the fifth inning giving SWR a comfortable, 8-0, lead.
“I’m really proud of them [the seniors] they do a really good job; it’s a really special group I’ve watched them come up all the way from middle school to now and it’s really rewarding to see them be so successful this year.” Willi said.
Harborfields plated all five of their runs in the last two innings off relief pitchers, and seniors, Tyler Pepper and Alex Angerman. Harborfields’ scoring in the fifth was kick started by a lead off single off the bat of Greco, who finished the day 2-for-4 with a double and a run. Gavin Buda also finished the day 2-for-4 with a run, as Harborfields really showed some fight late in the game against the Wildcats bullpen.
“We have a lot of talented players and with the 16 seniors only nine guys can start a game so I try to get the guys in that I know can do the job,” Willi said. “A perfect example is Jon Luppens who pinch-hit and roped a home run, that’s the kind of team we got; guys that come off the bench and do their job too and I’m really happy for him.”
Moving forward, the Wildcats will have a quick turnaround as they are set to take on Mount Sinai, who won an 11-inning thriller against Southampton by a score of, 4-3. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Kevin Williams memorial field in SWR. Harborfields is set to take a long trip to Southampton tomorrow and first pitch is also scheduled for 4 p.m.
Christine Heeren
http://www.christineheeren.zenfolio.com/p779818428 Almost 2000 unedited photos from the game 🙂