In a game for the ages, the West Islip Lions came out on top against the Deer Park Falcons by a score of 10-9 on a walk-off hit from Kyle O’Neill. This game had everything, so it was only appropriate that it ended in a walk-off.
For starters, the first inning took a whopping 43 minutes.
O’Neill got the starting not for West Islip, but he got off to a shaky start. He walked in two consecutive batters to give the Falcons an early 2-0 lead in the 1st inning.
The Lions bounced back quickly in the bottom of the 1st on RBI hits from Anthony Ippolito and Joe Valentino. This would not be the last you hear of Valentino in this game.
O’Neill’s struggles carried over into the third inning in which he could not find the strike zone, walking six batters over two innings and being responsible for six runs. O’Neill would make up for it big time later in the game.
Heading into the 4th inning, Deer Park was comfortably ahead with a 6-2 lead and there was a load of frustration in the West Islip dugout. However, momentum shifted in the blink of an eye.
Tom Parson led things off for the Lions in the bottom of the 4th and launched a solo shot over the right field fence. All of a sudden it was a 6-3 ballgame and there was a spark ignited.
Following the solo shot, all three batters reached base and set up a bases loaded opportunity with no outs for Greg “Soup” Tsouprakos. He delivered with a 2 RBI single to make it a 1-run ballgame.
Then Joe Valentino stepped to the plate.
On a 2-0 count, Valentino drove a chest high fastball to straight away center for a go-ahead grand slam, something you don’t see everyday. Valentino’s grand slam capitalized a seven-run 4th inning which gave them a 3-run lead heading into the late innings. He finished the game with 5 RBI’s.
Just when it seemed like it was over, it wasn’t.
Trailing 9-7 in the top of the 6th with 4 outs remaining in the ballgame, Deer Park knew they had some work to do. Charles Rainone got the 2-out rally started for Deer Park with his second double of the game.
Jordan Rios followed Rainone with an RBI double of his own, which set up an opportunity for Tom Nacchia to tie the ballgame, and he delivered.
Heading into the 7th, it was now a 9-9 ballgame. Due to the roller coaster of events in this game, there was no telling to when this game might end.
Following a scoreless top half of the 7th for Deer Park, West Islip came to bat with a chance to win it.
Parson, who got things started in the 7-run 4th inning, once again was a spark plug for this Lions lineup, as he led the bottom half of the 7th off with a single. A sacrifice bunt and a single would move him 90 feet away from scoring the game winning run.
With a chance for revenge, O’Neill stepped up to the plate. All he needed to do was hit a slow ground ball to give Parson a chance to score the winning run, and he did just that. O’Neill walked it off for West Islip in which could be considered the game of the year to everyone in attendance.
Joe Palmieri earned the win, while Jimmy Calabrese was tagged with the loss. West Islip improved to 16-6, while Deer Park got to 15-7.
