The Massapequa Chiefs and Garden City Trojans both faced elimination this afternoon–both won in blowout fashion to force a winner-take-all Game 3 on Tuesday.
The Chiefs defeated the Plainview Hawks in game one of the double header at SUNY Old Westbury by a score of 10-1.
For the second consecutive year, Massapequa is headed to game 3 of the county championship. Last year, the Chiefs fell to the East Meadow Jets in the do-or-die game 3. This year they’re hoping to be on the other end of the spectrum.
“Last year was very upsetting, we thought we should’ve won the county championship but we ended up losing to a very good East Meadow team, but this year we’re even more determined. After the win we’re in the same spot as last year but now we’re very confident,” said Cortland-commit Dan Gdanski.
On the mound, Gdanski was dominant in the victory for Massapequa, going 6 innings and allowing only 1 earned run. Not only was his performance on the mound outstanding, but he also received a great amount of help from his team offensively, as they scratched across 10 runs, seven of them coming in the bottom of the 4th inning.
In game two of the Sunday double header, the Garden City Trojans triumphed to victory as they thwarted the Wantagh Warriors attempt at a series sweep, winning by a score of 12-3.
In many ways, this game was over before it started.
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For Wantagh, it was evident that Jimmy Joyce had none of his stuff working for him on the mound. 16 of his first 18 pitches were balls, in which he walked in a run before Garden City got on the board with a hit. Joyce finished his worst career varsity outing allowing 6 earned runs in 3 innings. It was a very uncharacteristic off day for the reigning New York Class A Player of the Year, who entered with a record of 17-2 in his last two season.
On the other side of the mound, ace Andrew Nagel got the start for Garden City and did a great job of working his way out of jams the entire game. Nagel went 5 innings in the victory, allowing three earned runs.
After taking advantage of Joyce’s flaws in the first inning, Mike Handal continued the impressive display of offense for Garden City as he smoked a home run to right field to start off the 2nd inning. Handal finished the day going 1-1 with 3 walks, a home run and 4 runs scored.
“I’m always trying to stay compact through my swing and I saw a pitch inside, my swing took itself and I got a home run,” stated Handal.
When it seemed like the ballgame was over in the early innings, Wantagh showed some life in the bottom of the 3rd inning, cutting the Garden City lead to three.
However, that would be the Warriors only hope for the rest of the game. Garden City closed the game out scoring six unanswered runs, easily taking game 2 of the series.
Game 3 between these two teams will be on Tuesday for the Class A County Championship. This game will take place at 4PM, as the Class AA County Championship between Massapequa and Plainview will be played immediately after at 7PM.
