“Are you sure you want to play today?” said Coach Pete Meehan.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said junior James Puccio, who was enduring the tragedy of losing his mother to cancer just one week prior and was also dealing with a pulled hamstring.
Despite entering the game winless, Hampton Bays took the field with heavy hearts against a very strong Babylon team.
James’ older brother, Louis, took the mound with his mother looking down on him and he came up aces. He fired 6.2 IP, struck out 11 batters and allowed only one ER.
“He was unspeakably amazing,” said James.
In the sixth inning, James led off with a single that ultimately allowed Hampton Bays to mount a comeback and turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead and their first and only victory of the season.
“Never was I so happy for two kids, and an entire team as I was that day,” said Meehan at the Suffolk County baseball dinner.
“It felt like magic,” said James. “This whole season our problem was in our lack of communication–and that’s no way to play baseball–but on this day everyone was in support of each other.”
He went on to add that in the days following the loss of his mother, the support was overwhelming. He was hearing from people that he wouldn’t normally talk to and “everyone felt my pain and sorrow.”
Despite the uplifting story of their emotional victory against Babylon, James and his brother were still dealing with the reality of the situation. They had watched their mother’s prognosis change several times over the previous three years, and it was very difficult to deal with.
“There were times they told us she might die tomorrow and there were times they told us she was cancer free and she’d be out in a month,” he noted of the emotional roller coaster that the family went through.
“She was definitely the overprotective type of mother–literally her whole world was my brother, myself and my father. She loved us more than anything–and she told me that everyday! She would say ‘I love you more than anything.’
After the diagnosis of breast cancer, James stated that everything changed in his life.
“I would say that until that point I lived a pretty great life. This turned my emotions around and made me very depressed. I started thinking things that weren’t true. I started thinking my friends hated me and maybe they didn’t think I was a good person. I would go into the bathroom in school and burst into tears,” he added.
Fortunately, he has the support of hundreds of people in the community as well as his brother and father to remain strong during this very difficult time for them.
Louis is a very talented pitcher, and he will be continuing his playing career at Farmingdale State College in the fall.
He noted that he’s excited to watch his brother play for Keith Osik, who he called a great coach.
James has another year remaining at Hampton Bays, he is unsure where he will attend college but he said that baseball is “definitely in the plans”.
