Jonah Karp interviewing the two heroes from West Hampton’s 10-8 victory over the Road Warriors pic.twitter.com/Z2kFMloYPH
— aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) July 19, 2017
Fireworks were still going off two weeks after Independence Day. Didn’t hear them? Well then you weren’t in Westhampton Beach Tuesday afternoon.
Eight balls were hit over the fence at Aviator Field, six of them by way of Aviators. Those six home runs set a new single-game record for the Westhampton Aviators, breaking the five home runs they hit on June 30 against the North Fork Ospreys last season.
But the discrepancy in home runs does not tell the story of the game. As a matter of fact, the Long Island Road Warriors were an out away from winning the game. Let me take you to that moment…
It’s the bottom of the ninth inning. The score is 8-7 Road Warriors. Tim Kennedy is on the mound to close it out. The six-foot right-hander is the ace of Neal Heaton’s pitching staff entering the game with a 1.63 ERA.
The heart of the batting order is due up: Matt Hansen, Nick Bottari and Chris Dutra. Hansen leads the Aviators in hits, doubles triples, RBI’s, and stolen bases. He strikes out swinging.
Bottari had gone deep twice already on the night. He flies out to right.
It’s Dutra’s spot in the batting order, but he remains in the dugout. Instead, Cam Climo who had been resting all game walks up to the box. The home run derby champion leads Westhampton with seven long balls on the year.
The first pitch from Kennedy is a fastball that blows right by Climo. The home run cut was just a little slow from the six-foot-three right-handed hitter. Kennedy elects to go with another fastball. This one Cam does not miss.
He smacks an opposite field moonshot to deep right field to even up the score at eight, but that is not where the story ends…
Fast forward to the bottom of the tenth.
Kennedy is back on the mound for the Road Warriors. He now faces the bottom third of the Aviators batting order: Chaney Dodge, Tommy Pellis and Ernie Geraci.
Dodge strikes out swinging for the first out. Pellis grounds out to short for the second out. If the Aviators don’t score, the game ends in a tie. Geraci is in centerstage. The left fielder works the count full, but is down to his final strike. The pay-off pitch is low and Geraci is off first with a two-out walk.
Eric Callahan is in the box, a right-on-right matchup with a man at first and two away. Down low, ball one. Low and inside, ball two. On the inner half, strike one. Braking ball outside, ball three. Fastball up in the zone…Gone. 10-8 is the final score. Callahan with his first home run of the season, wins it in the bottom of the tenth.
Callahan would say later that he was “looking for something to elevate” on a three-one pitch and he was lucky that the ball “ran into his barrel.”
Climo said that the moment Callahan hit the walk-off home run, may be the “greatest moment of [his] career so far.”
Cam and Eric both suggested that they might have to party tonight, but were quick to note that they have to be back in uniform for their game in Riverhead at 5pm tomorrow.
