Elite came out on top in a closely contested back-and-forth battle with help from a few of their every day players. The strong team would come together and pull off a clutch victory in the tenth inning after being tied at, 3-3, with the Smithtown Bulls for three and a half innings.
The game was won in the tenth on a long fly ball that just short hopped the left field fence off the bat of Thatcher Cord (Westhampton Beach ’18). Cord would come up with two men on and one out in what would have been relief pitcher Mike Hennessy’s last batter anyway due to pitch count.
“It felt great,” said Cord. “The inning before we actually had a man on third that we couldn’t get in, so coach pulled me aside and told me to make contact on the first fastball I saw and I just ripped it.”
The Bulls would jump ahead early in the top of the first with a, 2-0, lead off a costly error from Devon O’Brien (Southampton ’17) at third base. He would ultimately turn his luck around ripping a clutch two-out double in the second inning that would tie the game. The left-handed batter would get a pitch right in his wheelhouse that he would drive to the RCF gap putting his team right back in the game.
Devon O’Brien ties the game with a clutch two out double to the RCF gap. 2-2 is the score in the home half of the second. pic.twitter.com/xydpGXcE0r
— Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) August 18, 2017
“It felt really good to do that because in the first inning I made a big error that gave up two unearned runs,” O’Brien said. “So coming up and doing that was pretty big for us.”
Elite would call upon their workhorse lefty to start the game, Westhampton Beach ’18 Jaryd Amy. After allowing the two unearned runs in the first the dominant LHP would settle in to a groove not allowing a hit for the next four innings. The ace of the Elite pitching staff, RHP Aaron Krzyewski, would replace him; he would earn the win for his strong relief performance.
Elite would take their first lead of the game in the fourth. The Elite lineup worked hard from top to bottom frustrating the Smithtown defense, as they earned base runners in all ten innings. The fourth would be started by a leadoff single from Krzyewski. After a couple fielders choices the four hitter, James McAleavy, would step up and drive in O’Brien from second with an opposite field single.
James McAleavy goes the other way for a 2-out go-ahead single giving the Elite a, 3-2, lead. pic.twitter.com/4oI78l6Opt
— Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) August 18, 2017
The two class of ’17 Southampton sluggers would put together monster days at the plate. O’Brien would end up scoring two of Elite’s four runs, including the winning run, finishing 2-for-4 taking two pitches for the team. Krzyewski would one up his former high school teammate finishing 3-for-3 with two walks and a run scored.
“I had two strikes on me so I was expecting a curveball,” O’Brien said. “But he threw me a fastball down the middle and I was all over it.”
Krzyewski would run in to some trouble with the first batter that he faced. Sean Mulhall would crack a deep fly ball double. Krzyewski would bear down and retire the next three batters in order, but the first batter hit a grounder up the middle that forced the fielder to go to first scoring Mulhall easily from third after he advanced on a wild pitch.
“I was a little more aggressive [in the tenth] and he threw me the inside fastball I was looking for and I pulled it to left.” Cord said. He would finish his summer with a .500 game going 3-for-6 with three base hits.
