With a trip to the Suffolk County Class A Championship on the line Shoreham-Wading River senior right-hander Gabe Romano left it all on the field. The hard-throwing righty tossed a complete game one-hit shutout, while dicing up 13 batters and walking two. Romano earned the win after SWR’s offense produced just enough, winning the game 1-0.
“It feels good, this was definitely a confidence booster moving into the county championship,” Romano said. “I know what I can do in the playoffs now so I’m definitely looking forward to helping the team win another county championship.”
Once again the Wildcats squeezed by Miller Place, but this time instead of a walk off squeeze bunt SWR left the yard. In the fourth inning, after MP junior right-hander Tom Nealis struck out Ethan Baumack and TJ Wachter back-to-back, junior Tyler Widercrantz got his pitch.
The outfielder crushed a no-doubter well over the left field fence to get SWR on the board and give Romano some run support.
“He was pumping fastball first pitch every time and the whole dugout knew it,” Widercrantz said. “So I just went up there looking for it, I got a good swing on it and it went out.”
This homerun, however, was just one of three hits for SWR. Nealis’ breaking ball was working impressively well.
Any other day Nealis’ six innings of one-run, three-hit baseball with no walks should have been enough to earn a win. Unfortunately for Miller Place, Romano was locked in, topping at 90 mph and locating two different but equally devastating breaking balls (split-change and curveball).
“Whenever I strike out a batter it just takes a little bit of pressure off my back,” Romano said. “It’s not even all about the strikeouts for me, I want the batters to make contact on the ground cause I know my fielders can make the plays, so when I get a strike out it’s a little bonus.”
The only hit that Romano allowed was in the first inning. He allowed a leadoff walk and Kevin Bowrosen followed with a base hit, and just like that Miller Place had runners at the corners with no one out.
“In this specific situation [rounding the bases] felt really good,” Widercrantz said. “To get that one run to put us on top put us in a good spot.”
The Panthers then attempted a delayed steal with Bowrosen at first. He was thrown out with ease. This stoppage of momentum proved to be enough for Romano to work with. The experienced Quinnipiac commit composed himself and came back to strike out the next two batters and escape unscathed.
“We feel great, it always feels good to move into counties,” Widercrantz added. “This is the second year in a row now and not a lot of people thought we would come out here and do this so I’m proud of us for sure.”
Romano cruised through the rest of the game and was only under pressure one other time, the seventh inning. Bowrosen worked a leadoff walk to bring the lead run to the plate for MP with no one out and hitters 3-4-5 due up.
Once again, Romano calmed himself down and struck out the next batter. He then forced the next two batters to fly out and subsequently was given an on-field ice bath for his performance courtesy of senior pitcher/catcher Ryan Mullahey.
SWR now advances to the county championship for the second year in a row. They will face the winner of tomorrow afternoon’s game between Rocky Point and Sayville. The Wildcats will look to go to back-to-back Long Island Championship games, with the first game of a best of three game series scheduled for Sunday at noon from SWR’s field.
