No. 2 West Islip brought their bats against No. 3 Commack as they defeated the Cougars and are moving on to the Suffolk Class AA Finals. They will be looking to claim their third AA title since 2014. They will enter the series with a 19-game win streak.
The Lions beat Commack 10-2 on Friday thanks to 12 hits and a stellar pitching performance from starter Anthony Cinquemani who allowed just two runs en route to a complete game.
These two schools met last year in the AA Finals but with a different outcome as last year Commack moved on to the Long Island Championship and this year it was West Islip’s turn to advance.
West Islip got the scoring started right out of the gate as they scored two runs in the first inning off of Commack starter James Cardinale. The Hofstra-commit hit West Islip leadoff batter, Jake Guercio, to start the game; and then was able to retire the next two batters in the inning before a pair of extra-base hits by Tom Parsons and Mike LaDonna gave the Lions the early 2-0 lead.
West Islip was able to keep their offense rolling after that as they scored in four innings and had at least one runner on base in six out of the seven innings they batted in.
In the top of the fourth inning they tacked on three more runs to add to their already 2-1 lead, and then put the game away in the sixth inning when they scored another three runs to go up 8-2. They were able to get two more insurance runs in the seventh, jumping out to a 10-2 lead.
On the mound for West Islip, Cinquemani dazzled. While he did not strike out many Commack batters, he was able to let them hit it into his defense who played spectacular behind him.
“I have to thank my team behind me. They were doing everything they can for me,” Cinquemani said.
On the other side, Commack, who beat West Islip last year to go to the Suffolk Class AA Finals, had a tough time getting their offense going in this one.
They were able to cut the lead to one in the first inning after a leadoff double by Pat McNelis who eventually came around to score on a West Islip fielding error. Their other run came in the fourth inning on an RBI single from Cardinale.
Commack’s offense had a rough go against Cinquemani who was able to keep them off balance all game.
Commack only had one inning in which they had multiple hits and that came in the fourth inning when Sean Coveny hit a double and the following batter, Cardinale, drove him in.
It was a slog on the mound from the southpaw Cardinale. He had a tough time finding the umpire’s very tight striking zone through his 5.2 innings of work.
His defense didn’t help him when he needed it most. In the sixth inning, West Islip had runners on first and second base with one out off of Cardinale. As both runners were stealing on the pitch, a fly ball was hit to left field and was then dropped making it bases loaded and one out rather than two out or maybe inning over. West Islip proceeded to score three runs that inning and putting the game away 8-2 at the time.
West Islip will play Eastport South Manor for the Suffolk Class AA Finals starting on Sunday. They are in the midst of a historic run as they look to continue their trend of winning titles in even years.
As for Commack, their great season comes to an end not the way they wanted. They were hoping to repeat as county champions but they won 20 games and still have a strong core in play for 2019 led by Tim McHugh and Jake Krzemienski.
