by Desiree Keegan
Steven Mulqueen was king of the baseball field Friday.
The LI Indians 12-under center fielder went 2-for-3 with three runs, an RBI and two stolen bases to lead his team to a 7-4 win over the Camelot Knights in opening round of the East Coast Columbus Day Tournament at Uniondale’s Mitchel Athletic Complex Oct. 5.
After a 1-2-3 inning by Indians starting pitcher Kiran Paningankar, Mulqueen started off the scoring for his team with an RBI-triple, helping his pitcher cross the plate. Catcher Brian Licata, who went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk, singled to score Mulqueen for an early 2-0 advantage for his team that never trailed.
“Steve hit a great shot,” Indians head coach Anthony Duque said. “Here, with no fences, you’ve gotta run, so these kids were conditioned. They worked really hard this week — in the field and at the cages — and it showed today with a good ‘W.’”
The Camelot Knights evened the score in the top of the second, but second baseman Sal Visone’s single to score closing pitcher Nick Ritchie in the bottom of the second and again in the bottom of the fourth — which would end up being the game-winning run — helped the team break out to a 4-2 lead. Licota tripled on a line drive to score Mulqueen in the fifth, as the Indians scored in every inning along the way to keep the Camelot Knights at a distance. Ritchie finished 2-for-2 with two runs and two stolen bases, and Visone ended the game 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
“We’ve played these guys a couple of times, we have a good history with them, so they know our staff pretty good,” Duque said. “Licota caught a nice game and ran some good plays. He dictated the pace of our pitcher, so hats off to him.”
TOP TO BOTTOM ALL OUR KIDS CONTRIBUTED IN ONE FORM, WAY OR FASHION IN THIS GAME, SO IT’S OBVIOUSLY A COMPLETE TEAM WIN.
—ANTHONY DUQUE
Paningankar tossed seven strikeouts across five innings and threw 13 first-pitch strikes, letting up three earned runs and walking two across that span to end with a 1.4 WHIP.
“Kiran Paningankar came in and started hitting spots where he needed to and came out dominating,” Duque said. “And the defense came up big behind him. Top to bottom all our kids contributed in one form, way or fashion in this game, so it’s obviously a complete team win.”
After Licota was thrown out at second attempting to steal in the bottom of the fifth, Mulqueen made up for it when he stole home to ice the game.
“These kids have been together since they were 7 years old, which is really rare in the travel ball league,” Duque said. “We’ve only brought in one or two players since then, so the camaraderie these kids have is big. We teach them that if they put in the time and have a good work ethic on and off the field, it will always result in positives. Failure is not going to dictate what they do in the future. Ninety percent of your game you’re going to fail, but that 10 percent is what you have to focus on. We teach them to come in, work hard and stay focused.”
The LI Indians face the Queens Docs October 6 at Mitchel Athletic Complex at 6:15 p.m.
“We’re ready to take on any opponent,” Duque said. “We drew two good teams in this tournament, and our strategy is to keep battling. The only team that can beat us is us.”
