Yesterday, four Long Island teams made the five (ish) hour trek up north to Binghamton to participate in the New York State tournament.
The four teams (Massapequa, Sayville, Center Moriches and Pierson) qualified by capturing the Long Island (southeast regional) Championship and advancing in hopes of being crowned the best in the state among their classification.
For Massapequa and Center Moriches, they were both looking to repeat as champions, while Sayville is already in unprecedented territory, winning their first Long Island Championship in program history last week.
Here’s a quick recap of how it went down:
Class AA: Massapequa vs Shenendehowa
The teams traded zeros through three innings, but Shenendehowa broke through with a four-run fourth inning against Chiefs’ RHP Bobby Conlon. Thomas Krill opened the scoring with an RBI single. A squeeze bunt turned into an error, which allowed two runs to score to open up a 3-0 lead. That was all the offense that Stony Brook-commit Brendan Disonell needed. He was outstanding, striking out 14 and allowed just three hits. The Chiefs got on the board in the sixth inning on an unearned run, but fell by the score of 4-1.
They finish their 2019 season with a record of 22-5. Shenendehowa improves to 18-7 and will play in the Class AA Championship today at 10am against McQuaid Jesuit.
Class A: Sayville vs Ballston Spa
This was a real shocker as the Golden Flashes were mercied by the score of 10-0 with ace Brock Murtha on the mound. They were victimized by the long ball. Boston College-commit Luke Gold hit two 2-R home runs and George Mason-commit Jake Manderson fired a two-hit shutout. Ballston Spa improves to 23-2 on the season and will face Maine-Endwell in the New York State Championship today. Sayville finishes their season at 21-7-1.
Class B: Center Moriches vs Susquehanna Valley
The reigning Class B State Champs kept rolling. They improved to 25-0 on the season with a 5-3 victory. They ended the game on a double play completed by freshman Leyton Pulsipher. They had led 4-0 early, after a second inning rally. Dylan Bryant had an RBI single. Catcher Alec Maag drove in three runs. Andres Auffant, who entered with a record of 9-0 was dominant until the fifth inning when he gave way to David Falco. The Maryland-commit struck out five batters over 2.1 IP to record the save–reportedly hitting 96 MPH. Auffant is now 10-0.
They will take on Schuylerville (18-7) at Binghamton University at 1pm for the right to capture the Class B New York State Championship. They will send Adelphi-commit Matt Alifano to the mound. Falco is eligible to close the game.
Class C: Pierson vs Cooperstown
Cooperstown overcame an early 2-0 deficit to come-from-behind and win, 5-2. Kendal Haneg drove in the go-ahead run in the second inning. Cooperstwon advances to face Ticonderoga in the Class C Championship today at 4pm. Pierson ends its season with a record of 8-14. They are the only Class C team on Long Island.
There has been a significant push to eliminate Section XIII (Suffolk) and VIII (Nassau) from the New York State Tournament in Binghamton. The argument for it is compelling. Basically, you travel five hours upstate guaranteed to play only one games. As we saw from Massapequa, Sayville and Pierson their trip was over immediately. Even if you win, you only have to play one more game and it is often in front of sparse crowds that include very few of the Long Island crowd. The better move is to play a best-of-three Long Island Championship at one of the beautiful colleges in front of a packed house. And you can choose the date you want to play it.
