by Chris Sacchi
The Shelter Island Bucks led for most of Monday’s game against Westhampton, and took down
the Aviators by a 9-6 score.
Jeff Long for Shelter Island and Westhampton’s Ryan Smith was the starting pitching match up,
but both players did not make through the fourth inning. In a battle of the bullpens, Shelter Island
came out on top, led by right-hander Joseph O’Connell.
O’Connell entered with a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning, with two outs and runners on
second and third. Long had given up a home run to Westhampton’s Sean O’Keefe as well as two
singles in the inning, and Bucks manager Brian Daly was looking for a pitcher to end the rally
and retain the lead with two outs
O’Connell did not even need to throw a single pitch to end the rally, as he picked off a runner on
second base to finish the bottom of the third.
“My first baseman Eddie Satisky told me ‘hey heads up,’ I made a step over move to second
base. They’re gonna try and put on down on you, that’s the usual strategy teams do when a
new guy comes out of the pen because they don’t think pitchers are athletes.”
Shelter Island built the 4-1 lead thanks to a lead off single from Dylan Judd in the top of the
fourth inning off of left hander Ryan Smith. Christian Pierre later doubles off of relief pitcher
Tyler Wittman to score Judd and catcher Ryan Semo. Bryce Daniel then walked, and came
around to score on a single by Larson Fontenot. Fontenot stole both second and third, and
scored after a double by John Shields for a four run top half.
The O’Keefe home run allowed Westhampton to fight back 4-1, and scored three runs in the
bottom of the sixth to tie it at 4-4 heading to the seventh. Nick Bottari, O’Keefe, Landon Grey,
and Joe Stewart all scored after hitting singles, and Stewart added an RBI along with David
Franchi.
The 4-4 tie wouldn’t last long, as Shelter Island added five runs in the top of the seventh to
make it 9-4. Judd led off with a double against new pitcher Ty Wilson, who after the double
struggled mightily with his control. He then hit Semo with the very next pitch and walked the
next three batters to force a run. Wilson was replaced before getting an out.
Now ahead 5-4, a two RBI double by Bryce Daniel and a two RBI single by John Shields made
it 9-4, and Shelter Island broke up the tie to lead again, and did so for good.
Some shenanigans from fellow Shelter Island Bucks around Joseph O’Connell, but he stays focused to talk with @SachChristopher about over 4 innings of work out of the bullpen to earn the win in a 9-6 victory over the @WHAviators pic.twitter.com/e5ywjaMvnJ
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 25, 2019
Nick Bottari hit a home run to lead off the seventh inning to make it 9-5, and Westhampton
scratched across a run in the bottom of the ninth, but Shelter Island held on for a 9-6 victory.
