The Oil City Bandits used their power bats and four pitchers to hold off the East Coast Cannons, 6-1, in a Friday night showdown under the lights at Mitchel Field.
They got off to a quick start in the bottom of the first.
After an error allowed their leadoff batter to reach, Ryan Piccola crushed a two-run inside-the-park HR to give the Bandits a 2-0 lead right off the bat. Dan Pignataro singed after him but was stranded at second to end the inning.
They extended their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the second on an RBI ground out by Gavin McMahon to score Pat Sullivan and an RBI infield single by Chris Marano. Their lead never really was threatened, but the Cannons did get runners on each inning. In the second inning, they even had second and third with nobody out, but a perfect throw home on a flyout thwarted a rally. In the top of the third, they did allow one run on an RBI single by leadoff hitter Luke Chekmaya, but he was stranded there on a popout to first.
The Bandits were not ready to have this lead get any closer.
The hard-hitting Pignataro smoked a two-run triple to left center field to open up a 6-1 lead for the Bandits.
Things got a bit interesting in the sixth inning when Coach Ryan Gorecki needed to make a pitching change with the bases loaded after two singles and a walk but a fly out to right of the bat of cleanup hitter Gerry Metexas ended this one.
Dan Pignataro dedicated tonight’s victory to his father who passed away 2 months ago. His 12U Oil City Bandits won 6-1 over the East Coast Cannons pic.twitter.com/CVDwJnPnMq
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 28, 2019
It was an emotional game for Pignataro, who lost his father two months ago. He dedicated this game to him.
