With runners on first & second and nobody out in the top of the seventh, West Babylon was threatening to tie the game.
A force out at third for the first out followed by a rare 1-5-3 double play ended the threat and sealed the Fall Championship for LFSL by the score of 2-1.
LFSL, which stands for Left Field Stop Line, is comprised of mainly Mattituck and Southold players. Following the game winning pitcher Nate Demchak stated that many of the players are familiar with each other having grown up together and played on the same team for years.
The chemistry was apparent this season and especially in the Championship game as they played as a cohesive unit against a strong West Babylon team with a good starting pitcher, Thomas Piazza.
LFSL took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI ground out by Brendan Duffy to score Chris Nicholson–who led off with an infield single to short and stole second base. He advanced to third on an error by the third baseman.
They added a run in the bottom of the second inning when Josh Cohen got things going with a single. He was caught stealing, but a walk and a hit by pitch of Garrett Grathwohl put runners in scoring position. A single coupled with an E5 off the bat of Connor Wilinski extended the lead to 2-0.
When it appeared it might’ve been a one-sided game, the West Babylon defense and pitching was able to bear down and keep the score at bay while the offense got back in the game.
In the top of the third, West Babylon got on the board when Mike Mazzilli drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a single by Piazza and scored on the back end of a double steal.
From that point on, the offenses went dormant for the rest o the game. The only real threat was when LFSL had two runners on in the fifth and when West Babylon threatened in the seventh.
With the victory, they capture the Fall League Championship of the Town of Broohaven varsity division.
