When two fundamentally sound teams match up in the championship game of a tournament, it is certain to be determined by one or two mental mistakes.
That was the case between Next Level Baseball and the Taconic Rangers on Wednesday’s 16U Championship game of the Blue Chip Invitational. In a scoreless game in the top of the fourth, speedster Nick Ungania ripped one into the left center field gap for a clean hit. The two outfielders, however, took inefficient routes and the ball scooted between them and towards the fence. Ungania turned on the afterburners and came all the way around to score on an inside-the-park HR.
Leading up to this point, the game was going just about as crisp as a 16U game will go. Both starting pitchers were effective – Robbie Gilchrist for Taconic and JJ Gatti for Next Level and they matched each other zero for zero. Gatti even showed his athleticism, picking off Sean Camacho – who led off the game with a single – on a quick move to first. Gatti is a high-ceiling player. He was 80-82 MPH and topped at 83 with some clean mechanics and a great frame for a pitcher.
Ungania’s inside-the-park HR was the first blemish for either pitcher. After a strikeout, Brian Heckleman ripped a two-out double to get into scoring position. Anthony Lods followed with an RBI single to extend the lead to 2-0.
Gatti went back out for the sixth and worked around a two-out single to throw a scoreless inning. It was the fifth hit against him, but there was never a real threat of scoring.
In the top of the sixth, Vinny Fusco and Dan Jackson hit singles to lead off the inning in what was the first real scoring threat for the Rangers. Andrew Fingleton came on in relief and was terrific. He struck out Camacho, who was 2-for-2 at that point. Camacho fouled off a couple of tough pitches. Before the final pitch of the at bat, he attempted to call for time at a seemingly reasonable moment. The umpire opted to not grant his timeout which definitely broke his concentration. Fingleton threw a well-executed fastball at the top of the zone in which he swung through. It was a pivotal moment and the opposing coach was not happy, as it was definitely their best shot to get on the board. The following batter grounded into a 5-5-3 double play, which was started and turned by Jacob Lee.
That was effectively the kiss of death as Fingleton went back out and fired a 1-2-3 seventh inning to slam the door on an impressive two-out save.
