By Jared Valluzzi
It was a wonderful summer night with a nice breeze at Wantagh Park for a 12U matchup between LI Storm White and Diamond Spikes. For these two teams, they both entered the contest winless on the year and were hungry to change that.
Coming into the game each team really struggled scoring runs as they combined for just three runs through the 6 combined games they played. On this day it was different, it was both of these offenses coming right out of the gate swinging.
After LI Storm White got an early double play to start the first inning, it was Diamond Spikes really getting the bats going. With a man on first and two away, Michael Murphy hit a big time triple to drive in Jordan Iglio to give the Spikes an early 1-0 lead. After a wild pitch, Murphy would also cross home plate giving the Diamond Spikes a 2-0 lead matching their season run total in the inning. They take the 2-0 lead into the bottom of the first.
LI Storm White entered the game at 0-4 with only 1 run scored but today they would have the offense working in the bottom of the first. After getting two guys on via walk, it would be first baseman Alex Stoyer driving one deep to left field and with some confusion in the field it would lead to a three run inside the park home run to get things going for LI Storm White. They would add one more run to extend the lead to 4-2 before Jordan Iglio would end up getting out of the inning for Diamond Spikes.
After a rocky first inning for LI Storm’s pitcher Chris Mangeri, the second inning was quick work for the right hander. It was 3 up 3 down as Mangeri had two strikeouts in the inning able to get the job done.
In the bottom of the second inning LI Storm’s offense continued its success. Making contact and putting the ball in play was a big point coach Sal Monello made as his team did just that in the bottom of the second. After getting a runner on, the key hit this time came from Will Esposito driving one deep towards the fence and getting another inside the park homerun for LI Storm making the lead 6-2 in just the bottom of the second inning.
In the third inning both pitchers got the job done as Chris Mangeri mowed down a few more batters for LI Storm as he got help from his defense as well. Jordan Iglio for Diamond Spikes also had a good 3rd inning as he got out of there with no damage done keeping the deficit to just four runs.
The fourth inning was much of the same as no runs were scored by either squad. The defense for both teams was shaky in the first two innings but really got going making some solid plays and keeping the game at 6-2.
Diamond Spikes knew they needed a rally after the last couple innings getting stifled by the LI Storm pitching and defense. Michael Murphy who had the triple earlier got on base for Diamond Spikes and would eventually move all the way to third base. Ryan Lepre would get an RBI single as Murphy gets home safely and the lead is just 6-3. Lepre would also move to third base and would eventually get driven in from Dylan Barron. Just like that Diamond Spikes was only down by two runs before Nicholas Rodgers would get out of the inning keeping the score at 6-4.
Dylan Barron would get the job done on the mound for Diamond Spikes not allowing any runs heading to the top of the 6th inning for their last chance. The Spikes tried to build off their momentum from the last inning but Nicholas Rodgers and the LI Storm fielders did their thing and would come away with the win.
LI Storm white struggled a lot before this game with the record of 0-4 but finally getting in the win column was very rewarding. Coach Sal Monello said, “It was really really big, these guys have been working hard and they faced a lot of adversity early on this season so to get the win is a really good feeling especially for these players and their families.”
LI Storm White has advanced its record to 1-4 on the year with its best offensive performance of the year with 2 inside the park home runs and six runs scored. Diamond Spikes record now goes to 0-3 on the year.
