by Gabe Zoda
WALK OFF FINISH. Jake Beringer wins it for the Nassau Bolts after this 2R Walk off single to the opposite field. The Bolts take this one 5-4. pic.twitter.com/KMoQs9Tpz9
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 14, 2021
One of the absolute facts about baseball is that the game isn’t over until the last out is recorded. This fact proves itself to be vital over and over again and at Baseball Heaven, this showed up again.
In the 16u Division the Nassau Bolts took on Team Parisi in the LI Boys of Summer. The Bolts came into today undefeated and looked to continue their dominance while on the other hand, Team Parisi came in 2-1. Team Parisi had just come off a big 12-0 win against the B1000 Seminoles and looked to use that to fuel them in this one.
The game would end with a very close 5-4 score and the Nassau Bolts would take home the victory. Like stated prior, this game would be tense throughout and it would be a couple of vital moments that would decide this one once.
Starting off on the starting pitchers for both sides, they both showcased really good stuff that allowed them to both record 8 Ks throughout the Game. Doug Prescott for the Nassau Bolts, ND (6IP, 8Ks, 3BBs) and Matthew Schindlar for Team Parisi, ND (5 IP, 8 Ks,1 BB) spent most of this game in a back and forth battle.
The pitching was good for both sides but the offense was alive as well, in fact, the first runs of the game scored in the top of the first by Team Parisi.
The first baserunner of the game for Parisi would be Sean Welsh, He reached on an E-5 and that would be crucial as he would then come in to score the first run of the game. He would be driven in by cleanup batter Joe Danzi. His rip to LF allowed Welsh to score easily from third base to make it a 1-0 game.
Ryan Cerone would come around and score for the second run of the inning. He reached earlier in the inning with a 2B and just had to wait for his opportunity to score. That opportunity would be given to him when the bases became loaded after a walk from Bobby Elliott.
Chris Volino would get in Cerone after he worked himself a quality walk to make it a 2-0 in the 1st.
In the bottom of the first, the Bolts would quickly respond with a run of their own. They wanted to keep it close until their bats heated up and this run in the first put them in a good spot to follow through with that goal.
This inning would start off with leadoff batter Jake Perlowitz, He used his speed to force an E-5 and reach first base.
Brendan Lehay then singled to put runners on first and second. They would both steal to put them both into scoring position.
The Bolts would then attempt to steal home to grab that first run but was unsuccessful as the tag got there right before Jake Perlowitz could slide in.
Lehay would move to 3rd on that play which allowed Teagan Grahm to score him with a sac fly. That run made it a 2-1 ballgame.
In the second inning no runs were scored as both pitchers showed very good stuff. In that Inning, no hits were allowed and 5 out of the 6 outs recorded in the inning were because of strikeouts.
The offensive action would come right after though as Team Parisi was able to tack on 1 more run in the top of the 3rd inning. This run was the first example of the fact that the game (or the inning in this case) isn’t over until you get that last out.
In this inning, Sean Welsh would leadoff the inning with a walk. The Bolts would then be able to get the next two batters out and make it seem they were going to finish the inning out with no problems. SP Doug Prescott would then get the next batter, Devin Lane to pop it up to left field and once again, it seemed as though the inning was over but the catch was unable to be made.
Since Sean Welsh was running hard around the bases with 2 outs, he was able to come in and score the run to give Team Parisi a 3-1 lead.
In the bottom half, Matthew Schindlar would shut the Bolts down to keep the score at 3-1
In the 4th inning, Team Parisi kept their foot on the gas and put up one more run. They were able to use the momentum from their starting pitcher to scratch across the run. This run was scored on some good situational hitting by Tommy Mallon. With one out and Chris Volino at 3rd (who reached on a walk), Mallon would ground one over to the right side and allow Volino to score easily.
Now down 4-1, the Bolts had to get some offense going in the bottom of the 4th if they were going to comeback. The Bolts knew that the game wasn’t over until the final out so they were going to fight until then. In the bottom of the 4th, they were able to score 1 to start that comeback.
In this inning Teagan Grahm would be the one to score the run. He reached to start the inning off after getting hit by a pitch. He would then get to third and score after a failed snap throw from the catcher allowed him to score. This score made it 4-2.
There runs weren’t done yet as they would tack on one more in the bottom of the 6th to get one step closer to the comeback win. Steven Munson and Doug Prescott both reached base after being hit by pitches in back to back at bats. They would double steal to land them both in scoring position and Munson would end up coming in to score.
He would score in Frank Arrigali’s AB when he grounded one over to the SS and he was unable to make the play at first after a bobble. This allowed Munson to come home and score the Bolts’ 3rd run of the game.
After not allowing any runs in the top of the 7th, they knew they had all the momentum on their side and had to capitalize and win it all in the bottom of the 7th. In this inning Frankie Bruno lead it off with a hard line drive out and over the Center Fielder’s head. Luke Hartz would then follow it up with a single that moved Bruno to 3rd. Jake Perlowitz would then walk to load the bases with nobody out.
This is when Team Parisi knew they were in trouble. They were able to get the next two batters out via a fielder’s choice to prevent the run coming in from 3rd and strikeout.
That would bring up Jake Beringer, who was 1-for-3 on the day with a single. With 2 outs and bases loaded. These are the moments players dream about and in this spot, Beringer delivered as he dropped a single right into RF to score Frankie Bruno and Luke Hartz and the speedy Jake Perlowitz to win the game in walk-off fashion 5-3 for the Nassau Bolts.
They would then go on and win the second game of the DH as well. They would win 10-4 to make them 6-0 on the season and Team Parisi falls to 2-3 after losing both games.
