by Gabe Zoda
FINAL: Team Gold 17, Team Red 5.
We Spoke with ASG MVP Chad Pike after his 3-5, 1HR, 5RBI performance today. pic.twitter.com/SQZfbvR95L
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 18, 2021
There is never a more fun atmosphere than that of the All Star Game and HR Derby. The Hamptons League is no different as they put them both in one day and let the fun roll out.
To start the day, the HR Derby was won by Steve Luttazi who went from the bottom of the board with 3 HR’s in the first round to finding his stroke in the 2nd round. In that 2nd round, Luttazi would blast 7 homers to win him the derby.
After that, the players got 4 hours to chill out with their friends, eat food off the grill, take a BP and IO. At 7 o’ clock, the ASG would start. This ASG would have a total of 22 runs come home so the offense was abundant.
Most of those runs would come from the Gold Team though. They would beat the Red team by a total score of 17-5. There was no shortage of action and it all started in the 1st inning.
The Gold Team would put up a run in the bottom of the 1st to start things off. This one run almost was 3 as Cole Hebble just nearly missed hitting the ball over the fence. He instead hit the ball to the fence and Will Gale (Who reached on an error) would come home.
The bottom of the 2nd inning would have more offense from this Gold squad as they put up 3 more runs and made it a 4-0 game.
This inning would start off by a 7 pitch at bat that ended up with a walk to Aidan Larkin. Larkin would then steal second and would come around to score on a 2B from Will Gale.
Kieran Dowd ripped a single of his own and was on third after the 2B from Gale. Dowd and Gale would score the 2nd and 3rd runs of the inning after another 2B was hit by Chad Pike.
The 3rd inning would show more of the same for the Gold squad as they added one more run to their lead. Garrett Scavelli would start this inning with a walk of his own. After he walked he would quickly steal 2nd and then move over to 3rd on a wild pitch.
With Scavelli at 3rd, Aidan Larkin didn’t have to do too much to get him in. Larkin would then find a pitch he knew he could lift into the outfield and found it. He would drive it out to the outfield and the ball would one hop the fence. Aidan’s 2B would score Garrett Scavelli easily to give Team Gold a 5-0 Lead going into the 4th inning.
In this 4th inning the Red team would finally land themselves on the board. They would score 1 in this inning to cut it to a 5-1 lead.
Matt Alifano, of the Red team, would score this run but he started this inning with a single. The batter right behind him, Brian Morrell would then belt a deep 2B that allowed Matt Alifano to use his speed to get from 1st to home.
The 5th inning would start and Team Gold would get right back to scoring runs in the bottom of the inning. They notch 3 more to make it 8-1.
Cole Hebble led off the inning for Team Gold and would get a leadoff single. Garrett Scavelli would follow him up with a single of his own. That single allowed Hebble to move to 2nd.
Aidan Larkin would then move Hebble to 3rd after Larkin would reach base on a FC. Larkin then stole 2nd to put 2 runners in scoring position. DJ Perron would then step up and drive in both of those runners with a single to center field.
The Gold team wouldn’t be done there as they scored one more run in the 5th after a walk to Andy Axelson with bases loaded would score DJ Perron.
The 6th inning would be the first scoreless inning and the score would stay at 8-1 in favor of Team Gold. The 7th inning though, would be where 11 runs would come through and it started with 4 runs for the Red squad.
3 of those runs scored on an absolute nuke from Joseph Gisonda. That HR scored Chris Andrews, who reached on a walk, and Reece Rappoli who got a single earlier in the inning.
The Red squad would quickly replace those base runners after Andrew Nole landed on 2nd after his 2B. Right after Nole, Riley Davis would hit a 1B and score Nole to make it 8-5 heading into the bottom of the inning.
The Gold squad would instantly respond in that bottom of the inning with 7 runs. Just like the Red team, the Gold team would also get 3 of their runs in the inning with a 3 run shot.
This Homer would be hit by Chad Pike and he would score Parker Stinson and Eli Larson. Earlier in the inning Parker Stinson hit a 2B that scored Ryan Mullahey (who hit a 2B of his own).
Andrew Primm scored the 5th run of the inning. He would reach on an error then ended up scoring after Alex Unger would single to center field.
The 6th and 7th runs of the inning came off the bat of Ryan Mullahey. He would hit his 2nd double of the inning and drive in Alex Ungar and Luke Napolitano (who walked to reach base).
All of those runs made it a 15-5 ballgame in favor of the Gold team and that’s where the scoring would have ended if they didn’t play the bottom of the 9th. The Hampton’s League ASG Rules stated that the bottom of the 9th would be played to allow all the pitchers to get an opportunity to play.
Team Gold respond right back with 7 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning. They now lead 15-5. Chad Pike sent a 3 run shot way out to bring in 3 of those runs early in the inning. pic.twitter.com/SWPsIBLyiU
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 18, 2021
The Gold team used this to their advantage as in the bottom of the 9th, they would score 2 more runs to reach the final score of 17-5. The first of the 2 runs came from Paul Orbon, who homered to left center.
The 2nd of those runs came from Eli Larson. He was hit by a pitch with bases loaded to score Alex Ungar who was on 3rd.
The night of fun would end with pictures of both of the teams and the MVP presentation. Chad Pike would receive the ASG MVP after his 3-5 night that included a 2B, HR, and 5 RBIs.
