Will Herbert slams the door and the Jr. Ducks capture the championship by the score of 10-8! @EcybTournaments pic.twitter.com/OmKne9v1Oi
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 6, 2021
All weekend the Junior Ducks made it a habit of showing resiliency and having a relentless offense. Facing their steepest test against the SFX Huskies, they fell behind 4-0 before coming to bat in the first inning, and never waivered as they came away with a hard fought 10-8 victory to capture the 12u championship in the Labor Day Bash.
In the top of the first, the Huskies displayed incredible discipline at the plate against Ducks RHP Ty Stark. The first four batters of the game drew walks to get a 1-0 lead. After the first out was recorded via strikeout, Gabe Leone drove in a run on a fielder’s choice to make it 2-0. They added another on a walk draw by Emmett Rosenstein that was a wild pitch and Max Miller followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0. While things appeared bleak for the Ducks, this is a team with a high-octane offense so four runs with 18 outs to work with is nothing they can’t overcome.
They came to the plate against Huskies RHP Benicio Quinone and they wasted zero time.
Logan Urtnowski and Stevie Gervasi hit back-to-back doubles for the first run and Joe Maxwell singled to right field to score Gervasi to cut the lead in half. After Stark drew a walk, Dom Olivo came through with a clutch two-run single to left to tie the game at 4-4 and they took the lead on a double steal that scored Stark from third. After a single by Vinny Iorio and a walk to Gavin Beisel, Johnnie Rosario blooped a two-run single of his own to open up a 7-4 lead. The inning finally came to an end when Will Herbert struck out, but the damage was done and they batted around.
The Huskies went down 1-2-3 in the second and third innings against Ducks reliever Vinny Iorio.
In the bottom of the third, the Huskies went to the bullpen but their reliever did not fare much better. After the first batter was retired, Stark drew a one-out walk and stole second. Dom Olivo ripped another RBI single to make it 8-4 and Gavin Beisel hit an RBI single to make it 9-4. The next batter was retired on a ground out to short.
In the top of the fourth, the Huskies inched closer. It started off with a triple to left-center field by Emmett Rosenstein that just missed a HR. He scored on a double by Max Miller and Miller scored on a perfectly placed bunt by Gavin Spector to cut the lead to 9-6. Toby Harris followed with an RBI single to center and Benicio Quinone followed that with another RBI triple to left field to put the tying run at third. He was stranded there, though, when the following batter struck out to end the inning.
The game was far from over. The Ducks got one of the runs back in the home half of the fourth on an RBI single by Stevie Gervasi to score Timmy Ewring – the hero from yesterday’s game.
The Ducks made a pitching change, calling on hard-throwing Will Herbert. He had a great fifth inning, firing a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout to send the game to the bottom of the fifth. The Ducks did not add an insurance run in the fifth, meaning the Huskies would need just one base runner to bring the tying run to the dish.
That did not happen, though, as Herbert breezed through the sixth inning with two strikeouts to slam the door shut and give the Ducks the title.
It was an outstanding showing for the Ducks who went a perfect 5-0 on the weekend!
