by Gabe Zoda
After the game, we were able to speak to Zach Thielen of the SFX Huskies to talk to us about his performance on the mound today. (4IP, 6KS, 0 BBs, 1H) pic.twitter.com/hYTgJAd6B1
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 3, 2021
In sports, there is usually a team that wins and then there is the team that loses, But on a Sunday when almost every NY team won the rules seem to fade a little. This LI Boys of Summer Matchup between the SFX Huskies and the Blue Devils proved exactly that.
This game would go the distance and end in a 2-2 draw with many defensive plays that made that happen. Along with the defense, the pitching always came in to get out of jams and shut the door.
In this low scoring game, the scoring for the Huskies started off in the 1st inning where they scored both of their runs. After winning their first game of the day 4-0 against the B1.000 Seminoles, they seemed to stay hot in the bottom of the 1st.
This inning would start off with a leadoff 2B by Yibron Almonte. He ripped an opposite field line drive and his incredible speed to make that possible. He would showcase more of that speed when he scored on the next play.
Jonah Sah would pop one up in between the RF and the 2B which ended up dropping and Yibron scored because of it. Yibron stole 3rd on that play, had to run halfway back to 2nd because of the pop up, and when the ball dropped he ran back to 3rd and then proceeded to score. Along with him scoring, Jonah would end up on 2B.
Now with the score 1-0, the Huskies were looking to take advantage of this opportunity and they would on the very next batter. That batter would be Zach Thielen who would get a hold of one and ripped a 2B of his own to score Jonah Sah and make the game 2-0 after the first inning of play.
SFX Huskies score twice in the bottom of the first. The first run came on an error, allowing Yibron Almonte to come in and score. Huskies up 2-0 after the 1st. pic.twitter.com/dTOuxi5nID
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 3, 2021
After the 1st inning, there wouldn’t be another score until the 6th inning of the game and that is due to many key moments and key players.
One of those key moments/ players would be Yibron Almonte, who showcased incredible speed once again on the defensive end. This play would happen in the second inning with 2 outs. Thomas Reilly had worked himself a walk and then stole to get himself into scoring position. This run would have been huge in terms of responding after the runs by the Huskies but Yibron wasn’t going to let that happen.
Jonathan Chiu hit a deep shot out to the gap in between CF and LF, everyone at the game thought this ball was going to drop and the Blue Devils had scored their first run but out of nowhere Yibron makes an incredible catch. He looked like a blur out there getting to that ball and when he caught it there was this sense of amazement from both teams at the fact he was able to get to the ball and to keep the score locked in at 2-0.
Along with the defensive plays, the pitching was very strong from both teams. After his bad first inning allowing those two runs, Matt Orena kicked it into another gear and shut the door for the next 3 innings and only allowed 1 hit in those last 3 innings. He ended up pitching 4 innings, had 3 Ks and only walked one player. Brendan Doyle picked up exactly where he left off and dominated the last 3 innings and had 3 Ks as well. On the other side, the Huskies also had great pitching. It started with Na-een Bornstein-Brown, who pitched 2 clean innings to start off the game. He logged 3Ks and 0 BBs. the majority of the game was pitched by Zach Thielen though, who made his presence known on the mound by blowing pitches past players and constantly throwing strikes.
He would keep the door closed all the way to the 6th inning where the Blue Devils finally scored their 2 runs but Zach was dealing up to that point. Zach would finish the game with 4 IP, 6 Ks, 0 BBs and only allowed one hit.
It was in that 6th inning, though, that the Blue Devils would break through and tie up the ball game. It started with Cristian Amaya, who used his speed to rush the second baseman and force an error out of him to get on first.
Sean Jones applied the pressure after hitting a single right through the left side of the infield. That would make it a 1st and 2nd situation with one out. Both of those players would get themselves into scoring position after stealing to make it a 2nd and 3rd situation with one out.
This would prove to be perfect to tie the game as Kevin Reilly stepped up to the plate. Kevin would hit one to the 2nd baseman, the throw was off on the play and went by the 1st baseman and both Cristian Amaya and Sean Jones would come in to tie the game.
In the 7th inning, Brendan Doyle and Huskies pitcher Sawyer Reo would be lights out and not allow any runs meaning that the game would end in a tie. This was a game with many possibilities depending on a couple of plays and was a fun one to watch no matter what team you were rooting for.
