Ward Melville catcher Tom Ribaudo following his late game heroics in the 4-2 victory over Commack pic.twitter.com/JGicHCGMmL
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 5, 2022
When Commack and Ward Melville square off, there is guaranteed to be some sort of dramatic finish. We’ve seen it time-and-time again, most notably that 2019 semifinals matchup at Ward Melville. This game did not feature nearly as much offense or ejections, but there was an exciting finish with an exclamation point from the captain.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning against reliever Matt Mayer, Ward Melville captain Tom Ribaudo stepped to the plate after a 4-6-3 double play briefly took some of the life out of the home faithful. A walk drawn by Rob Looney flipped the lineup and brought up Ribaudo. The returning All-County catcher struggled on the day, having gone 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Undeterred, he jumped all over a fastball and launched it well beyond the left field fence to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. The home dugout went into an absolute frenzy as they now had taken a two-run cushion entering the 7th inning.
The captain delivers! Tom Ribaudo crushes a 3-R HR to give Ward Melville a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth pic.twitter.com/llOyO2d6th
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 5, 2022
Ward Melville sent starting pitcher Tom Ruehle back out for the 7th and he retired the first batter on a foul popout on the first pitch before walking the nine-hole hitter, Justin Crispino. Next up was leadoff batter, Joey Patane, who had been ripping the ball all game. He lined a single to center to put the potential tying run on base for right fielder Joey DiMotta.
DiMotta hit a hard grounder up the middle that was caught by Looney, he was able to touch second and fire over to first to complete the game-ending double play. It was a huge comeback win for Ward Melville, against their new League II rival, whom they had previously been in the same league with.
Quite a double play to end it !
Final: Ward Melville 4, Commack 2
WP: Tom Ruehle (CG, 2 R, 8 H)Tom Ribaudo: go-ahead 3-R HR in bottom of the sixth pic.twitter.com/XyZmxhoAx8
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 5, 2022
There was a few critical moments of this game.
Ward Melville initially took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a bases walk drawn by Nick Carnovale, but Commack’s RHP Sebby LoCurto struck out Charles West to end the inning. It was only the first inning, but he did a great job of keeping them off the board further. The lead didn’t last long, as Commack tied it up in the second when Evan Kay singled and Alex Hilderbrand ripped a double to right field to put runners on second and third. Kay scored on an RBI ground out to second by catcher Anthony Chiapetta. Tom Ruehle retired Justin Crispino to end the inning.
In the second inning, Chiapetta threw out his first attempted base stealer of the game after a leadoff infield single by Tyler Jean-Noel. Chiapetta’s defense is a huge weapon for Commack and he will eventually be a stop sign to base runners.
In the top of the third, Chris McHugh ripped a two-out triple to center and he scored when the next batter, Connor Schramm, laced an RBI single to left to score and make it 2-1. Ruehle was once again able to limit the damage and end the inning there.
Ward Melville got two base runners in the third on a HBP and single to left but LoCurto was able to bear down and strand both runners on a ground out to second.
The fourth inning was quiet for both offenses, but a huge moment occurred in the top of the fifth.
Joey Patane singled to leadoff the inning and moved to second on a bloop single by Joey DiMotta. The next batter, Chris McHugh hit what would’ve been a HR in almost any other park and maybe some big league parks. The center field fence at Ward Melville is perhaps a little further than 400 feet. The ball took the CF to the fence and not only was it caught but the runners were not able to advance. This went from being a 3-R blast to a simple flyout. The next batter, Connor Schramm blooped one down the right field line and the Ward Melville RF, Alex Moraitis, made a terrific sliding catch to keep two runs from scoring. This was huge as we would later see.
Chiapetta once again influenced the game with his arm as he threw out another base stealer to end the fifth and was absolutely fired up entering the dugout. At this snapshot in time, Commack had all the momentum.
The Cougars went down 1-2-3 in the sixth which set the scene for the blast in the bottom of the sixth and turn a defeat into jubilation for the Patriots.
Ruehle wound up going the distance for the Patriots. He is 2-0 on the season, he also defeated Commack last year when he was called up from JV.
