by Nick Cipolla
Derek Masino lauches his second triple of the game to left center field to make it 6-1 Showtime Strong pic.twitter.com/oCHHXYLCpP
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 17, 2022
In a game filled with tension, Showtime Strong made sure to prove their dominance and beat the West Side Hawks in a game under the lights at Cantiague Park.
Through two innings of play, it seemed as if it would be a game between two very good starters on two very good teams. Ryan Barlow cruised through the first two innings for Showtime Strong, striking out 5 of the 6 batters he faced in the first two innings of work. However, he was matched by the big lefty hurler from the Hawks Caiden Steinkamp, who didn’t allow a hit through 2 innings of work, despite being forced to change his footwear during the game.
Showtime Strong almost stole a run in the second on an attempted suicide squeeze with two outs, but the runner on third was thrown out at the plate as the bunt wasn’t executed, leaving the runner out to dry right in front of the plate.
The third inning is where everything got rather interesting. With two outs in the third, the first run was knocked in by Palmer Pyles when he hit a single up the middle to make it 1-0.
This was where all the drama began, after Pyles reached second base on his single, he was pinch run for due to him being the catcher and the rules allowing for a pinch runner to run for the pitcher or catcher on any team. His teammate, Ryan Kim, came on to run at second base.
With two outs, Dimarco Diaz hit a ground ball to third base, Kim ran on contact and the third baseman for Showtime Strong hesitated tagging Kim out and then proceeded to throw the ball to first but not in time to get Diaz at first.
With men on the corners, Diaz made his move to steal second base. On the play, Kim was caught between third and home and was thrown out at third. On the play, the third baseman tagged out Kim but the aggressive nature of the tag created some hostility moving forward that set the tone for the rest of the game. Tensions were high and one coach was ejected.
The Showtime Strong took advantage of the energy that was built up during the delay due to the controversy. In the bottom of the 3rd, Derek Masino hit his first RBI triple of the game to tie it up at 1. Preston Gerena made it a 2-1 game in favor of Showtime Strong with a sac fly to right that scored the go-ahead run.
Brody Herbst made it 3-1 with an RBI single right back up the middle. With two outs in the same inning, Mikey Arbusio beat out a ground ball in the hole to extend the inning and allow another run to score, making it a 4-1 game in favor of Showtime Strong.
In the 4th, Derek Masino continued his great night at the bat when he obliterated another ball deep into the left centerfield gap for another RBI triple, this time allowing for 2 runs to cross to give his team a 6-1 lead. Masino later scored on an E2 to make it 7-1 Strong.
Thomas Mangiarcina with a suicide squeeze to make it 8-1 Strong pic.twitter.com/TIZCnWJorL
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 17, 2022
In the 5th inning, the time limit was approaching so the Strong tried to scrap across some more runs and they did just that. They were able to successfully convert a suicide squeeze, this time Thomas Mangiarcina joined in on the party to make it 8-1. This would be all the scoring as the game was soon after called due to the time limit being reached.
