by Gabe Zoda
Final out between the South Shore Chiefs and the Carles Place Bombers. Chiefs win by a Final Score of 20-6.
WP: Vinny Heller pic.twitter.com/lwkXHGhRI5
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 24, 2022
The wind was howling at Wantagh park on Friday night as the Carle Place Bombers took on the South Shore Chiefs in an 11u matchup in the ECYBL fall league. The game would end after only 3 innings with a final score of 20-6. The conditions were most definitely a factor but the Chiefs caught fire in the cold winds.
The Chiefs would send out Vinny Heller to the mound to start, he took care of the bombers pretty efficiently, only allowing one base runner in the inning while also forcing weak contact to allow for easy outs for his defenders behind him. It was in the bottom of the first where this game would change entirely.
The Chiefs sent 15 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first and plated 10 runs to put themselves up and gave Vinny Heller a lot less pressure on the mound due to the amount of insurance his offense provided him. Highlighted in that top of the first was a big single back up the middle from Ronald Scrimenti which plated Chris Normile and Genaro Cremonese who both reached with walks. After that 2-run single, Jake Coppola and Vinny Heller followed up back-to-back RBI singles to increase their lead to 5-0. After that, the Chiefs would use smart baserunning to steal bags and also stole a couple of runs on passed balls. At the end of 1, the score was 10-0 and it was time for the Bombers to make a comeback and they would get some runs back in the top of the 2nd.
The Bombers took to the plate in the top of the 2nd inning with one goal in mind, to get this score back into a more comfortable range and they did just that. The first 3 batters (Logan Gomes, Gavin Marcuart, and Chase Bruno) all worked walks to load thew bases with no outs.
The Bombers then showed their abilities at playing small ball when Tommy Rudenacker and Caleb Sze both hit well placed grounders to bring in 2 runs. Luca Arnone would follow that up with a single of his own to bring in Bruno. The Bombers would plate one more after taking advantage of an error on the field on a hard hit by Caden Saccone. This made the score 10-4.
The chiefs weren’t happy with the 6-run lead they had possessed going into the bottom of the 2nd. By this point the temperature had dropped to 55 degrees and the wind was still blowing so much that chairs that parents had set up behind the backstop were all toppling over. The Chiefs used the cold as motivation to bring in even more runs, they would match their first inning performance and plated 10 more runs in this inning. The big hit came by Ryan Fitzgerald, who came up with the bases loaded and cleared them with a triple in the right center field gap. The other big hit of the inning came from the shortstop, Chris Normile. He slapped a single that brought in 2 runs. They would end the inning with a 20-4 lead, and also were a lot more happy with their advantage.
In the top of the 3rd, the Bombers came up with their backs against the wall and Luca Arnone tried to bring the Bombers back with an RBI single. They then scored one more run on an error by the infield to cut it to 20-6. Unfortunately for the Bombers, that wasn’t enough to stop the run rule from coming into effect and the game would end after 2 and a half innings.
Throughout this whole game, the Chiefs displayed great baserunning abilities and good plate discipline in order to get into scoring position and also stole a bunch of runs by not being hesitant on the base paths. The winning pitcher was Vinny Heller, who pitched 2 innings and forced weak contact from the opposing batter and also helped himself at the plate by reaching base every time he stepped to the plate.
