by Chris Donnelly
Game 1
FINAL 6-3 LIB Prime over Mudcats Black pic.twitter.com/W6N5XXY9aL
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 18, 2023
In an evenly matched game, the 13u LIB Prime took on the LI Mudcats Black and took game 1 with a 6-3 Victory. It started in the first as both starting pitchers Quincy Gibbs (LIB Prime) and Chris Morrissey (LI Mudcats Black) both looked good early. Gibbs and Morrissey kept the game tied at 0 heading to the 3rd.
The 3rd was when it got interesting as LIB Prime took the lead on a balk to go up 1-0 heading to the bottom of the inning. The LI Mudcats Black responded with a few walks and a single loading the bases with one out and Luca Perrotta coming up. Perrotta did some damage as he cleared the bases with a double giving the Mudcats the 3-1 lead going into the 4th.
LIB Prime started up the 4th loading the bases with no outs including an intentional walk allowing Quincy Gibbs to come up and help himself out. He did just that with a single to score one and cut the lead to 3-2. Now it was Sean Lynn’s turn, and he added a sacrifice fly, and an error gave LIB Prime the lead to make it a 4-3 game. LIB Prime didn’t stop there as Luca Hafner added an RBI on a groundout and Chase Coppolla with an RBI single giving LIB Prime the lead 6-3.
The 5th inning was interesting as LIB Prime went down 1-2-3 but the Mudcats had something going. In the bottom of the 5th the Mudcats got 2 runners on and were threatening. On an attempt to pull off a double steal with 2 outs LIB Primes catcher Luca Hafner did not hesitate as he threw out the runner stealing second ending the inning and the Mudcats threat.
The 6-3 lead LIB Prime took in the 4th was all they needed as they would go onto win the game 6-3 with the winning pitcher being Quincy Gibbs and looking for the sweep going into game 2.
FINAL: LIB Prime 10-4 Mudcats Black
LIB Prime sweep the doubleheader pic.twitter.com/AfcqYOcQL7— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 18, 2023
GAME 2
FINAL: LIB Prime 10-4 Mudcats Black
LIB Prime sweep the doubleheader pic.twitter.com/AfcqYOcQL7— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 18, 2023
Game 2 was different as the scoring started early. Bryce Boccio started for the Mudcats and got into some trouble early walking 2. Following the 2 walks, Gibbs came up again looking to get LIB Prime on the board early and he did with a hard-hit single. The hits did not stop there as Sean Lynn and Finn Curry hit back-to-back doubles giving LIB Prime an early 3-0 lead after the 1st inning.
The 2nd inning didn’t offer much as both teams went down without scoring, the 3rd was a different story. After 2 quick outs it looked like the Mudcats would go down 1-2-3 without scoring. Until Ken Roldan doubled to start a 2 out rally. The rally continued when Kellen Franquiz drove in Roldan with an RBI single. It didn’t stop there, as Luca Perrotta hit his second double of the day bringing in Franquiz getting the Mudcats right back in the game and only trailing 3-2. The Mudcats kept the momentum going, sitting down LIB Prime 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the 3rd inning.
The Mudcats kept rolling in the 4th with back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. After a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third the Mudcats dropped down another bunt to bring in the tying run making it 3-3. The Mudcats took the lead on a Michael Muldoon single making the score 4-3 heading into the 5th.
LIB Prime did not give up the lead long as they came up in the bottom of the 4th Quincy Gibbs lead off the inning with a triple and 2 walks to load the bases. Luca Hafner drove in 1 along with Anthony Passalacqua and Chase Coppolla knocking in 1 each making it 6-4 LIB Prime. LIB continued piling on runs by putting up a 4 spot in the bottom of the 5th thanks to a pair of triples from Nick Caroli and SJ Garneiau and a pair of singles from Sean Lynn and Finn Curry to make the score 10-4.
That was all LIB Prime needed as they ended the game on strike out from Chase Coppolla to end the day with a double header sweep.
