by John Sullivan
Ben Rose hits a 2 out 2 RBI walk off single to win it 5-4 for South Shore Elite pic.twitter.com/vJblLxrNlS
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 21, 2023
The Wednesday night Boys of Summer 15u matchup was one that pit two fundamentally strong teams against each other. Going into the game, South Shore Elite held an undefeated 5-0 record, while the LI Storm were 4-3-1. Alex Aramini got the ball for South Shore Elite, as he looked to help protect his team’s undefeated record.
Early on, it was apparent that Aramini was the right choice to protect South Shore’s donut in the loss column. He had an easy 1-2-3 inning in the first inducing three straight ground outs. On the offensive side, Ben Arreaga got things started early for South Shore as he hit a lead off triple. This would lead to Trevor Smith driving Arreaga in on an RBI groundout and South Shore led 1-0 going into the second.
Mid 2: Alex Aramini works out of a man on second and third with no outs jam by notching three strikeouts with his curve. South shore still up 1-0 pic.twitter.com/BC3teIY5vI
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 21, 2023
South Shore’s lead seemed at risk in the second as the Storm were set up with runners on second and third with no outs after Mike Solomon singled, Jack Albenda walked, and the two advanced on a double steal. But, Aramini was able to bear down and get three straight strikeouts with his nasty 12-6 curveball to get out of the jam. After Aramini escaped the jam in the top half of the inning, his offense gave him some insurance in the bottom half. This was thanks to two RBI walks from Alex Darzano and Aidan Casey. Thanks to Jack Pawlanski coming in for the Storm with the bases loaded and no outs and getting out of it, they only trailed 3-0 heading into the third.
End of 2: After South shore plates 2 on 2 rbi walks, Jack Pawlanski comes in for the Storm and gets out of a bases loaded no out jam. South shore up 3-0 pic.twitter.com/Q8bkzteS8d
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 21, 2023
The third was more of the same for Aramini as he tossed another scoreless inning. But, scoreless innings would become the norm for the Storm as well now that Jack Puwanksi was in the game, who responded to Aramini’s scoreless inning with one of his own. In the fourth, both pitchers exchanged 1-2-3 innings and the score was 3-0 South Shore going into the fifth inning.
Despite Aramini throwing four strong scoreless innings with just one walk and two hits, South Shore handed the ball over to Chris Lonergan in the fifth. Lonergan was impressive in his first inning out of the pen as he fired a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout. Just like he had all game, Pawinski responded with a scoreless inning of his own in the bottom of the fifth to keep the score at 3-0.
Mid 6: The Storm put up a 4 spot in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. The runs were scored thanks to a 2 RBI double from Liam Conlon, an RBI single from Ethan Longholz, and an RBI single from Shea Burns pic.twitter.com/3WzazBjUWp
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 21, 2023
Unfortunately for Lonergan, he did not see nearly the same success in the sixth as he did in the previous inning. After two walks and an error loaded the bases for the Storm, Liam Conlon smoked a 2 RBI double down the right field line to bring the Storm within one. Conlon’s clutch hit was followed by a clutch RBI single from Ethan Longholz and another clutch single into left field from Shea Burns that gave the Storm a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the sixth.
Postgame interview with players of the game Alex Aramini and Ben Rose. Alex went four scoreless innings on the mound and Ben had a walkoff hit pic.twitter.com/ECQ8R99y9q
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 21, 2023
Facing the hour and 50 minute time limit, the bottom of the sixth would be the last inning of the game. Needing just three more outs to secure a huge comeback victory, the Storm pulled Pawlanski, who threw a phenomenal 4 scoreless innings out of relief. Unfortunately for the Storm, their new pitcher walked the first batter he faced and hit the second one. This led to another pitching change. Jake Ragusa was in for the Storm in a tough situation, but he was able to get two early outs via an infield pop out and a groundout to third. With men on second and third and the South Shore Elite down to their final out, Ben Rose stepped up to the plate. Rose expressed zero nerves in the moment, as he jumped all over the first pitch fastball and ripped a single up the middle to score both the game tying and winning runs for the South Shore Elite and keep their undefeated record alive.
After the game, Ben said “it felt great” to hit the walkoff for his team.
