by Jacob Infald
On the afternoon of June 16th, South Shore Elite Manfredo took on the Top Tier Aviators Navy in an exciting Father’s Day doubleheader for the Long Island Boys of Summer 13U American Division. After a competitive, back and forth afternoon of baseball, South Shore Elite won the first game 6-5 and the two squads ended up in a tie after game two, with a score of 8-8.
Sean Gorey talks about what was working for him out on the mound. He only surrendered one run over four innings of work. He struck out five as well and worked out of multiple jams. pic.twitter.com/Z4A99EWpM1
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 16, 2024
Game 1:
In the first game, South Shore Elite was led by a great starting pitching performance from Sean Gorey. Gorey pitched four innings, only surrendering one run and recorded five strikeouts. Gorey said the key to his success this afternoon was throwing his fastball for strikes, as he realized the other team was struggling to make strong contact against it.
“They weren’t hitting them too far,” Gorey said. “So I was just letting my fielders make the plays.”
After Gorey retired the side in order in the top of the first, his squad put up a whooping five runs in the bottom half of the frame,
With hard throwing lefty River Harvey on the bump for the Top Tier Aviators, South Shore Elite was able to put two runners on base early thanks to keen eyes at the plate. With two runners now on base, clean-up hitter Connor Mihalik hit an RBI single to center field to put South Shore Elite on the board.
After Harvey hit the following hitter to load up the bases, James Bobe hit a fly ball to shallow right field. This ball looked to be trouble, but Jack Wiley came on and made a diving catch for the second out. Unfortunately, Harvey walked the following four hitters, allowing for a total of five runs in the first inning.
Gorey said this early offensive output helped ease his nerves on the mound and allowed him to pitch loosely.
“It gave me a lot of insurance and confidence that I can just go back out there and just pound the zone,” Gorey said.
After Gorey fired a scoreless second, Harvey did the same, but not without some stellar defense by third baseman PJ Butler. With runners on second and third and one out, Mihalik stepped up to the plate looking to do more damage. However, his screaming line drive was snagged by Butler at third, who then tagged out the runner on third to get his team out of the inning.
Top Tier’s offense finally showed a bit of life in the top of the third. After getting two runners on base courtesy of walks, leadoff hitting shortstop, James Wright stepped up to the plate with two men on and two out. Wright hit a shallow fly to left, dropping in for a base hit, plating Gavin DelaRaba for Top Tier’s first run of the afternoon.
Gorey hit Harvey, who was up next to load up the bases. However, Gorey bore down and forced the tying runner at the plate to pop out to second base to end the inning.
Gorey was able to leave a total of seven Top Tier runners on base. Gorey said when he gets into trouble on the mound he puts all of focus on the current batter and lets his defense worry about the runners.
“When they got on base I just left my focus on the batter instead of the runners,” Gorey said. “I just focused on getting the out…”
After his squad tacked on an insurance run in the third, Gorey once again found himself in a pickle in the fourth. Mason Scortichini and DelaRaba picked up singles for Top Tier and with a walk drawn by Butler, they had the bases loaded up again.
With Chris Corigema at the plate, Gorey once again bore down, and forced Corigema to popout to Maxwell Mihalik at shortstop.
After a scoreless fourth inning pitched by Matthew Seijo in relief for Top Tier, they had one final rally in them in the fifth and final inning.
With Connor Mihalik now on the mound for South Shore, Top Tier’s bats began to catch fire. A one out walk drawn by Seijo was followed by singles from Wright and Harvey to load up the bases.
Seijo then scored on a wild pitch. Mihalik remained rattled and walked Hudson Sears, Brandon Booker and hit Scortichini and now the South Shore’s lead was only 6-4 with the bases.
The following batter, Butler, put some good contact on the ball, but it was caught by Alex Rosenkrantz in center. This drove in Sears to make it a 6-5 game. Next, Wiley hit a single to left to load up the bases and put the go-ahead runner in scoring position.
Ultimately, this rally would not be enough as Mihalik forced DelaRaba to ground out to second base to end the game and South Shore Elite was victorious 6-5.
Game 2:
River Harvey from the Top Tier Aviators after the game. He speaks on his big game tying triple and his teams late rally. pic.twitter.com/L6HEn1UyoX
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 16, 2024
The second game began with some offense from Top Tier. After Butler pitched a scoreless first inning, Top Tier was able to manufacture an early run. Harvey hit a single up the middle and proceeded to steal second and third. With two outs, Scortichini drove him in to get Top Tier on the board.
However, South Shore responded immediately. Butler lost control and walked the first three batters of the inning. The following batter, Rosenkrantz hit a sacrifice fly to right. However, a throwing error by Top Tier led to a second run scoring on this play, giving South Shore the lead.
South Shore was then able to plate two more runs that inning thanks to RBIs from PJ Karascony and Jake Seemangal and they led 4-1.
Wright is putting on a defensive clinic at shortstop, saving another run on this diving play to end the inning. Butler pitches a scoreless third. pic.twitter.com/cIh95cPuSa
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 16, 2024
Karascony got the start on the mound for South Shore Elite. He settled in after the first inning and threw four innings, allowing only that one early run.
South Shore continued to add on to their lead in the top of the fifth. Now leading 5-1, they were able to manufacture three more runs in the fifth. This barrage of runs was highlighted by another RBI single to left from Rosenkrantz to extend their lead 7-1. When the inning was all said and done, the score was now 8-1.
Top Tier was not going to throw in the towel just yet. In the bottom of the fifth, with the bases loaded and two outs, Booker hit a blast to center field, all three runners scored and the lead was now 8-4 in favor of South Shore Elite.
Alex Rosenkrantz stops a huge rally from Top Tier. The game ultimately ended in an 8-8 tie. pic.twitter.com/SVqDb95rTb
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 16, 2024
In the bottom of the sixth and final inning, Top Tier continued to rake. With the score now at 8-5, Harvey stepped up as the go ahead run as the bases were loaded. Harvey delivered, blasting a moonshot to right for a bases clearing, game tying triple. However, this comeback stalled out at a tie as Rosenkrantz bore down and struckout Sears to end the game in an 8-8 tie.
Both South Shore Elite and the Top Tier Aviators Navy have promising squads and are looking to build on this exciting afternoon of baseball. The Aviators play on Tuesday against the Long Island Storm-Blue while South Shore Elite’s next contest is on Saturday as they have a doubleheader against Long Island Elite Emanuele.
