Senerchia outlasts rival NEFL, 1-0

By Ryan D. Murray
Posted 7/21/16

The Senerchia Post 74 Hawks snuck past New England Frozen Lemonade 1-0 in a pitchers’ duel at Mickey Stevens on Tuesday evening.

“I thought it was a pitchers’ duel from the start,” …

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Senerchia outlasts rival NEFL, 1-0

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The Senerchia Post 74 Hawks snuck past New England Frozen Lemonade 1-0 in a pitchers’ duel at Mickey Stevens on Tuesday evening.

“I thought it was a pitchers’ duel from the start,” NEFL’s Dean Streich said. “We had Dave Simmons hurling on the mound, but we just made a costly error in the third inning and that cost us the game.”

Simmons plowed through the top of the Senerchia order in the top of the first inning, inducing three straight ground balls.

In the bottom of the first, Joe Maynard pitched for Senerchia. Maynard led off with back-to-back strikeouts on Dave Defusco and Matt Boelter, before getting Austin Lamaire to ground out.

With one down in the top of the second, Senerchia left fielder Pat Thomas walked and stole second. Next, Brian Cipolla grounded out to third for the second out. Then, Simmons struck out the designated hitter, Domenic Crocenzi, to move to the bottom of the inning.

NEFL left fielder Dan Pratt hit a single before getting gunned down trying to steal second with Josh Coleman at the plate. After Maynard struck out Coleman, Jake Paul hit a single. However, Jesse Holland grounded out for the last out of the second, keeping the game scoreless.

In the top of the third, Simmons retired the side in order, inducing three straight ground ball outs.

NEFL’s Marcus Alexander was struck out by Maynard in the bottom of the inning, before an error put Chris Reid at first.  Defusco then hit a bomb to right field, but because of a baserunning error which led to both runners at third base, Reid was forced to head home where he was tagged out. The mistake would prove costly as Boelter grounded out to end the frame, stranding Defusco at third.

In the top of the fourth, Simmons hit Senerchia’s leadoff batter, Matt Sweeney. Simmons then threw to first to try and pick off the runner, but Coleman, the first baseman, dropped the ball and Sweeney took second. Next, Jaimen Albizu put a ball on the ground and beat out the throw to first. Soon after, Albizu stole second before Simmons walked Elijah Brown. With the bases loaded, Simmons came up big, inducing a ground ball back to the pitcher, who tossed home to the catcher, Paul, for the force out before Paul threw to first for the double play. With runners at second and third, Simmons earned a strikeout to escape the inning unscathed.  

Maynard made quick work of NEFL in the bottom of the fourth, striking out Pratt and getting both Lamaire and Coleman to ground out.

In the top of the fifth, with one out, Crocenzi got on after hitting a shot at the third baseman, who made an error. Crocenzi would steal second and Dylan McCormick hit him home, putting Senerchia on top 1-0.

Maynard retired the NEFL side in order in the bottom of the fifth, getting Paul to ground out, Alexander to fly out and striking out Holland.

With two down in the top of the sixth, Senerchia’s Joe Boland walked, but it went for naught when Thomas grounded out to first to end the top half of the inning.

With one out, NEFL’s Defusco hit a shot to left center before Boelter followed it with a hit of his own. However, Lamaire would ground out and then Pratt flew out to strand the runners.

In the top of the seventh, Simmons remained in the game for NEFL. He got Cipolla to ground out to the second baseman before getting Crocenzi to fly out to right. Roberge grounded out for Senerchia’s final out of the game.

NEFL was down to its final three outs. After Senerchia’s Maynard walked the leadoff hitter, Senerchia head coach Chris Sheehan went to his bullpen, bringing in Brown to close out the game.

“Elijah (Brown) has been serving as our closer this year,” Sheehan said. “He’s got a good fastball, good stuff on the mound. He’s athletic and Joe Maynard did a great job starting and pitching deep into the game.”

With no outs, Paul came up to the plate and Brown got him out on a ground ball while the runner moved to second. Brown then came up with a big strikeout on the next hitter before getting Reid to fly out to right for the final out of the game.

“Basically, it’s a credit to the team,” Sheehan said. “When you put the ball in play, good things happen. Tough win tonight...They made a couple mistakes and we capitalized.”

Despite the loss, the chemistry between Simmons on the hill and Paul behind the plate was spot on.

“I feel like it was a good game,” Paul said. “It was pretty clean, not many errors except the one that let the run score. Other than that, it was a good game. We got some good calls on our side. It was pretty good.”

Simmons said he knows the opposing team well and that seemed to have both helped him and went against him.

“I know most of them, so I know their weaknesses, so I wasn’t throwing my best today,” Simmons said. “I’ve thrown a lot better than I was, but I kind of figured that I could try to blow it by them and work my magic and get outs with that, which I pretty much did after I got every single ball back at my head.” 

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  • CoreyP

    Jake Paul's name is not Jake it is Jacob Paul.

    Friday, July 22, 2016 Report this