Massapequa baseball falls short in state semifinals
Massapequa's Paul Dulanto eyes the ball as he tags out McQuaid Jesuit's Tanner DeGrazia in the fourth inning during state championships semi finals in Vestal on Friday, June 10, 2022 Credit: Thomas La Barbera
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Matt Castrogiovanni’s liner found the glove of McQuaid Jesuit shortstop Aidan Stewart and Massapequa’s quest for a state baseball championship was over.
In a rematch of a 2017 semifinal, Massapequa and McQuaid Jesuit played another back-and-forth game before the Knights held off a late rally for the 7-6 win in the state Class AA semifinal Friday afternoon at Binghamton University. Massapequa finished the season at 22-3.
“Losing is never easy,” Massapequa coach Tom Sheedy said. “Whether you lose in March or in June, it’s very hard. This was a very similar game like the one we played against them a few years ago where Andy Primm got the big hit and we held them off for a one-run win. I thought we showed great resolve and battled back. We just didn’t put together that big rally and cash in when we had our chances.”
McQuaid Jesuit opened a 3-0 first inning lead when starting pitcher Will Taylor drilled a two-run triple and scored on the ensuing overthrow on the relay.
“We had sloppy defense where we gave up a few runs,” Sheedy said. “But we also made some fabulous plays to stay in the game.”
Massapequa responded with a three-run bottom of the first inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, Michael Vilardi crushed a three-run double to leftfield to tie the score at 3.
Massapequa squandered an opportunity for a big rally in the second inning. Nick Cooney led off with a single and moved to second when Joe Swinarski was hit by a pitch. Castrogiovanni walked to load the bases with no outs and after a strikeout, Erik Paulsen walked to force in Cooney with the go-ahead run.
Taylor induced a pop up and groundout to escape the jam with only one run allowed.
“We didn’t cash in and that was the difference,” Sheedy said. “There were opportunities to score and against a real good team like Jesuit you need the big hit.”
McQuaid Jesuit (18-5) put together an impressive two-out rally in the fourth inning. And it came after Vilardi, the Massapequa rightfielder, turned in a defensive gem. With runners at second and third, Vilardi, made a running catch toward the rightfield line, turned and threw home to get the runner from third for a double play.
“What a play,” Sheedy said.
Jesuit’s Ed Hall followed with a two-out RBI triple to tie the score at 4 and the Knights added three straight run-scoring singles before Sheedy pulled Paulsen, his starting pitcher, for reliever George Adams.
Adams came in and struck out Luca Ciaramitaro to end the rally.
“Adams is a starter and needed more time to get warmed up,” Sheedy said. “And they put together a big-time rally.”
The game belonged to the relief pitching from there. Jesuit reliever Dan McAliney allowed one run, three hits and walked two over four innings of work for the win. He worked his way out of a bases loaded, two-out jam with a strikeout to end the sixth.
Adams was equally effective. He went 3 1/3 innings and shut down the Knights offense, allowing one hit and one walk with three strikeouts.
Massapequa cut the deficit to 7-5 on Paul Dulanto’s two-out, RBI single in the fifth and Swinarski’s two-out RBI double in the seventh set up the final at-bat. But it wasn't enough.
Said Sheedy, "We put in the time and our commitment is second to none."
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
