LL States: Championship Recap

Council Rock Newtown 3, Back Mountain National 2(LISTEN to the replay)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Council Rock Newtown	2	0	1	0	0	0	3	6	0
Back Mountain National	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	5	1

WP: Longo LP: Federici

After five days of games, the field of eight was whittled down to just two remaining. Back Mountain National, led by a powerful lineup faced the pitching heavy Council Rock Newtown in a championship game that did not disappoint.

Council Rock Newtown had their hands full early, facing Nick Federici, who had not had an earned run against him in the state tournament. Federici faced three consecutive 3-2 count pitches to open the game and walked Dean Hamilton, Brayden Peiffer and Tyler Neeld to load the bases for Sav Longo. Sav grounded to Logan Vanvalkenburgh at short and Neeld was out going to second, but the first run was scored as Hamilton crossed home plate. Greyson Gage added a productive out on a sac fly to center, bringing in Peiffer. The 2-0 lead was as far as Newtown got, as Rocco DaBronzo was struck out, but Federici needed 37 pitches to get ouf of the opening frame.

Longo took the mound for Council Rock Newtown, striking out three in the bottom of the inning, working around a leadoff single by Carter Samanas and hitting Federici with a pitch. After his team went in order in the second, Longo added two more Ks in the bottom of the inning.

With Federici 51 pitches deep through two innings, manager Rich Samansas went to Mattie Lapidus for the third inning. Mattie was quickly greeted by a Will Siveter single up the middle, before striking out Tyler Wexler. As the lineup turned over, Hamilton hit a ball back to Lapidus, who quickly flipped to second base and on to first, trying to get a double play. However, umpires initially ruled that Vanvalkenburgh, who was covering second, didn’t touch the bag. Runners were safe and bases full. Samanas came out to ask the umpires to get together, and after a conference, Hamilton was ruled out at second, leaving runners on the corners. Peiffer stroked a single up the middle for an RBI, scoring Siveter and increasing the Newtown lead to 3-0. Longo cracked a ball to Jordan Medrano at third, who mishandled the play, loading the bases. However, Greyson Gage was fanned and Lapidus got out of a big jam.

Longo added two strikeouts to his tally in the third, setting Back Mountain down in order. He also set aside the powerful lineup in order in the fourth.

Things then got dicey in the fifth. Kellan DeFalco hit a one out double to left and Henry Kovach walked on four pitches. Wyatt Engel hit into a fielders choice, but DeFalco scored from third and Back Mountain got on the board, trailing 3-1. As Longo reached the 85 pitch limit, he fanned Medrano, ending his night with ten strikeouts and a total of 21 Ks for the state tournament over 9.1 innings.

The drama was far from over. Tyler Wexler came on to try and close out the final three outs. Vanvalkenburgh singled into right and Lapidus shot a double to the wall in center on a ball that nearly carried out of the park. With two in scoring position and no outs, the game seemed sure to go to extra innings or be a Back Mountain National come form behind victory to force a second and decisive game.

That’s when manager Brad Hamilton took a huge gamble. In a quick pitching change, he sent Tyler Neeld out. Neeld would have been slated to start the if-game, but having entered this game, he would not be eligible in a second game. The move proved to be the right one. Neeld struck out Sam Grablunas on a full count fastball and then fanned Mitch Ronczka on four pitches. Liam Dieffenbacher then laid down one of the best bunts of his life, hugging the first base line and resulting in an RBI infield single. The margin was now 3-2 and the lineup flipped over to Carter Samanas with Lapidus on third. With two strikes against him, Samansas swung and popped up to Peiffer at short who came in and secured the final out and the state championship for Council Rock Newtown.

“It felt so good because in the past years, we placed third, second, and now first. We finally got it,” said Longo of the win. “My curveball was working really well today and I could locate my fastball, inside and outside corner. I felt like this performance, I was way more pumped and I’m so happy I got it.” When asked about how states were different than sections: “I think all of our mentality changed. At Holland, we kind of expected it, but we wanted it in this one. It felt so good to have [the title banner] in my hands.”

Coach Brad Hamilton on the journey and the title win: “Doug Peiffer and Kyle Neeld have been great. Those two are so pivotal in all of that and they are just key to keeping this train going. The belief is you get into situations like Tyler Neeld just got into, and…I just have confidence that he will execute the way he did.

I did something I normally don’t do. I looked ahead. I brought our section and district flags for when we won. I don’t say that to be cocky, but my team feeds off my energy. If I come in passive, what’s the point. If I play for game 2, there’s no reason to play sports. Go after game one and have confidence you’re going to get it. That Back Mountain team was stellar. You put three of those [Back Mountain] boys on our team, we might beat the whole world, but I have the confidence in my team. The moment is not too big for them. They’ve been in big situations that we intentionally put them in to have these outcomes.”

Hamilton on Sav Longo: “We have full confidence in Sav. He works really hard at this. It’s a well deserved outcome for him and the whole team. Sav has just grown and grown. Having a Sav is a wonderful feeling to have.”

“Watching our boys calmly walk through the fire was brilliant.”

Council Rock Newtown will next be in action on Sunday at 1:00 when they open Mid-Atlantic tournament play against Capitol Hill from Washington, D.C. in Bristol, Connecticut.