Thursday, May 29, 2008

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

RIDGEFIELD – Weehawken’s Andrew Nasti has played baseball for most of his life and has always heard chirping from other players about the ‘baseball gods’. He never really found much proof of such gods existing; that was until Tuesday. Nasti could not help but think that Weehawken’s state tournament run was coming to end as the Indians were losing 9-2 to Ridgefield in the North 2, Group 1 semifinals when the skies grew dark, the rain poured down and lightning soon followed. The game was called meaning that both teams had to come back on Wednesday and start from scratch.

It meant new life for Weehawken, whose season was on the brink of extinction. With another opportunity and getting all of its bad play out of the way a day earlier, Nasti took the hill and ensured that he and his teammates would make the most of its second chance.

Nasti went 3-for-4 at the plate and did not allow an earned run as third-seeded Weehawken took an early lead and Nasti made it stand up in a 5-1 win over Ridgefield, the No. 2 seed.

“Now I know what people are talking about when it comes to the baseball gods,” said Nasti. “The weather doing what it did yesterday gave us another chance to show what kind of team we are. After playing so bad against them (on Tuesday), we came in with nothing to lose. I think we got all the nerves out of our system and we could just focus on playing ball.”

The Indians put a run on the board in the top of the first when Kelly Hogan singled and came around to score on a two-out double by Orlyn Molano. After having no men on base and two outs in the third, Weehawken rallied to tack on three more runs.

Edgar Montilla got it started by lining a single and stealing second. Nasti drove him in with a double off of Ridgefield starter Anthony DeEsposito to give himself a two-run cushion. Following a walk to Molano, Rueben Vacquero lined a double to left-center, scoring both Nasti and Molano to make it 4-0.

“We came out here ready to play and when we got the lead, I knew the game was on my shoulders,” said Nasti. “I tried to get ahead with the fastball then keep their lineup off-balance with my other pitches. We always hit and I trust my defense behind me, so my job was to go out there and throw strikes.”

Ridgefield got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning. Richie Ryder singled, and scored all the way from second base on an infield error to trim the lead to 4-1. The Royals played great defense throughout to keep it close, but could not get anything going offensively against Nasti. He located his fastball well all game and did not allow Ridgefield to get into a rhythm offensively, something the Royals did so easily just 24 hours earlier.

“I’m not going to make any excuses because there aren’t any to make, (Nasti) pitched a gem,” said Ridgefield head coach Joe Gambardella. “He got ahead in the count early and often. What happened yesterday, happened yesterday. I’m proud our kids and how hard we played today and all season long. We have nothing to hang our heads about. We had a great year and won (17) games. Today, we just ran into a pitcher who threw the ball really well. He got the best of us and all we can do is tip our cap to the performance of him and the rest of the Weehawken team.”

The Indians closed out the win in style with Montilla making a leaping grab at second base off of a line-drive by Ryder to end the game.

Nasti allowed five hits, walked three, and struck out eight for Weehawken (18-6). He had two doubles, two runs scored, and an RBI. Vacquero three in three runs with a pair of doubles. Montilla added two h its and a run scored.

DeEsposito had six Ks in taking the loss for Ridgefield, which finished the season with a 17-9 record. Chris Gibaldi, Danny Lafalce, Ryan Skelley, Sal Comella, and Ryder all had hits for the Royals.

The win lifts Weehawken back to a section final for the first time since 2003 and it is still searching for its first ever section title. To earn the crown, they will have to get past BCSL-National Division rival and top-seeded Lyndhurst, a team searching for its first section title since 1984. Lyndhurst came from behind in both of the team’s regular season meetings to win 11-10 and 7-5. The North 2, Group 1 final will take place at Breslin Field in Lyndhurst on Friday at 4:00.

“This is the game we have wanted all year and now we’re finally here,” said Weehawken head coach Anthony Stratton. “I told (Lyndhurst head coach) Butch Servideo after the last time we played that we’ll be seeing each other again in the section final and now it’s happening. I have to thank the baseball gods because we were in real trouble the first time around here. We were lucky to still be alive and sometimes it takes a little luck for things to fall into place. I think we were a better team than we showed on Tuesday. We came in even more determined to play our best and we left it all out on the field.”

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