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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