Red Storm Beats the Heat in 8-1 Victory over Pound Ridge

On Saturday June 22, Somers Red Storm started hot like the weather and loaded the bases with nobody out. Unfortunately, two strikeouts and ground ball kept the runners put and Pound Ridge answered by scoring one in the bottom of the inning. But the boys weren't chilled, and their bats rose right alongside with the temperature.

Somers tied the game in the second and went onto an easy 8-1 victory.

The ground out in the first coming off the bat of Bryce Penzo, he took the mound and initially got into a little trouble.  A single up the middle got the first runner on and notching a strike out to the next batter was more trouble than it was worth.

The ball bounced, got past Justin Mariani, and kicking around, Pound Ridge had runners on the corners. Penzo then surrendered an RBI single, but the starter wasn’t sweating on the mound. 

The pitcher got a pop to short, a strike out and an a fly to center, but prowess on the mound wasn’t the only thing that contained the damage. “We’re like a family, said Mariani, and no matter how the baseball goes, disagreements are “very unlikely,” the cleanup hitter added.

So all in, Jon Lantz got his team into the swing of things again. A single soon had him on third with two stolen bases, and Colton Gorgone continued the small ball. A ground out to short sent his teammate scrambling, and the third baseman's speed proved too when the play came back home. 

All tied, Penzo wasn’t undone by a little more wildness in the bottom of the second. Hitting the lead off batter, Penzo had no problem with speed killing for Pound Ridge. After stealing second, Mariani gunned the runner down at third and then got another at first on a dribbler in front of the plate.

Penzo took care of the rest with another strikeout, and both pitchers passed out donuts in the third. But the fourth inning had Somers serving the main course.  Lantz and Holub walked to set the table, and Gorgone picked up the check. “The pitch was a strike, I dug in and hit it,” said the leadoff hitter.

Both runs scoring on his single, the inning turned out to be a two course meal.  After Paulmeno walked, Mariani smacked a double, and two more runs didn’t have the Somers catcher complicating what he saw from the mound. “He threw strikes,” Mariani was succinct.

Now 5-1, Somers locked down the infield. Luca Ciavardini made easy work of a pop to short, Penzo fielded a come backer to the mound, and Lanzt gobbled up a grounder to third to move the game into the fifth.

Of course, Somers was not as obliging in their turn. Penzo singled to right, stole second and third, and Ryan Colderbank’s little grounder up the third baseline didn’t stop the express train that Penzo was riding.  He waited for the throw and came home easily on the relay back to the plate. 

Not done, Lantz singled, Holub beat out a grounder to third, and Colton followed suit by putting one on the ground to second. In play, he reached on an error, and Somers led 7-1.

One more run to go, Ciavardini had the read to complete the score sheet. “He threw fastballs and changeups, and you knew when he was going to throw a changeup,” said the shortstop after his line drive RBI single.

Six outs to go, Ciavardini kept things from getting interesting. He twice flashed his glove and was pretty literate from the middle of the infield too. “You got to see the ball, you got to read the bounces, get the ball and throw to first,” he assured.

Still, the last three out didn’t come without incident. Pound Ridge loaded the bases with no one out. Ciavardini knew the score nonetheless.  “I was thinking we just need to get outs,” he said.

An infield fly, a run down and ground out to second filled the prescription and exemplified how this team perseveres through any difficulty.  “We just forget it,” said Ciavardini, which makes it easy to remember what the goal is

“To win a championship,” they concluded in unison.