Somers Flips Panas for 13-4 Victory

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When Somers quickly fell behind Panas by two on Wednesday April 29, the back behind the eight ball feeling was familiar to Coach JT Genovese. “We started off the first half pretty rough,” he said. So the team talking out the issues, the aftermath has been unmistakable.

“They really flipped a switch,” said Genovese, and the sea change continued with a 13-4 home victory.

Of course, the Tuskers had to weather the first inning. A walk and a single to left gave the Panthers first and second with one out, but after Kelly sent Matt Garcia down on strikes, prospects looked good.

Unfortunately, a passed ball and a wild pitch brought in the first run, and swirling winds did the rest. Ryan McAuley made the call on a ball that started on his side, and the damage appeared to be limited. Instead, the flight plan shifted with the wind and landed in front of shortstop Jake Hopper.

The infield accepting their fate, Kelly simply moved on. He got Sam Lange on strikes, and Somers was ready to tee up. A one out walk to Tyler Venturini looked good until Hopper grounded into a double play.

No problem for Kelly, the starter didn’t miss a beat. Aside from hitting the first of four batters, the senior got two strikeouts and a pop to Henry Barbagallo at second.

Onto the second, Lorenzo D’Ambrosio put his commitment and hard work to good use. “This offseason I got to work on hitting the other way to have a more consistent approach,” said the DH, and a double to left proved the point.

Up came Kelly, and he did the same. The pitcher stroked an opposite field single to right, and the lead was cut in half. Even so, when Kelly took off for second, Justin Thomas was called for interference in the batter’s box, and the umpire ruled the infraction a double play.

Chris Azimi going down on strikes to end the inning brought Kelly back to the mound. An E6 on Hopper proving a blip, two groundouts and a fly to center preserved the margin

Taking the cue, Shawn Bottali led off with an infield hit to deep short, and an out later, McAuley came in with a fresh memory. “The first at bat, he threw me two fastballs. One was a ball, and one was a strike that I missed,” said the first baseman. “I knew if he threw it again, I was going to make him pay.”

Over the left field fence for a 3-2 lead, the Tuskers weren’t done. Venturini walked for a second time, and run number four came on Hopper’s grounder to second.

E4, D’Ambrosio walked next, and after a double steal, Kelly gave himself even more room for error. Another single for the pitcher brought in two more and Justin Thomas’ double down the left field line closed the third with Somers leading 7-2.

With breathing room, Kelly didn’t let Panas exhale. Save another hit batter, the visitors only other contact was a pop to short, and Kelly tallied two more strikeouts.

Somers couldn’t make it three scoring innings in a row, but the string of hit batsmen did. Two more for Kelly, Genovese was aiming more for near misses. Glad no one got hurt, he said, Somers still wants to establish the inside of the plate.

As for the inning, the loss of control led to a walk and a pair of wild pitches. One run closer, Panas saw James Radding warming up in the bullpen and hoped to dispatch Kelly for the afternoon. Not quite, Kelly closed his own book by getting a groundout to Hopper.

Even better for Somers, the Panas bullpen entered and couldn’t locate either. Thomas, Bottali and McAuley walked and Barbagallo was hit by a pitch for a 9-3 game.

A wild pitch increased the lead to seven, and Venturini singled for an 11-3 game. One more, Hopper’s sacrifice fly made it 12-3 and the rest was looking forward. “We’ve been gearing up and getting ready for whatever comes our way,” Venturini concluded.

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