Nearly pull off another tournament comeback
By: Rudy Brandl
They almost did it one more time.
Hillsborough’s 16-year-old Mickey Mantle baseball team, which faced elimination in almost half of its 38 tournament games played over the last two months, fell just short of pulling off the magic again at last weekend’s Northeast Regionals in Albany, N.Y. Hillsborough settled for second place in the region after an 8-3 loss to North Colonie, N.Y., in Saturday night’s final round.
"They were a nice team," Hillsborough manager Jack Van Cleef said. "They just hit better than we did and our pitching was wearing down."
Hillsborough (31-7) started the tournament in customary fashion, with a loss. As usual, that didn’t stop the Hillsborough boys from starting a win streak.
After Thursday’s horrible 8-0 setback to host Watervilet of Albany, the Hillsborough boys charged back with three consecutive victories over the Maryland Titans (10-0), the Long Island Heat (5-3) and the Bronx, N.Y., Giants (8-3) in the loser’s bracket to earn a shot at the winner’s bracket survivor.
North Colonie was still unbeaten, so Hillsborough would have needed to sweep a pair of games to claim the regional crown in the double-elimination tourney. Hillsborough ran into a solid team with a very effective pitcher and some powerful hitters from a team that recruited players from nine New York State high schools.
"They had a nice pitcher from Syracuse on the mound," Van Cleef said. "He threw real hard and we didn’t hit great. Some days, you just don’t hit."
North Colonie broke a 2-2 tie on a three-run homer in the top of the fourth and held on for the victory. Hillsborough had its best chance to get back in the game in the bottom of the sixth.
Steve Sciaraffo and Chris Boucher started a two-out rally with consecutive singles. Tony Crivello followed with a walk to load the bases. That brought dangerous leadoff hitter Kristian Molloy to the plate with a chance to do some major damage. Molloy was hit by a pitch to force in a run, but the rally ended when Scott Dunham grounded out.
"We were waiting for a big hit," Van Cleef said. "Even though they made a mistake by hitting Kristian, they killed our rally by doing that."
Dunham lined a shot down the left-field line that would have cleared the bases and cut the deficit to 7-6, but the umpire ruled the ball foul. Later in the at-bat, Dunham hit a grounder to shortstop.
"It was a bullet, but there’s no instant replay so you have to rely on that quick blink," Van Cleef said. "It was close."
Molloy also was hit by a pitch to open the bottom of the first inning. Dunham walked and Andrew Wayne moved the runners over with a sacrifice. Frank Tumminia hit a sacrifice fly and Dan Miller singled home the second run for a 2-0 lead.
Hillsborough didn’t score again until the sixth after North Colonie had accumulated seven runs. One run simply wasn’t enough to get Van Cleef’s club back in the game.
"A hit in that bases-loaded situation would have definitely helped," Van Cleef said. "We hit a couple balls hard in the gap, but they made some nice plays. They had an excellent team."
Hillsborough stormed through the loser’s bracket after an ugly loss in last Thursday night’s tournament opener.
Sciaraffo gave his team a huge lift in Friday’s first game, firing a five-inning no-hitter in the 10-0 win over the Titans. Only an error with one out in the fifth inning spoiled Sciaraffo’s bid at a perfect game.
"My fastball had lot of pop and I was able to drop down and throw some sidearm to keep them off balance," said Sciaraffo, who struck out five and walked none. "My curve also felt really good today."
Hillsborough collected 10 hits to support Sciaraffo, scoring twice in the first inning on Ken Betkowski’s two-out, two-run single before blowing the game wide open in the second. Hillsborough batted around and scored seven times to take a 9-0 lead.
Dave Golombus and Randy Van Cleef singled to set the table. Molloy and Dunham reached on infield errors and Wayne grounded out to score the second run. Miller rapped a two-run single, Tumminia singled home a run and Betkowski smacked a base hit to load the bases. Sciaraffo gave himself an even larger cushion with a two-run single.
Sciaraffo had enough left in his tank to pitch the final inning of the 5-3 triumph over the Heat later in the day. Ryan Friedman pitched the first four innings for the victory and Betkowski held the lead with two solid frames.
Randy Van Cleef smacked a one-out RBI single in the second inning and a two-out single to left in the fourth to give Hillsborough a 3-0 lead. Tumminia’s two-run double scored Wayne and Miller in the fifth.
Friday’s sweep enabled Hillsborough to live another day in the regional tournament. The proud and determined bunch of 16-year-olds didn’t stop there, winning Saturday’s morning game by an 8-3 score.
Van Cleef was running short of pitchers, so he handed the ball to Molloy, who pitched the first 3Ò innings for the win. Betkowski finished the game and recorded the save.
"Steve and Kenny are like No. 1s, but we have a bunch of guys who can throw," Van Cleef said. "We just had to go with whoever could get us through the situation."
Molloy retained his role in the leadoff position and went 3-for-5 to pace Hillsborough’s nine-hit attack. Randy Van Cleef, who was batting first before hitting a slump, delivered two clutch base hits that plated runs in the second and fourth innings. Van Cleef reached base in 10 of 12 plate appearances in the tournament.
"He had been batting leadoff because we wanted Molloy third," Jack Van Cleef said. "He was in a slump so we moved him down to take the pressure off."
Hillsborough was clinging to a 2-1 lead but took charge of this game with a four-run fourth. Betkowski, Sciaraffo and Golombus walked to load the bases with one out. Van Cleef and Molloy each singled to left for a run and Wayne cracked a clutch two-out, two-run single up the middle to cap the surge.
Unfortunately, that was the last game this fine team would win this summer. The magical run ended Saturday night and only regional champions move on to the nationals in Texas.
"The bitter disappointment of not going to Texas will wear off," Van Cleef said. "It was within our grasp, but we just couldn’t grab it. These boys are still the state champs and they finished second in the region. No one can ever take that away from them."